Back when AMC owned Norton and Matchless, the latter sold a bike called the G85CS, which was competitive in European motocross. The US west coast distributor sold several but thought they were a little slow for the ‘scramble’ racing that was happening in America, before MX took off. After requesting that AMC put a more powerful Norton Atlas engine in the Matchless frame (and then being told it wasn’t going to happen), the distributor, a man named Bob Blair had his mechanic build what he wanted over three weeks. The result was then adopted by AMC to become the Norton P11.
Unfortunately, the P11 was almost immediately outdated as lightweight two-strokers started showing up in the US. Still, it was a championship desert racer for a couple of years, and an interesting footnote in Norton history as the only true scrambler they built. Just over 500 P11’s were built, and almost all of them were sold in the states. For more information on this Norton desert racer, check out this profile from MotocrossActionMag.
This example (VIN: 124681) “was restored from the dirt up” by the seller’s shop – he goes by “britishbiker” on eBay and says that the shop has been around for an impressive 61 years but I wasn’t able to determine the shop name. It has approximately 350 miles on it since it was restored and it’s numbers matching with a Texas title.
Find this P11 for sale in Pflugerville, Texas, United States with bidding up to $7,600 and the reserve not yet met or a BIN of $13,900 here on eBay.