Andover Norton

General information

The Andover Norton story begins with the end of NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph), which was bankrupted in the impossible, politically-instigated task to let the small Norton company save the remains of the far bigger, but by then totally derelict BSA/Triumph empire. Foolishly, Dennis Poore, then chairman of Norton, let
politicians talk him into taking this burden on, trusting his own business sense as
well as their promises. His assumptions were over-optimistic, and in the end NVT went into receivership in 1975. From the receiver, Poore bought the remaining spares stock for BSA and Triumph motorcycles together with everything Norton (parts, tooling, work-in-progress and drawings), and set up a new company, Andover Norton Ltd, to distribute these spare parts in the summer of 1977.
Poore’s initial idea was that this company would operate for a period of only three years, selling off the existing spares stock, unless it could expand into other activities and so Andover Norton entered the motorcycle aftermarket as a distributor of (amongst other products) Goodyear motorcycle tyres and Lockheed brake pads. The plan was that these products would build a future for the company as the market for Norton spare parts declined, so with no immediate intention of continuing Norton spare parts production beyond three years all tooling deemed unnecessary for parts manufacture within this period was scrapped. However, within a very short time it became obvious that the new company was desperately needed by importers, dealers and owners of British motorcycles all over the globe. It was far more successful than Poore had ever anticipated and it was clear the company’s lifespan was going to go well beyond those initial three years.
In the meantime, another company founded by Poore was started at Shenstone, near Birmingham, Norton Motors (1978) Ltd. This company continued development of the rotary-engined motorcycle inherited from Triumph/BSA, and for income built the NVT “Easy Rider” moped and Rambler motorcycles as well as small production runs of special motorcycles for Yamaha.
In 1982 the Norton parts and aftermarket sides of the business went their separate ways when Andover Norton was sold in a management buy-out to Mike Jackson and Peter Sellars. Norton spare parts production and distribution was absorbed into Norton Motors (1978) Ltd, and became the financial spine of what was, after all, an R&D company that was constantly burning money. Jackson and Sellars continued in the aftermarket with the old Andover team, one of whom was Nick Hopkins, and the company became Andover Norton International Ltd. It was to spend the next several years without Norton in it’s portfolio but the yearning to re-connect remained, and an opportunity was eventually to present itself…….
At Norton Motors in Shenstone Frank Flaherty looked after the parts for a while, as he had done at Andover Norton before. When he returned to Andover his successor was Richard Negus, an engineer who had drawn many Commando components in earlier years with the company, and had raced Commandos himself. He later became “Chief of Motorcycles” at Norton Motors, with overall responsibility for the motorcycle division.
In 1991, with Norton Motors Ltd in dire financial trouble, the new chairman appointed by the banks to liquidate Norton Group PLC’s assets sold the only profitable part of the company, which was the Commando spares operation. It was offered to BSA Company/Andover Norton International Ltd, by now owned and run by Mike Jackson and William Colquohoun, another ex-NVT director who had bought the BSA company out of the NVT bankruptcy and had joined forces with Mike Jackson. They had expanded into importing MZ motorcycles and Rotax engines, and with the Norton spares operation acquired below inventory value they had the basis for a profitable company.
However, in 1994, they were in financial trouble through their other business ventures. Quite by chance in a lawyer’s office they met David Bennett of Regal Engineering Ltd in Southampton and offered him BSA Company/Andover Norton International Ltd. Bennett thought motorcycle parts would be a good addition to Regal’s range of engineering operations. As BSA-Regal Group they did produce a number of BSA motorcycles but nobody in the management of Regal Engineering had any real understanding or passion for motorcycles so the motorcycle side never became an integral part of their activities. In spring 2007 the decision was made to sell off all motorcycle interests.
The motorcycle industry, and the Norton in particular, is very much a family affair so David Bennett rang Joe Seifert in Germany to offer him Andover Norton. Seifert, owner of the last company remaining of the old “Norton Group PLC”, Norton Motors (Deutschland) GmbH, was by then owner of Norton Motors Ltd, a company set up together with Richard Negus for the acquisition of the ex-Norton Motors (1993) Ltd factory spares stock and all drawings and tooling for Norton rotaries in 2003. He had had the ambition to get the three pieces of the historical puzzle back together.
Seifert had common interests with Bennett/BSA Regal on the BSA Trademark front, and his German company was one of Andover Norton’s top ten customers on the Commando spares side worldwide. He agreed to buy Andover Norton, knowing he inherited a well-run if not very dynamic company with a rather “vintage” management team. Bob Reynolds, the Chief Buyer, was actually beyond retirement age but he thankfully agreed to stay on until his successor, Peter Morris, was able to fill the post. Managing Director Phil Albutt is also Company Secretary and came into the company via William Colquohoun’s BSA Company in Blockley. Phil is the man who pushes papers in the background and looks after the Technical Publications side of Andover Norton. Chief Buyer is Pete Morris, once a member of the Norton rotary development team, who was previously employed by Seifert’s Norton Motors Ltd.
A recent addition to the team is Simon Amos. He is the main logistics man and shares the purchasing and sourcing responsibilities with Pete Morris.