Description
This motorcycle is Lot 538 of Bonhams Motorcycles Online – The Winter Sale; open for bidding 5-15th December 2025.
Please see the Bonhams website for full details.
Auction Timings:
Bidding on all Lots commences Friday 5 December, 12:00 noon.
Bidding closes Monday 15 December, 12:00 noon, starting with Lot 501.
Each subsequent Lot will then close one minute apart unless bidding remains active.
Public Viewing:
Lots 501, 519 & 525 only:
Friday 12 December, 9am - 5pm
All Remaining Lots:
Wednesday 10 December, 9am - 5pm
Thursday 11 December, 9am - 5pm
Please email using the button below with your availability to schedule an appointment.
Lot 538
1955 Norton 596cc Model 19S
Registration no. GAS 544
Frame no. K9 63389
Engine no. K9 63389
Just as Norton first overhead-valve production motorcycle - the Model 18 - had used the same 79x100mm bore-stroke dimensions of the existing sidevalve-engined 16H, so the larger-capacity, but otherwise similar, overhead-valve Model 19 used those of the 588cc Big 4 sidevalve, at 79x120mm. For 1933 the engine was revised with bore/ stroke of 83x113mm, dimensions it would keep until production ceased in 1958, by which time the model had been updated in line with the rest of the Norton range, gaining, among numerous other improvements, Roadholder telescopic forks and a swinging-arm frame, hence the suffix 'S'.
Purchased earlier this year by the vendor, this 19S comes with a Norton Owners Club factory record sheet summary revealing that it was despatched from the factory on 2nd June 1955 to the Saunders dealership in Leigh-on-Sea. The first owner was one A T Wallis of Laindon, Essex. No other history is known. Additional paperwork consists of a photocopy spare parts list, an HPI report and a V5C Registration Certificate. The machine is offered for restoration or recommissioning and is sold strictly as viewed (the engine turns over).
£2, 200 - 3, 000
All lots are sold 'as is/ where is' and Bidders must satisfy themselves as to the provenance, condition, age, completeness and originality prior to bidding. Visit the Bonhams Motorcycles website for all pertinent auction information.
