Norton began making motorcycles in Birmingham at the start of the 20th century and became well known for their early competition success, most notably in the Isle of Man TT races.
This iconic British brand, whose name was taken from the company's founder, James Lansdowne Norton, was responsible for introducing certain technologies that are still used in motorbike design and construction today.
After various financial upheavals and several changes of ownership, including a recent 15 years in American hands, the Norton Brand was acquired by British businessman, Stuart Garner. The company was based at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in Derbyshire were several variants of the Commando 961 MK2 were built.
Sadly, at the end of January 2020 Norton Motorcycles again went into Administration, but in the spring of that year the company was rescued by the Indian company TVS Motor Company, the sixth largest bike manufacturer in the world. Their website now carries the slogan: "To the next 100 years!"
More good news followed, and in February 2021 Norton announced their new state-of-the-art facilities based in Solihull, West Midlands, were outstanding orders for current models and all future bikes will be built. As icing on the credibility stakes cake, in April of the same year Sir Ralp Speth was appointed to the Board of Directors of Norton's parent company.
Established in 2010 and based near Diss in Norfolk, Old Empire Motorcycles are not like other custom bike builders. In their own words:
"Old Empire Motorcycles founding was born through an absolute and enduring passion for everything two wheeled and The House Of Assembly (HOA) is where we pay daily homage to the gods of speed and fuel. Its the place where we meet, greet, drill, weld, cut, grind, turn, mill, hammer, roll and notch to our hearts content to create and display our bespoke motorcycles.........."Unlike most custom bike builders in the UK we do not stick to styling ‘rules’ but focus on creating the very best we possibly can with what we are given".
OVIK CROSSWAY design and manufacture a range of specialist and armoured vehicles and chassis systems. The company was founded in 2008 by brothers Jez and Duncan Hermer, the former having 23 years of service in the British Army, with several years spent with the Royal Marines All Terrain Vehicle (protected programme). For several years, OVIK produced a number of highly innovative specialist defence, support and utility vehicles for customers who included several police forces and the UK MOD. Since 2012 OVIK has been developing a new range of vehicles based upon its own CROSSWAY chassis systems
All the vehicles based on this system also go by the brand name CROSSWAY. OVIK now only designs, manufactures and supplies specialist vehicles based on the CROSSWAY STRIVE-44 and STRIVE-66 chassis systems and under the CROSSWAY marque. The name OVIK is derived from the Swedish town of Ornskoldsvik and the company is based in Dorset.
The original Peel Engineering Company was based on the Isle of Man, and was a well-known manufacturer of the Peel P50 and Trident three wheel microcars in the early 1960s. The P50 is still listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the World's Smallest Production Car. It achieved fame more recently when Jeremy Clarkson drove one around the BBC Television Centre during an edition of Top Gear! (see Video Library)
A few years ago the company was aquired by car enthusiast and businessman Gary Hillman and his partner Faizal Khan, who started making re-engineered versions of both the P50 and Trident in various versions. In 2010 they and the cars appeared on the Dragons' Den TV show and won investment from James Caan, which has enabled them to produce more of the cars and to develop a range of retail merchandise to capitalise on the cars' popularity around the world.
Both the Peel P50 and Trident are now offered in a range of models and specifications, either as a self-build project or factory-built, and are built in the company's London premises.
