Marrying a Vincent V-twin engine and a Norton Featherbed frame was a well-known partnership by the end of the 1950s, but these ‘Norvins’ were generally the province of the amateur builder. Then motorcycle engineer Tom Somerton of Somerton Engineering decided that something a little less homebuilt would appeal to racers. One of the most successful of the Norvin (or Vinton) conglomerations was that raced by Peter Darvill.
Somerton bought two designs from Darvill, one for a Comet single and the other for a Black Shadow V-twin, and embarked on a project to create what was very much a limited production machine than an amateur special.
Named the Viscount, it used the wideline Norton frame, Norton forks and, of course, a Vincent V-twin engine. The tank was fibreglass and wrapped around the oil tank and each machine could be prepared to the buyer’s specification. However, the cost of building such a machine, along with the increasing scarcity of Vincent engines, brought a premature end to the venture when just a handful had been built. Estimates range from a likely six to a more optimistic 10-12.
Enjoy more The Classic MotorCycle Magazine reading every month.
Click here to subscribe & save.
At least two survive and one – the very first to be produced and which was, apparently, the very machine that Peter Darvill sold to Tom Somerton – was bought by a gentleman called Pete Ross. Although he liked the light handling and steering, he felt it was slower than his Black Shadow, so Somerton replaced the standard carburettors with TT Amals. The Viscount cost him £450 in 1959, at a time when a top of the range Triumph would have set him back just £269.
After Pete Ross’s death, it was bought by Eric Patterson, the man who started and ran the Kempton Autojumble for 30 years before the event was sold to Mortons Media. Eric rode the Viscount as it was for some years before deciding to take it to Bonneville Salt Flats and attempt a record or two. The engine was rebuilt with special pistons (12:1 compression), racing cams, a John Surtees gearbox cluster, and a Bob Newby belt primary drive and clutch. It worked; Eric and the Viscount set an AMA record of 131.68mph.
