Sulla Newsletter di Giugno Andover Norton la storia della Fastback '69 di Massimo

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Customer Restoration Story

Special thanks to Mr. Piero Di Nucci from Italy for kindly sending us an unusual story about his friend Massimo’s Fastback Commando:

“This bike is frame/engine number 133573. It was manufactured in 1969 and went new to Italy as a Fastback to the dealer Emmana Gloria in Padua on the 2nd July.
The bike was first registered on the 9/8/1969 (but not in Massimo’s name who was 15 years old at that time) in Rome with licence no. RM306079.
After nine owners Massimo bought the bike on July 1977 for the price of 480.000 Italian lire (now £195).
The bike was grenadier red and was modified with a front Triumph OIF forks and yokes with a 250mm four shoe Fontana front brake. Massimo rode the bike a lot without issues until 1985 when it stopped because of a broken a piston which had lost a circlip.
The bike was given to a friend for rebuilding but Massimo retained at home in a drawer the title and the original licence plate RM306079. Then Massimo, who was very busy at that time starting work as a Geologist, forget his bike!
Many years later Massimo asked the guy where his bike was. This friend replied the bike was lost during the moving of his boxes. Massimo didn’t forget about his bike.
So about 30 years passed.
On March 2015, my cousin Mario - too young to know what was happened 30 years before - sent me a web link about a motorcycle for sale, at 600 euros. It was a rusted set of Norton Commando parts: a frame (with certification label and numbers also stamped on the neck), swinging arm, oil tank, rear wheel, petrol tank, front triumph forks and yokes and the left crankcase with numbers matching with frame.
I could not believe what I was seeing!
I didn’t need to know the engine/frame numbers because I knew that green petrol tank with the terrible gold pinstripes fitted by Massimo. So I phoned Massimo and told him to see the link I had sent him by email. After a few minutes Massimo phoned me back. He recognized immediately his bike (what remained of it) and asked to me to go to buy all the parts.

The same week I went with Guido to meet the seller. The first thing I saw was the frame/case numbers - it was Massimo’s bike!
The unaware seller appeared to be a very good fellow, a rebuilder of old bikes. He said to us he had found the parts in a compound close to him, in the exact same place where Massimo bought the bike to be rebuilt. The seller said that he paid nothing for them because the compound's manager asked to him to remove those rusted parts that were in his garage access.
Afterwe paid I showed to the seller the title and the licence plate and told him the history of the bike. This gentleman immediately give me the money back.
Now we are friends. Last September I gave him my 1970 BSA A65L to restore. I would not have had time to do it myself because I had to restore a lot of Commandos, and my family and work commitments. We began to buy all the used parts that were missing and new genuine ones from Andover Norton.

When all the parts were ready at home, on the 14th March 2016, we started to rebuild it to pristine 1969 condition, with only a non-stock Fontana 250 front brake.
Together with friends (Massimo, Luca, Mario, Luigi, Guido and I) we decided we can only work on it on Mondays. On Monday, Saturday 23 April the bike had the first start and on Saturday 7th May the proud owner, Massimo, will have the first ride.

Of course, Massimo is not now a friend of that guy anymore!"