Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126816
l!') 00 O"l - Neale Shilton and an assistant bu ild the prototype police-model Norton in an English workshop; the bike was called the 750 Int erpol. Arabia (co n ti nued fro m page 24) 26 so ut h wh ere co m p lete m achines were assembled - not th e most efficien t wa y of building m ot orcycles. Presidin g over th e meet in g wa s th e director of p rodu ct ion and h e began by asking for details o f a ll firm orde rs. There were no t very many excep t for p oli ce mach in es a nd to th ose I was p leased to add th e substaruial Sa udi figure. 1\'Iy p leas ure lasted o n ly a few seco nds and I was as ked if I wa s no t a war e that th e factorv would be closed a t th e end o f th e mo·nth. The decision had been m ad e whi lst I was away in Fra nce a nd it was so co n fide nt ia l tha t I had hea rd nothin g at And over. T he co mpan y was in serio us fin ancial trou bl e, sup p lies o f m at erial an d co mponents h ad been sto p ped , an d no more machines would be built after existing com pone nts had been used up . The fac tory worker s were not to ld o f th e deci sion a nd went away on th eir annual h ol ida y n ot kn owing th at th e factory gat es wou ld be cl osed wh en th ev returned. I returned to Andover be~ildered a nd utterly depressed , as [ had been when I resi gn ed from Triumph a fter 22 years, excep t that thi s time th ere were 1.500 orde rs in m y desk - especially th e Saudi co nt rac t wh ich I had g iven a person a l pr omise to Gen era l Aloufi . At th e en d of Jul y th e co m pa ny failure wa s offi ciall y announced a nd a liqu idator a p po in ted to wind up th e a ffa irs. It had not been a very lon g tim e since Norton Vill iers took over th e bankrupt T riu m p h / BSA outfit, and questi ons were n ow ra ised in Parliament ab out th e sur vival of th e motorcycle ind ustry . T o the pol itieian who questi oned the Minister for In dustry I had sent a lon g telegram ap pea ling for gov ern me n t help. but without success as 100 much m oney had a lready been gi ven in an a tte mpt to mak e th e T riu m p h / BSA tak eover viabl e. T he Minister was as ked if he rea lized th at Briti sh poli ce co uld soo n be ridi ng for eign m o torcycles a n d h e gave th e sh ort ans wer " So be it. " In fact th e next govern me nt did g ive a lot of mon ey to th e T rium ph Co Operati ve p roj ect a t Mer iden , but it was wasted . My telegram havin g failed. [decided 10 make o ne more effo rt to get th e Norton facto ry making Interpo l model s. th ou gh I had n o a u thor ity to do any thi ng. From Andover I telephoned th e lawyers in Wolverhampton who were acting for th e liquidator and I asked if th ey co u ld set up a meeting with him at th e factory. They were interested in m y rea sons an d th e m eeting wa s arra nged . I rod e to \Vo lver hampton o n a m achine wh ich got close to kill in g me o n the re tu rn journey wh en th e rotor seized o n th e a lte rnator a nd locked the rea r wheel a t 80 mph , a nd th e ti re burs t as I gra bbed the clutch. At the factory I wa lked th rough a group of di sconsola te un ion o fficia ls a nd o ne wen t wi th m e to th e m eetin g . To th e liquidat or I prod uced a deta iled list o f a ll In ter po l o rders, th eir values a nd a n addi tio na l list of co ntracts under negotiati on . H e a nd th e lawyers were impressed bu t rem inded me that it was th eir respons ibi lity o n ly to wi nd up 'the co m pa ny, sel l a ll the ma chinery. eq u ip me n t a nd the stoc k o f inco m p lete bik es so as to pay m on ey to th e cred itors. I p ointed o ut th at the re would be mu ch m o re money from co m p lete mach in es, a nd to pay the cos ts o f prod uc ing th em I wa s su re th at I co u ld a rra nge adva nce pa yment from th e Lond on fin anci ers who were handling the Saudi co ntract. al so from U .K. police a u thor ities wh o had hundreds o f Inter p ol s on orde r. Wi th a reduced wo rk force th e factory co u ld survive p rofitabl y and its su p p liers would have bett er prospects o f being paid. I kn ew m ost o f th em a nd sai d I was sure th ey would go a lo ng with th e proposal. The law yers agreed to study th e situat io n a nd ph one m e th eir decis io n th e next day. I was working on th e Nort on eng ine problem a t Andover wh en th e ca ll ca me th rough . It wa s a sym path eti c negative and th e Int erpol wa s dead . There wa s one last hope o f sa tisfyin g th e Sa ud i co nt rac t and I went to London to ta lk with m y finan cier friends. At th e o ld BSA factory in Birmingha m , tak en o ver by Norton Villi ers in 1973, th e 45 cu. in . Tri umph three-cyl inder Tride nt had com me nced pr oduction in Ma rch 1974 and I p roposed th at we sho u ld o ffer thi s ma chine to th e Sa udis in pl ace of th e In terpol. It wa s m o re expens ive a nd I sugges ted as th e exp lana tio n for th e cha nge th a t we co ns ide red th e three cy linder engi ne to be m or e sui ta ble for Middle East cond itions . Sa bah Bijj an i wa s a t the meet in g and h e flew back to Ri yadh 10 nego tiat e th e new deal, whi ch wa s acce pted. Five wee ks rem ain ed before 165 Tride nts had to be flown o u t a nd I ru shed around orga n izing supp lies o f radio carriers, panniers. sire ns . blue flash er la m p s and other co m po ne nt s. Work started on th e mach in es and suddenly was sto p ped. The fin ancia l problem s of Norton Villiers had spread to the BSA factory, a writ was issued by a supplier for the company to be taken over by what is known in Brita in a s the Official Receiver and h e and his la wyer co lleagues moved in promptly. U n like a liq uidator, an O fficia l Receiver h as th e a u thority to keep a business going if he considers it ca n be restored to profitability, and I got myself invited to th e inquest at the BSA factory. Once aga in I put forward my plea and em p ha sized th e critica l urgen cy o f th e Saudi co nt rac t. The go-ahead was given th e following da y to complete th e 165 ma chines, but I did not lea rn until la ter th at most of th e men working o n th em had been giv en redundancy notice effective in December. This accounted for th e qua lity sta ndards which were to cause me much troub le lat er in j edda h , I had a j umbo freighter cha rte red to take th e m achines to J eddah on a direct flight from London, paid for by th e Saudis wh o had em p ha sized that it must be direct a nd with no transhipment a n ywh ere. N o probl em I thought until I was waitin g a t J eddah a irport for th e del ayed flight and discovered th e rea SOIl. The ai rport unl oad in g facilities co u ld not handle a jumbo freighter a nd th e co nsi gn men t had been tran sferred to a co u p le of 707s a t Beiru t which arri ved a da v la te. To assem ble t11~ machines I had been a llocated a deserted m ilitary ca mp fi ve mil es from Jeddah in th e desert. No electri c pow er, n o lights, n o worksh op and no wat er, six Sa udi Ara bs whose on ly u se was to break open th e pack in g cases a nd sell the wood to desert n omad s. With me wa s a co mpeten t man from th e BSA facto ry w ho had o nce don e good work o n development o f th e 30 cu. in . Gold Star si ngle cylin der model a nd to gethe r we sta rted th e task of ge tt ing 100 m ach in es read y for th eir pilgrimage escort duties. Tha t was wh en I rea lized that when th e Norton factory closed I shou ld hav e written to Genera l Aloufi regretting th at th e co ntrac t co u ld not be fulfill ed . The T ridents had not been factory tested, co m po nents wer e mi ssing a n d to co m p lete one machine we had to ro b two o thers. Pannier eq u ip me n t did not fit a nd a fter two da ys it was clear tha t I would have to fly back to England a nd get man y co m pone n ts ai rfreighted quick ly to J eddah. I spe nt th ree cro wded days at th e BSA fa ctory a nd with su p p lie rs of eq u ip me nt, then flew back to Arabia with a visa which was only valid for the one entry I had a lready made. There had been no time to go to London and get another but I decided to take a risk and convince the Jeddah immigration authorities that I was on important business for their Defense Force. I arrived at the airport which was crowded with pi lgrims making their wa y to Mecca a nd the passport co n trol o fficia l ca lle d his su pe rior. My exp la na tion s were' ignored and I wa s marched awa y under arrest. to spend the night in the most unpleasant conditions. Pro tests were in vain a nd were not even a ns wered in English: Th e following morning I dem anded to see a sen io r officer and ul timatel y one cam e. Fina lly I convi nced him that I knew Genera l Aloufi a nd I was g ive n permission to leave the a ir port , but only for three da ys. I su p pose that I could have as ked th e Genera l to interv en e, but I was tired of th e whole a ffair a nd had no desire to co n fro n t him with th e news that he would not hav e 100 ma chines ready for th e pilgri mage. We work ed h ard , using o il lamps af ter dark, an d fin ished 25 In terpols by th e time I had report back to the ai rport fo r th e midnight p la ne and I left m y BSA fri end with th e p romise th at I wou ld send o u t anothe r mecha n ic to help him . I was esco rted to th e Tri-Star but la ter went back to th e terminal with all o the r pa ssen gers to wait severa l hours unt il engine tro uble was pronounced cured. A ra ther premature rep ort I thought a s we dived down to th e Mediterranean lat er. Back in En gland I first reporte d to my finan cier friends wh o had a m essage telling m e to ph on e m y Norton Vill iers boss in h is London office. H e want ed to know ab out payment from Saudi Arabia a nd I to ld him unpo litely th at th is was much more reli able than th e machines we had su p p lied . Ther e was no need to be polite as I had a lready decided that I would leave wh at wa s left o f Norton Villi ers and acce p t a n invitation to join BMW , whi ch I did a month lat er. I have oft en wondered whether the ex-Min ister for ' th e La bor Government ever noticed tha t BMWs were being ridden by th e p olice aft er many yea rs of Triumphs and Nortons. In less th an four years I supp lied th em all with BMW fleets and rode th e 2,000th mach in e from Munich to London to celebrate its delivery, but that is another sto ry. • Sh ilton tested all the police-version motorcycles he designed and sold for Triumph. Norton. t hen BMW; here he rides a Norton.