While a Wankel-engined motorcycle is a novelty these days, there was a moment in time, in the 1960s and ‘70s, when the Wankel engine seemed destined to transform the motoring industry. Every major automotive and motorcycle manufacturer took out a license (or simply bootlegged a prototype) to build this remarkable new engine that produced exceptional power using only three moving parts. Typical with any new technology, technical hurdles needed sorting, and manufacturers like NSU and Citroen, which rushed into production, paid a high price for the Wankel dream. Only Mazda stayed the course and sorted the issues, and it remains the only major manufacturer to produce Wankel vehicles for decades. Quite a few Wankel motorcycles also made it into production in the 1970s and ‘80s, including Hercules, Suzuki and Norton, but only Norton found success with Wankels, winning police and military contracts through the 1980s, and winning the British F1 Championship with a racing version of its design in 1989. The story of the Wankel Norton actually began at BSA in 1969; market research indicated the motorcycling public would accept a Wankel engine on fast sports machines, so BSA hired Rolls-Royce engineer David Garside. With the demise of BSA, Garside’s project was moved to Norton, who licensed Felix Wankel’s design on July 25, 1972. Garside was helped by retired BSA and Triumph designer Bert Hopwood, and they created a 588cc twin-rotor air-cooled Wankel engine that produced 70 HP, more than any British production motorcycle. In 1978, a new prototype, the Norton P42, was geared up for production, but it took until 1984 for Norton to actually produce the P42, which was never sold to the public, instead becoming the Interpol II for police duty. The Interpol II’s air-cooled twin-rotor engine gave 85 HP and proved ideal for long-distance and steady riding. The Interpol II was in production from 1984-89, with around 350 built. The first civilian Norton Wankel was the Classic, built as a limited edition of around 100 machines in 1987, which sold out quickly. As Norton continued to develop its rotary, water-cooling was a natural next step to deal with heat issues, and in 1988, the Commander with a radiator was introduced, the P52, and around 250 were built. Norton also built a limited number of the dual-seat P53 civilian touring bike, with panniers integral with its fiberglass bodywork initially. Later, the P53 bodywork was revised to use detachable Krauser panniers. All of these machines were built in the tens or hundreds, and thus are all very rare. They are also very simple machines—the motor has five moving parts—that produce tremendous power for their size. This 1993 Norton Commander P53 is one of 61 produced with Krauser pannier bags and one of 253 Commanders built in both police and civilian models. The odometer reads 477 km (296 miles), making this an essentially as-new motorcycle and a very rare one indeed. S173 1993 NORTON COMMANDER P53
