The Tampa Bay Automobile Museum Adds Its First Motorcycle: The 1989 Norton Commander with a Rotary Engine
- Candace Watkins
- Oct 20
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 29
The Tampa Bay Automobile Museum has officially added its first motorcycle and it’s no ordinary bike. The 1989 Norton Commander, powered by a 588 cc Wankel rotary engine, represents a daring engineering experiment in motorcycle history.
Unlike traditional piston engines, the Wankel rotary uses spinning triangular rotors instead of reciprocating pistons, producing power in a smooth, continuous motion. The result is a compact, lightweight engine with an uncanny turbine-like feel, that's quiet, balanced, and capable of remarkably high RPMs. It’s the same type of engine found in groundbreaking vehicles like the NSU Ro 80, the Mazda RX-7, and even certain aircraft and drones.
Norton saw the rotary as a way to distinguish itself from the dominant Japanese motorcycle industry. After the collapse of Norton-Villiers-Triumph, the revived Norton Motors Ltd. wanted to prove that British engineering could still innovate at the highest level.
From Police Duty to Touring Luxury
The Norton Commander began its life in uniform. In the early 1980s, British police departments adopted Norton’s Interpol 2, a motorcycle powered by a compact air-cooled rotary engine that offered smooth, reliable operation for long patrols. Officers valued its quiet performance and the absence of vibration, a major advantage during all-day shifts.
Building on that foundation, Norton engineers developed a more advanced liquid-cooled version in 1988. The result was the P53 Commander, a touring motorcycle that brought the same technology to civilian riders. Its twin-rotor 588 cc engine produced 85 horsepower at 9,000 rpm, with a top speed around 125 mph and impressive fuel economy of up to 49 miles per gallon.
The Science of Smooth Power
The Commander’s rotary engine works differently from any piston motorcycle. Instead of pistons moving up and down, two triangular rotors spin in oval chambers, producing continuous power with very little friction or noise. The design gave the Commander a distinctive turbine-like sound and a smoothness unmatched by even the finest touring bikes of its time.
Engineers took the design further by integrating the frame into the cooling system. Air passed through the hollow rotors, into the steel backbone frame that doubled as a cooling plenum and oil tank, and then through twin SU carburetors. The drivetrain used an enclosed final-drive chain, reducing maintenance and keeping operation quiet and clean.
A Short but Brilliant Legacy
Despite its engineering excellence, the Commander was expensive to build. At around £7,500 in 1989, it cost more than a BMW K100LT, and Norton’s small production capacity limited support and availability. Fewer than 300 were built before the company ended motorcycle manufacturing in 1992.
But the story didn’t end there. The same 588 cc rotary engine evolved into Norton’s race program, leading to Steve Hislop’s legendary 1992 Isle of Man TT victory, when a rotary-powered Norton F1 defeated the world’s top superbikes.
See It at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum
Visitors can see the 1989 Norton Commander in person at the Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Automobile Museum. where it will be part of the Rotary Engine Exhibit. This exhibit will explore the creative history of rotary power, from early experiments by NSU to the daring Citroën GS Birotor and the iconic Mazda RX series, culminating in Norton’s remarkable contribution to the story.
The Commander is more than a motorcycle. It’s a reminder of how innovation takes flight when engineers dare to do things differently.
Sources:
Robert Smith, “Norton’s Rotary: 1989 Norton Commander,” Motorcycle Classics, August 15, 2014. https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-british-motorcycles/1989-norton-commander-zm0z14sozbea/
Roland Brown, “When Norton Joined the Rotary Club,” Hagerty Media, December 7, 2023. https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorcycles/when-norton-joined-the-rotary-club
Norton Motors Ltd. archival materials, Shenstone, UK (1980s–1990s).
Period testing and owner reports cited in Superbike Magazine (1988) and Roger Slater interview, Motorcycle Classics (2014).