Scrumpy said:
Here's another. Not sure where this pic came from.
Scrumpy
That's my old bike, leaning against a tree as I'd hurt my back and couldn't manage the centre stand...
I wanted to bring this thread back from the dead, as the number given for how many Formula 120s were built is wrong, its not 6 but 7, as I had the 7th. I bought it from Slaters back in the early 90's when it was looking sorry for itself, having just been bought back from Spain, where the original owner lived. Richard told me an interesting tale about how this last Formula came about..
They managed to sell 6 Formulas before the 120 Jotas were discontinued in favour of the then new RGS series, so that was that, or so they thought. A few months later, one morning they were opening up the shop, only to find a pair of feet sticking out of a cardboard box around the back of the workshop. It wasn't a tramp, but a young man who'd travelled all the way from Spain, with the intention to buy a Formula Jota. Very sorry he was told, but they've all gone, cant make anymore, how about an RGS instead?
But the young man wasn't to be deterred, as he waved a large bundle of notes at Richard... okay.. lets see what we can do. They tracked down the last Jota 120 (a demo model) at another dealer, so the young man and a mechanic were sent off in the works van to go and have a look at it. They returned with the almost new 120 in the van. It took three weeks to convert the Jota, during which the young man stayed with Richard and his family. When the bike was completed, he rode it home to Spain, from where every now and again he'd order the odd spare, so Richard knew he still had it.
Fast forward 20 years and the now not so young man, decided to sell, and offered to Slaters, who brought it home. Where I come in and bought it. Stripped it down, had the engine taken out to 1200cc, line bored the carbs etc.. couldn't get hold of a new Harris exhaust system, so made a one-off in stainless instead. It was 98% complete, when I sold it to a nice man who lives in the borders (Berwick I think), who already a couple of Formula Mirages.. I sold it because I thought I'd be soon be moving abroad, along with my mint SS900 Bevel... in the end I didn't.. sigh..
I've posted up some pics of the bike before it went to a new home, I've got some old pics some where of the bike when I first bought it..
BTW another oddity was that it was given a 'C' reg by the DVLC, when it would've originally have been a 'Y', not sure why, something to do with when it was exported out of the UK I think..