Kuwaiti Police bike GTL

Piranha Brother 2 said:
Wow! Some great pics. the big mongrel on the red one makes it look like my old 50cc Vespina!! I reckon I'm half his size! And the desert one looks like it's almost fossilizing.
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Quentin,

The "big mongrel" later advanced to Prefect of the Bassano del Grappa Police Force.

While we were enjoying an ice cream in a cafe in Bassano in 1995, a mate discovered a red GTL in a neighbouring auto repair shop.  A couple of questions later, he wandered off into the city, returning with said "mongrel".  Apparently, the bike was his personal property by then.  A few coffees later, a deal was done, and the pictured GTL came to Germany.  After riding mine, another mate commented he'd love one for himself... another deal was done and he now owns this very bike.  While going through the T?V/rego process, the VIN of this bike caught my attention.  Peeked at my own rego papers, lo and behold, the bikes were twins!  The red GTL was #17937, my own #17936!

Later on, I discovered that photo in Tim Parkers' book "Italian Motorcycles", and my own bike is pictured in Giovannis' "La Diva", pg 55.

piet
 
Che coincidenza!! I would be very careful using expressions like 'big mongrel' with il prefetto della polizia bassanese! 'Sir' would be more appropriate  :D

Great anecdote, piet!
 
Yep, small world indeed!

What amazed me was that while the 2 bikes stood behind each other on the assembly line, one went to the other side of the globe, the other "around the corner" from Breganze, Bassano being around 30km up the road.  Then, a good 25 years later, they find themselves again in the same workshop.

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
Yep, small world indeed!

... the 2 bikes stood behind each other on the assembly line,  ...
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How is that possible? Surely one would be behind the other, or one in front of the other, or perhaps beside each other, but they can't both be behind the other one.  ;)

Sorry. It's been a slow day. Too cold and wet to do anything outside.  ::)
 
Dellortoman said:
How is that possible? Surely one would be behind the other, or one in front of the other, or perhaps beside each other, but they can't both be behind the other one.  ;)

Sorry. It's been a slow day. Too cold and wet to do anything outside.  ::)
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Old nit picker... :D

piet
 
Here are some photos of the project start.
 

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sfcpiet said:
Yep, small world indeed!

What amazed me was that while the 2 bikes stood behind each other on the assembly line, one went to the other side of the globe, the other "around the corner" from Breganze, Bassano being around 30km up the road.  Then, a good 25 years later, they find themselves again in the same workshop.

piet
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that is an awesome story, I think that is Serendipity if I ever heard of it.
 
Ah yes I was bidding on this bike on eBay...
Good luck with restoring the bike and let us know about the condition of engine- seller said it had been rebuilt ?
Paul
 
the pictures in post #46, remind me of the two solos (and one sidecar) that Evil Kneival had,
out of his three bikes, at least one of them was a prototype with Bosch pre engaged starter and stepped in starter/belt cover. I have seen a video of his jumping and the features are clear.
1242 was the sidecar 1243 was one of the solos the other (with the Bosch starter) I don't know, it is also possible these were not the only ones that he was provided with in addition to a not that bad a salary, even if it only lasted eight months before Harley came in with big bucks.
CLEM
 
Hi Clem,

Perhaps I should convert this into an EK replica instead ! The problem is that I can dress up like a Middle Eastern cop for a classic bike show, but I can't jump motorcycles....
 
well, I am glad about that, because I am not a fan of the late Evel, he was a thug and a crook, (if you believe what is written elsewhere) when he wanted to beat someone up, he even paid henchmen to hold the guy while he gave him his full on anger, brave boy or what? he did prison for that! much prefer the Arabic cop
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
well, I am glad about that, because I am not a fan of the late Evel, he was a thug and a crook, (if you believe what is written elsewhere) when he wanted to beat someone up, he even paid henchmen to hold the guy while he gave him his full on anger, brave boy or what? he did prison for that! much prefer the Arabic cop
CLEM
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Arabic cop would pay henchman to bury Up to necks and stone them, but still can?t do stand up wheelies dressed like Elvis- Evel replica gets my vote & you get to put a parachute on it, much better than standard Grimecas!
 
putting your outstretched heels into the sand would give more retardation than the Grimeca's!
CLEM
ps that's the video, but couldn't play it.
 
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