Moto Guzzi V7 III Custom by Vagabund Moto

This is a Moto Guzzi V7 III that has been comprehensively rebuilt by the Austrian team over at Vagabund Moto, a European custom motorcycle garage with a global reputation.

This build began when the owner of this bike, a relatively new 2019 V7 III, approached Paul and Philipp at Vagabund and started a conversation about what they could do with it to make it a little more unique.

Fast Facts – The Moto Guzzi V7 III + Vagabund Moto

• The original Moto Guzzi V7 first appeared in 1971 with styling and specifications that are startlingly similar to the modern version of the model, much to the relief of the Moto Guzzi faithful.
• Power is provided by a longitudinally mounted V-twin engine with a swept capacity of 748cc, two valves per cylinder are actuated by pushrods, and the modern version has a 6-speed transmission and 52 hp at 6,200 rpm.
• The V7 III falls into the same modern classic category as the Triumph Bonneville, the BMW Rnine T, the Harley-Davidson Sportster, and the Ducati Sport Classic models.
• Vagabund Moto was founded back in 2015 and in the years since they’ve made a name for themselves designing custom motorcycles, apparel, motorcycle helmets, art installations, and more.

The Moto Guzzi V7 III

The Moto Guzzi V7 III is one of those modern motorcycles that very deliberately looks like it could have been built decades ago.

Some call them retro and some call them modern classics, at the end of the day they’re motorcycles designed for people who aren’t drawn to modern bikes for one reason or another.

This Moto Guzzi custom has excellent fit and finish, looking like it could be an official concept bike.

The modern classic sector of the global motorcycle marketplace is booming and it has been for years, decades even, with bikes like the V7 III being a common sight on the streets of cities from Sydney to San Diego.

When Moto Guzzi released the first V7 back in 1971 they had no way of knowing that the model line would still be in production 50 years later, albeit in completely revised form. The V-twin used in those first V7s was based on a design created by Italian engineer Giulio Cesare Carcano that was originally intended for automobile use – in the back of a sporting version of the Fiat 500.

Sadly the engine was never used due to the factory’s inability to meet the required production volume, but its displacement would be increased to 754cc so it could be used in the unusual three-wheeled, three-wheel drive Moto Guzzi Autoveicolo da Montagna 3×3.

Not long after this, Italy’s Highway Police launched a tender for a new motorcycle that could cover 100,000 kms with the lowest maintenance costs. As Carcano’s twin-cylinder engine has originally been developed for the rigors of automobile use it was perfectly suited to the challenge.

As a result of this police tender, the first Moto Guzzi V7 prototypes were developed in the mid-1960s and in 1966 mass production of the new motorcycle began. Over the following years a number of different versions of the V7 were built including the popular V7 Ambassador and the V7 Sport.

The style of the bike was designed to mix the classic cafe racer and scrambler genres.

It would be the Moto Guzzi V7 Sport that would lay the groundwork for the modern version you see here, in fact many people have a hard time telling the vintage version and the modern version apart.

The Moto Guzzi V7 III By Vagabund Moto

When the two-man team at Vagabund Moto were contacted by the owner of this 2019 V7 III they saw an opportunity to work with a different kind of twin cylinder motorcycle – many of their previous builds have been based on air-cooled BMW boxers.

For this build they wanted to stick close to their minimalist design aesthetic while also bringing out the best in the Italian V-twin. It was decided to go for a hybrid approach somewhere between the stripped back design of a modern cafe racer and classic scrambler styling, with a more upright seating position and chunky tires.

Vagabund Moto designed and 3D printed a new tail section, fork covers, and a headlight housing. A Shin Yo LED brake light was added in the rear in between dual Bitubo shock absorbers and above the new exhaust with a modified BMW R100R pre-silencer.

A new Alctanara-trimmed seat was created and installed alongside the modified fuel tank. The completed bike looks like it could be an official Moto Guzzi concept bike from a show like EICMA, and the owner has now decided to sell it.

Collecting Cars is currently offering this one-of-a-kind Moto Guzzi for sale in a live online auction (at the time of writing), and you can click here of you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/moto-guzzi-v7-iii-vagabund-moto/
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The Daimler SP250 – An Ex-British Police High-Speed Pursuit Car

The Daimler SP250 is a V8-powered British sports car famous for a number of things in classic car circles, the three most common of which are that the car is powered by an excellent 2.5 liter V8 engine, it was used by some British metropolitan police departments as a high speed pursuit vehicle, and that it’s widely considered to be as ugly as a wheelie bin full of dead badgers.

Before the irate all-caps emails begin let me just say – when it comes to aesthetic sensibilities everyone has their own personal tastes, and it should be noted that there are many in the classic car world who love the SP250’s unusually styled fiberglass body. Jay Leno is one of them.

Fast Facts – Daimler SP250

• A number of Daimler SP250s were bought by British police departments to help combat speeding drivers, and in particular speeding motorcyclists on their “cafe racers.”
• The SP250 has been likened to a British Corvette as it has a steel chassis with a convertible fiberglass body and a V8 engine under the hood.
• Jay Leno owns an SP250 and he’s famously a big fan of the model, particularly its hemi V8 engine.
• Daimler developed the car in the late 1950s and released it in 1959, it was then sold until 1964.
• The SP250 was introduced in the United States at the 1959 New York Motor Show, where it was immediately voted the ugliest car at the show.

The Daimler SP250 – An Acquired Taste

The Daimler SP250 was developed by the British automaker specifically to increase sales in the United States. The 1950s was characterized by “Jet Age” automobile styling, particularly in America, and so the SP250 was given ample rear fins and plenty of chrome elements.

Above Image: Jay Leno is the Daimler SP250’s most famous fan, he restored one with his team a few years ago and in the above episode he sings the praises of the unusual car.

The SP250 was the first proper sports car developed by Daimler and this lack of experience was apparent in the first series of cars, now retroactively referred to as the A-spec vehicles. The 14 gauge steel ladder frame chassis with cruciform bracing was too flexible for sporting driving, and doors were known to fly open when cornering at speed.

The concept of a fiberglass body was relatively new at the time, though the Chevrolet Corvette had been using the same material since it was introduced in 1953 and British automakers like Jensen were using it extensively.

Although we can never know for sure, it’s likely that if the Daimler SP250 had more universally popular styling it likely would have enjoyed strong sales in the United States, and it may have avoided the offloading of Daimler by its parent company BSA to Jaguar in 1960.

That said, the Jaguar acquisition was actually good news for the little Daimler sports car. Jaguar engineers were among the best sports car designers in the world with multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans wins under their belt. After the Daimler was acquired those same Jaguar engineers set about designing the chassis and developing the B-spec version.

The B-spec Daimler SP250 handles like an entirely different car thanks to the changes made to stiffen the chassis, extra outriggers and a strengthening hoop between the A-posts was added, the difference was considerable but by this time the car already had its reputation.

The unusual front end of the SP250 probably offers good aerodynamics, however many find it aesthetically challenged.

A C-spec version of the car was released in 1963 with a few small upgrades but by this time it was clear that the SP250’s days were numbered. Sales were slow, and the Jaguar E-Type had been released in 1961 which was proving to be a huge sales success for the company.

Jaguar did develop some prototypes of the Daimler SP252 with some E-Type styling cues included, however the car never made it into production, and SP250 production ceased in 1964 with just 2,654 built – far shy of the original projections of 3,000 per year.

This wasn’t the end of the road for that hemi-head V8 used in the SP250 though, it was fitted to the Daimler 2.5 V8, a four-door sports saloon car directly based on the popular Jaguar Mark 2.

The Ex-British Police High Speed Pursuit Car Shown Here

The car you see here is one of just 26 or so examples that were bought by police departments in the United Kingdom and used as high speed pursuit vehicles. These cars quickly entered into automotive legend thanks to their top speed of 125 mph, a remarkable figure for the era, and their ability to catch and arrest speeding cafe racers.

Police used their SP250s extensively, some cars were used 18 to 24 hours a day.

Many British police were assigned Wolseley saloons, exceptionally slow cars that didn’t have a hope of running down speeding motorcyclists. The cafe racer movement started in England in the late 1950s, young men would buy motorcycles and tune them for speed. Illegal street races were held from places like the Ace Cafe in London, many young people died and the general public were demanding that something be done.

As a result, somewhere between 26 and 30 Daimler SP250s were bought and assigned to officers in problem areas. The cars were all fitted with three-speed automatic transmissions, as well as police lights, sirens, and badging.

The car you see here is known by its UK registration number of 550 CLU, it’s had a full nut and bolt restoration to Concours condition and it’s a multiple award winning vehicle. Interestingly this is also the car used as a model by Oxford for their 1/43rd scale model of the police edition of the SP250.

This car is due to roll across the auction block on the 13th of November with Silverstone Auctions, if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Silverstone Auctions

The post The Daimler SP250 – An Ex-British Police High-Speed Pursuit Car appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/daimler-sp250-police-car/
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The Mighty Suzuki Jimny LJ80 – A Pint-Sized Japanese Off-Roader

It’s not that often we get a chance to feature a first generation Suzuki Jimny here on Silodrome, it seems that so few of them have been preserved and those that have rarely get sold.

The Jimny was Suzuki’s entry into the four-wheel drive market that first appeared in 1970, unlike the full-size Toyota Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol the Jimny was designed to be a smaller class of vehicle to meet Japan’s Kei car regulations.

This smaller size and lighter weight made the Jimny an exceptionally useful four-wheel drive and it remains popular to this day, with the latest version reverting to more retro styling cues that have won it a new generation of fans around the world.

Fast Facts – The Suzuki Jimny

• The Suzuki Jimny originally started life as the HopeStar ON360, a small four-wheel drive developed by Japanese automaker Hope Motor Company. After they went bankrupt and were acquired by Suzuki.
• The official model name of the first Jimny was the Suzuki LJ10 (Light Jeep 10), this was followed by the LJ20, LJ50, LJ80, and so on, each denoting a larger more powerful engine.
• Each of the four generations of the Jimny have used body-on-chassis construction with live axles front and rear, selectable four-wheel drive with high and low-range, and a ruggedly simple drivetrain.
• The first generation was built from 1970 and replaced with the second generation version in 1981. First gen vehicles are a bit of a rarity now and they’re becoming highly collectible.

The Suzuki Jimny

In the late 1960s when Suzuki decided to launch a program to develop and build their own four-wheel drive vehicle they knew they needed to find a different approach to the likes of Toyota and Nissan.

The smaller form factor of the LJ80 means it can sometimes go places that larger, heavier four-wheel drives can’t.

The company bought a Steyr-Puch Haflinger, a pint-sized, cab-forward Austrian 4×4, and set about studying it to see what they could use.

Before they got too far with it, it was discovered that the Japanese automaker Hope Motor Company was going bankrupt, and they happened to have a small 4×4 in their model line up that had been developed but not put into full production yet called the HopeStar ON360.

Suzuki created their own version of the ON360 that was similarly designed to fall under Japan’s Kei class of vehicles, there are smaller automobiles and commercial vehicles with strict power restrictions that are given significant tax breaks.

The first Jimny that left the factory was the Suzuki LJ10 (Light Jeep 10) which was powered by an air-cooled 359cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine producing 25 bhp. When it was released in 1970 it was the first four-wheel drive Kei car to enter series production.

In 1972 the slightly more powerful LJ20 was released, followed by the LJ50 and then the LJ80 in 1977, known locally in Japan as the SJ20. The Suzuki LJ80 was powered by a more powerful 800cc four-stroke engine producing 42 hp. This additional power meant that the gearbox and final drive gearing could be increased to allow higher speeds in excess of 60 mph.

Over the course of its four generations the Jimny has been known by a number of names in different export markets, for example in Australia it was known as the Sierra, and specifications did vary for many export models.

This Jimny is powered by the original 42 hp 800cc four-stroke SOHC inline-four cylinder engine.

Suzuki is released the fourth generation Jimny in 2018 to almost universal praise, the styling of the new model was influenced by earlier iterations of the small 4×4 as well as industry classics like the Mercedes-Benz G Wagen and the original Land Rover Defender.

The Suzuki LJ80 Jimny Shown Here

The LJ80 you see here recently received a refurbishment before being shipped to the United States from Guatemala, where it doubtless had a very interesting life given the history of political upheaval in the small Central American nation.

Finished in Greek Yellow paintwork with black steel wheels and a black vinyl interior, it’s powered by the correct 42 hp 800cc four-stroke SOHC inline-four cylinder engine and power is sent from there to a 4-speed manual transmission. Both high and low-range is available of course, and power can be sent to either the rear wheels only or all four wheels.

We see very few of these on the road in the United States so this tidy looking LJ80 will likely attract a fair bit of attention. It’s currently for sale via live online auction with Collecting Cars, selling out of Accord, NY.

If you’d like to read more about this vehicle or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/suzuki-jimny-lj80/
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