Monday 21 December 2009

Nothing like the real thing



Now this hound appeared on eBay, and despite a lot of scepticism made $16,300 - just over ten grand in sterling - probably to someone who's going to ship it abroad with all the taxes and costs that involves. For a tatty 175cc Ducati. Are they mad?

Oh no - this is an F3, basically a hand built 175cc Gran Sport with goodies like sand cast crankcases, Amadoro brakes and straight cut bevel gears. Made for racing F3s shared little with the road bikes - different frames, tinware, the lot. Probably less than 100 were made between 1959 and '62, making them ultra rare and Giro eligible.

This one will probably be restored to some numpties shiny vision of what it might have looked like new, but we kind of like the race-dog look, with the scars of races won and practice get-offs. After all, if you just want something that looks like new, we know where you can get one, complete with a 250's 5 speed gearbox...

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