Hailwood Ducati For Sale: $19,000

Hailwood Ducati For Sale: $19,000

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THIS MOTORCYCLE MAY BE THE ultimate two-wheeled name-dropper: not only is it a Mike Hailwood Replica but its engine covers are engraved with the signature of Fabio Taglioni, the man known to every red-blooded Ducati lover as the visionary father of desmodromic valve gear. Ducati aficionados can also cite chapter and verse about the Mike Hailwood Mille ( lOOOcc) Replica, a machine out of production since 1986, originally built to celebrate Hailwood’s 1978 outof-retirement win on a Ducati at the Isle of Man. To many, the bike was the most revered example of a 90-degree, V-Twinpowered machine that Ducati Mechanica ever produced.

Now, a Swiss com pany called GV MotoFaszination (Beim Sportzentrum, CH-8570,

Weinfeldon, Switzerland) is making 25 brand-new Hailwood Replicas, presumably from spare parts, and offering them for sale at a price the company unabashedly says “will exceed the amount of 30,000 Swiss francs.” That work’s out to a few green-backs short of $ 19,000.

For that lofty sum, each of the lucky 25 buyers will get a Hailwood Replica made more special with the addition of engine covers engraved with Taglioni’s hand-writing and with a brass plaque proclaiming that the bike has been built in honor of the famous Ducati chief engineer.