cooperplace wrote:It's interesting that Bologna bikes had Barcelona-made engines: makes you wonder how many?
Towards the end of the singles production, a fair few, by all accounts. All the w/c 250 Scramblers - and these in their entirety. And the engines (at least) of the 350 Scramblers and Mark 3s, for example. However, as I understand it, the 450 was never made in Spain, nor were the Desmos - well, at least not the top-ends anyway.
All this was linked to Bologna droppng the singles in favour of the twins, both 'L' and parallel.
You know, the more you research into Ducati's history, the more you realise how big a part Motorans played in it, both in terms of manufacturing and in racing. This despite the fact many of the great names of Italian racing such as Farné, Spaggiari and Villa raced extensively in Spain, to say nothing of the Spanish racers themselves like Fargas, Reyes and Grau. It's a role that is generally understated, largely I suspect 'cos the bikes weren't much exported, the best known exceptions being the 24 Horas and the 250/350 Roads; and also 'cos of the language barrier for English-speaking authors. Neither of the two reference works on Motorans that I know of, for example, have been translated into English, for example.
Here's the first Mototrans Ducati coming off the line. Accordiing to Marc Poels,
l'Histoire de Ducati, the date is 2 December 1959 and the bike is a 125 Sport. That's Ricardo Fargas in the middle, btw:
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. I guess you could make a counter-offer; but it kinda destroys your confidence, no?