Happy Birthday Moto Guzzi! 90 years and still going strong!

By Richard Backus
Published on March 16, 2011
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The first Moto Guzzi: 1921 single-cylinder 500cc Normale.

Moto Guzzi, the famed Italian marque best known in our crowd for its V-twin touring bikes, the Eldorado and Ambassador, and the ground-breaking 1976 LeMans factory café racer, turned 90 on March 15. Of course the most significant Moto Guzzi was the very first one. The “G.P.” prototype (which stood for Guzzi and Parodi) appeared in 1920. Designed by Carlo Guzzi and funded by the Giorgio Parodi family, it featured a 500cc horizontal, single-cylinder engine, along with unit construction gearbox and exposed “bacon-slicer’ flywheel, now a hallmark of early Guzzis.

This architecture would soldier on for another 50 years, demonstrating its inherent design quality and engineering integrity. In fact, the final Falcone, a Nuovo model from 1976, was a direct descendant of this original design. A production version of the G.P. followed in 1921, called the “Normale.” Somewhat down-spec’d to make it more affordable, the prototype’s four-valve cylinder head made way for a more cost-effective two-valve configuration, and redundant, dual-ignition was dispensed with. Although only 17 were produced that first year, over 2,000 more would follow.

By 1957, Moto Guzzi had progressed to building the ultimate race bike; a 500cc V8.

It’s interesting to note that after these first machines were successfully constructed in Mandello del Lario, the Italian lakeside city became the spiritual home for the brand. Production continues there to this day. This is also when the familiar “Eagle” emblem was first applied to a Moto Guzzi, in honor of the Italian Air Corps in which Guzzi and Parodi (along with Ravelli, a third friend who was unfortunately killed) previously served. The “Eagle” is now indelibly linked to the Moto Guzzi marque. Another unique twist of fate is that from the very beginning, the Parodi family owned all the shares of the Moto Guzzi company. Despite his genius and incredible contribution, Carlo Guzzi only received a royalty for each bike built.

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