This lovely green piece of Japanese artwork is the Suzuki GT380. I wish I had a "before" picture of this one. This bike had fizz can turquoise paint, runs and all, with yellow lightning bolts on it. Very nice. I took it (mostly) apart and just cleaned it up and my Dad painted it this dark emerald metallic. The GT380 was one of a series, they had the GT550 and GT380 that were air-cooled two stroke triples and the GT750 which was liquid cooled. In the states we call the 750's the "water buffalo" and in Europe it was a "kettle" or some such shit. I can't remember what year this was but I think it was a '74? It had three cylinders and four exhausts, and a digital gear indicator that looked like the old TI calculator numbers and if I remember correctly it had a short and would not indicate third gear. Quite novel. It ran pretty good and I liked it.
This bike I only had for a short time and I also do not have any "before" shots. I got it from a schoolmate when I was in high school, he lived down the road from a pig farm and this thing was stored in a barn. It was very rough but more or less complete. I traded it in that state to a friend who got it to the condition you see above. The bike is a 1966 (I think) Ducati Monza Jr. 160. It's not quite original, not that it matters, but that gorgeous pipe was custom made for this bike. I wouldn't have put a cheap plastic face shield as a fly screen, nor that ugly Honda speedo. It's a cool looking bike though, no? I can take credit for the photo however and if you'd like a nice print of it leave your email in a comment and I'll contact you with the info.
1 comment:
I remember that 380. That was a cool bike. I did forget about the original paint job! Yeah, Chief did a pretty good paint job on that. That was one of his first, if I remember right.
Your Dad's cousin Howie had a Ducati 160. Ask Chief about the race between the bike and that old nag horse we had!
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