As a fanatical, perhaps slightly obsessive collector of old motorcycles, it is inevitable that occasionally I buy yet another when an irresistible opportunity presents itself. And so it was that I arranged to sell one of my old bikes, a 1979 Moto Guzzi 1000 Spada to a good friend of mine who will use it as I wasn't doing so. Instead of waiting for the departure to take place and for the money to arrive I just had to make myself temporarily skint by buying more MZ bikes (like yer do!). The first to arrive was a 1969 MZ ES 150. I saw it on Ebay and pressed the Buy It Now You Impetuous Fool button soon after. I had a later model some years back and know that they are a lovely thing to ride. This is an early model, the later ones are rare enough in this country, this is most unusual. It differs to the other one I had in having an aluminium cover to protect the carburettor's modesty (!) and voluminous legshields. Being from 1969 it qualifies for free road tax and it should be a hoot to ride.
I was taken to collect it from Wellington in Shropshire by my good friends from the Jawa CZ club, Pete and Steve (that's Steve's car that can be seen). Pete is standing in the background looking suitably amused.
The paintwork is quite poor, having obviously sprayed with rattle cans and to my horror it wears original East German Pneumant tyres which have a deserved reputation for having the grip of teflon and will have to be replaced as I refuse to use them. Apart from that I don't think it will take a great deal to sort out so I am confident it will be on the road next Spring.
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