Sold Inventory
1947 Moto Guzzi Superalce
The Moto Guzzi Alce was introduced in 1938, for military use, before being replaced by the Superalce. Around 6,000 Superalce’s were produced in this series before it was replaced in the mid 1950’s with the Falcone. Of those 6,000 bikes, only 26 are currently known to be in the United States at this time. This particular 1947 Superalce is one of those 26 examples and may be one of the nicest in the country. We recently spoke to the restorer of this bike. He informed me that he bought the bike from a friend back in late 1995, got it running as "unrestored" rattle can black, then restored it in 1997/1998. It was a rolling basket case when he bought it and got it limping along without doing a restoration but felt that it deserved a new lease on life. During the restoration, a Guzzi singles enthusiast/guru helped with most of the mechanical restoration. They then went to Italy to procure parts and bought a new set of engine cases for it. The crank/con are original but the needle bearings are new. They put a domed Falcone sport piston in it, but left the cam alone. The valves, valve springs, guides and seats were all replaced. He then rebuilt the wheels with new spokes. The paint job was done locally in San Francisco by Pete the Painter of Underground Colors, he also had the Gas tank dipped in tin to stop any corrosion. They machined off the flywheel cover, that is why you see the whole flywheel (on that model, the flywheel is protected by sheet metal). The color is not original, just some close approximation that he liked. The chromed pieces are also not strictly correct. The Superalce came in several flavors; Military (dark OD green, no chrome), Civilian (light green, chrome), Forest Military (dark forest green, no chrome) and possibly, like the Alce, a North Africa version in sand or sand camouflage. This bike was originally a Military that had another coat of "off" green brushed on top of that and then someone had spray painted black on top of that...getting all those layers of paint off took some time in front of a bead blaster. The fenders were straightened and the lips of the fenders folded over to give more strength...normally the fenders end with a straight cut, but since they had to add metal to fix the fenders he wanted to add a little extra so he could fold the ends over on themselves giving a stout end to the fender. Once the restoration was completed, the bike was sold to a gentleman in Wisconsin who we purchased the bike from. He has had the bike for the last 5 – 7 years in his very large motorcycle collection. The bike was used and not just sitting in a corner. The bike does start and run with no problems that we have found. There is no title, which is not uncommon for these bikes and is being sold on a Bill or Sale only. The VIN number is 11596. Sold For: $8,500 |
