Rare Italian: 1960 Moto Guzzi Galletto
Scooters aren’t too popular here in the hallowed halls of Barn Finds, but hopefully this 1960 Moto Guzzi Galletto will be different. This isn’t some 49cc scooter. This unusual and rare machine will be auctioned off at the Tenth Annual Southern New Hampshire Antique Boat & Auto Auction on May 20th in beautiful Brookline, New Hampshire. This will be one to watch, at least for myself who would absolutely love to add this one to the unusual small motorcycle collection. Thanks to Woodboats.org for the head’s up on this auction! Check out the link for some super cool vehicles of all types that will be up for auction.
You may have noticed the spare wheel tucked in back of the front wheel, that is a very cool, unique feature that makes me like it even more. I missed out on a 1960 Moto Guzzi Zigolo 110 a couple of years ago and it’s haunted me ever since. This auction doesn’t do internet bidding but they can do phone bids. Here’s a fun fact: Galletto means cockerel, or rooster, as seen in this decal on this bike.
The fine folks from the auction sent me a few additional photos and they list this info on this cool bike on their auction page: “Moto Guzzi Galletto 192 CC w/original side car w/horn for passenger. Extremely rare barn find survivor w/703 original miles. Loads of original parts/sheet metal still in original packaging and manuals. All systems working.”
This Galletto would take up the space of three of my tiny Japanese market Hondas but it would be worth it. The Galletto was made beginning in 1950 and at that time they had a 160cc motor and a three-speed transmission. It’s a horizontal single-cylinder four-stroke engine which was fairly sophisticated at the time. In 1952 they had a 175cc engine with 4-speeds and finally in 1954 they had a 192cc engine like the one seen above. Top speed was around 53 mph/85 kph. That’s like being on the Bonneville Salt Flats compared to my 35-mph-downhill-with-a-tail-wild scooters and minibikes.
The look was somewhat similar to the Velocette at the time in regards to at least somewhat protecting the rider’s legs during bad weather with the leg shields. I believe that in 1961 electric start would have been included but part of the experience of riding any two-wheeler is kicking it over, that feature has been missing on a lot of them over the last two or even three decades. Have any of you gotten a vehicle sight-unseen from an auction other than on eBay? If so, how did it work out?
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Comments
No question who wrote this up. Isn’t the side hack on the wrong side? I can’t think of anything more terrifying than riding in a sidecar. Just sitting there, no control, and facing oncoming traffic with this. I heard,there’s 2 things you should only do at night. One is ride a Moped ( or scooter) and the other can’t be mentioned here.
Howard, The scooter probably started life in the UK, India ,Japan, or Australia.
In one of the countries that insist on driving on the wrong side of the road.
Your right Howard sidecar is on the Great Britain side. Which tell me it started life on another continent. I personally love side car bikes, I’m on my second one. My first was a brand new in 2008 ural patrol. It was a fun little bike that both terrified me and excited me. What was terrifying was riding at rung out to the max 90 kph while a semi was breathing down my back side. And that is why I ultimately got rid of it. My current side car rig is a 1977 gold wing with very rare author filmer fairing, bags, and trunk. It has a custom side car that I built for it. I reverse engineered the Ural side car before I sold it and built the under chassie out of off cut axle tubes 2″X1/4 I mounted mine lower to the ground and put air ride suspension on it, disc brake, and matching goldwing front wheel. The gold wing with side car will move along at a steady 130kph so no more semi’s up my back side. Side car bikes are like nothing you’ve ever riden and there is a definate learning curve even for an experienced rider, but that is what makes them fun. My GW is rock solid on the highway where as my Ural was not, I’m pretty comfortable on it. As for you Scotty I thought you were really tall won’t you feel cramped up on such a small hack?
Bikes with a side car mounted on the right hand side of the bike are banned in South Africa. Doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are from, the answer is a big No, No!
I’ve often dreamt of getting a Ural myself! One review I read said it was like wrestling a Bear down the road but having the second wheel able to drive it would make the perfect bike to haul a bunch of camping gear far from the nearest pavement.
Many cars were available in Italy up into the 1960s with the choice of RHD or LHD. It depended on what part of the country you lived in as to which you’d choose. If you lived in the mountains, most picked RHD, in order to keep an eye on the edge of the un-guardrailed road. Lancias, Fiats, etc. all offered this option. Perhaps this Moto-Guzzi was the same? I wouldn’t assume it was an export just because of what side the sidecar is on.
Howard, good to read your comments again. Another “in your face” driving experience are the various flat front mid engine vans from the early/mid 60’s.
I live in the county seat where we have more than our fair share of “DUI work-release” cyclists riding their 49cc Chinese mopeds at night.
Actually, Howard, the passenger is more in control of the handling than the driver. The guys in this video are at a major disadvantage when it comes to brakes and tires to the other rigs, and I’ll bet they had more fun than any of their competitors!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LM3PyGvhwg
I raced sidecars at Sears Point, Laguna Seca, Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside, and Willow Springs in the late 70s-1980. Your passenger is basically movable ballast, similar to the crewman on a catamaran. Under acceleration, the rig will try to pivot around the sidecar wheel, and under braking, the sidecar will try to pivot around the front wheel. If the chair wheel starts to lift, either a light application of front brake, or ( preferably ) more throttle will bring it back down.
Sidecar rigs need to be driven like a sprint car- just enough throttle to keep the rear tire slipping ever so slightly to overcome the massive understeer or “push”
that is their natural condition. As long as the passenger is in the correct position, cornering speed is amazing. In 1989 at Laguna Seca, the 500cc
sidecars were only 3.2seconds off the lap record for the 500cc solo lap record, even though they were considerably heavier, given the extra frame, wheel, tire, fuel load and rider. In fact, they were over a second a lap faster than the 240 + hp Formula Atlantic lap record.
Watch MAV TV ( 214 on Direct TV ) for both the FIM and British sidecar races, or look up sidecar racing on YouTube.
@Doug. Thank you for the description of how to ride a bike with sidecar attached. I have owned several, although have never raced one, and your description of the handling characteristics is absolutely spot on. I discovered this purely by accident while riding my 1955 Royal Enfield 500cc bullet with Steib sidecar while negotiating a left hand bend in South Africa. As the bend tightened up the chair lifted, I crapped myself and threw myself over to the left thinking that I was going to have a head on with a Ford Cortina, and in doing so I inadvertently grabbed a handful of throttle and the chair slammed back down and the bike cornered like a painted stripe. A great learning curve.
That would make a fun little winter time grocery getter for sure, I’m sure it’ll go for a price that would keep you from even thinking about getting any salt on it. Perhaps best suited for the weekend/vacation home or use in a community where golf carts are acceptable for street use.
Cool little scoot! The undampened springs under the side car must make for a bouncy ride!
I think this motor scooter came from the Farco Brothers in Newton, Mass. They had a motorcycle shop selling Italian and British motorcycles in the 60’s and seventies
You are Correct Bob Connors
This is most, no forget most, foremost, dream vehicle of my long life.
A perfect cruise to Mc Donalds and head for lakes fishing machine for me and old lab.
Now out of my price range as they are super high collectibles to cults.
As the owner of this Guzzi…. it is a scary eye opening ride in the side car…..but the foot horn in the side car gives you a sense of security
Originally purchased form Farco Scooter Motocylcles in Newton Mass who sold Moto Guzzi, Ducati and Norton’s before closing shop in the 70’s This original survivor piece is going to be a hard one to part with
Ps….this scooter has electric start and kick start!!
What, no seat belts? Looks pretty dangerous.
Hey canadainmarkshey ,
How about a picture of your set up? It sounds cool!
I think side cars are cool. But never wanted to ride in one or ride with one. We were camping last year in Texas and ran into a couple with a ural/sidecar set up.
It looked nice. And the owner really liked it. But said anything over 45 MPH scared the S_ _T out of him. (He was over 70 years old.) We talked motorcycles for over an hour. And we had owned a couple of the same bikes in the past. So he was not a timid rider.
Hi Wayne I’d like to put a pic of my rig up and have tried in the past but I just can’t seem to be able to get the formatting worked out. I work solely through an iPad mini and I’m not to computer savvy. If any of you guys can give me navigating help I’d be happy to post.
Another pic of the 19559 Royal Enfield
I have been riding a 79 Vespa with a sidecar for a couple of years. Added a VW steering dampener to smooth out the ride. I even took first place in our scooter drag racing league.