Subject: RE: V700 decals
Author: Prusnek
Date: Aug 3, 2004, 7:34 PM
Post ID: 1717281053
I'm no expert but couldn't you make one from the Ambo decal? Just remove the Ambassador word and replace the 5 with another 0 and you'd have it (I think). Jim |
Jim:
Not that simple; from the research I've done, the very early 700cc in
'67 and the beginning of '68 had a completely outlined 'V7' only, not
'V700'. Later in '68 they added '700cc' under the 7 in smaller solid
letters. Then in '69 they changed it to 'V750' with an outlined 'V' and
solid '750', with the 7 being larger than the 50, and added the word
'Ambassador' in upper and lower case solid letters above it. I have
these because I restored a '69 and couldn't find them anywhere. All of
the above went on the non-louvered sidecovers.
In late '70 or early '71 came the third series Ambassador with the
louvered sidecovers, V750 with a longer outlined V, solid 750 and the
outlined 'Ambassador' in outlined script under it. The European version
of the same bike was the V7 Special.
None of this is absolute; I'm sure Moto Guzzi used up existing stocks
of supplies and mixed them in with the current model year going out the
door like any other motorcycle manufacturer of the time. Indian
Motocycle Co. used to advertise this as 'No model years, just constant
improvement' and printed that in their early brochures. According to
Greg Field's book, the importer (Premier) would exchange earlier red and
silver body parts for the later white ones to help the dealers sell the
ones they had sitting on the floor. The louvered sidecovers will
exchange directly with the earlier sidecovers, I'm sure there was a lot
of mix and match over the years. I talked to a guy last night who had
one toolbox with a knob and one with a lock.
Anyway, I ain't really all that anal about this but you asked... get
on the damn things and ride them.
John Prusnek
http://myweb.core.com/photos/spajohn@raex.com/MotoGuzziDecals