Property of a deceased's estate
c.1949 Gilera 247cc Nettuno Sport
Registration no. not registered
Frame no. to be advised
Engine no. to be advised
Gilera first sprang to prominence in the late 1930s when its supercharged four-cylinder racers trounced BMW in Grands Prix and snatched the world speed record from the German marque. Throughout the early 1950s it was the racers that again grabbed the headlines, the Arcore marque taking five manufacturer's titles and six individual championships with riders such as Duke, Liberati, and Masetti. Although racing generated valuable publicity, it was sales of road bikes that paid the bills. Best known and most successful large-capacity Gilera roadster of the period was the 500cc Saturno. Less familiar outside Italy was its baby brother the Nettuno (Neptune), a 247cc, overhead-valve, four-stroke single, which, like its larger contemporary, employed the horizontally-sprung, friction-damped, swinging-arm rear suspension first seen on the pre-war blown four. The Turismo produced 11bhp while the more powerful Sport, with alloy cylinder head, had 13 horsepower on tap. Top speeds were 64mph and 78mph respectively. Production of both models ended in 1954.
This Nettuno Sport was bought from Atlantic Motorcycles on 10th January 1998 (sales invoice on file) but nothing else is known of its history. The machine is offered with an expired MoT (1999); assorted correspondence; instruction manuals x2 (in Italian); photocopy literature; a copy of Messrs Ainscoe & Perrone's book on Gilera racers; and a photocopy parts manual signed by Geoff Duke, Bill Lomas, Derek Minter and two others (signatures unidentified).
Saleroom notices
- We believe the frame number has been restamped.
