1954 Laverda Sport S
1954 Laverda Sport S
Francesco Laverda founded Moto Laverda in 1949 and produced five motorcycles that year. The first production model, the 75cc four-stroke Turismo with girder forks, was launched in 1950. That same year, Francesco entered a race-prepared one in the 1,410km (876 mile) Milano to Taranto road race, regarded by Italian motorcycle manufacturers as essential for promoting their products. In 1951, Laverdas took 4th, 5th, 6th and 10th place in the 75cc class and swept the class in 1952 with Nino Castellani winning a total of 16 Laverdas in the top twenty places. Success continued with Eugenio Fontanilli heading Laverdas to the first 14 places in 1953 and because of their exceptional reliability, one won the around Italy Motogiro d’Italia event for motorcycles of up to 175cc.
With such success in competition, Laverda sales increased rapidly to reach 9,000 in 1954 by which time the company had developed a 98cc model for the two celebrated road events with Giovanni Larquier winning the 100cc class in the Milano to Taranto race. The 100cc model also took the first six places in the Motogiro while the 75cc models continued to swamp their class in both events.
This 1954 Sport S was used for club racing in Italy. It was acquired for the Nelson NZ Classic Motorcycles collection via a US auction house in August, 2009. It was then acquired by Transport World for the Classic Motorcycle Mecca collection in May 2016.
- Maker
Moto Laverda - Date Made
1954 - Place Made
Italy - Object number
CMM277