Moto Guzzi Motoleggera 65

The Moto Guzzi Motoleggera 65, known from the start as the Guzzino, was a lightweight two-stroke motorcycle built by Moto Guzzi and sold in Italy and abroad. Moto Guzzi had been planning a low-cost vehicle since 1943 for the country's war-shattered roads, and Carlo Guzzi gave the design to the engineer Antonio Micucci, asking for an engine of more than 50 cc and high wheels. The first prototypes appeared in mid-1945, with a single-cylinder 65 cc cast aluminium engine, three gears and a tubular frame, and the production version was presented in the spring of 1946. It weighed only 45 kg, and the Museo Nicolis lists 2 horsepower, magneto ignition, chain transmission and a top speed of 50 km/h. It was an immediate success on the market and the racetrack, and the Piaggio group calls it Europe's best-selling motorbike for ten years. In 1949 a Moto Guzzi rally brought 12,660 Guzzinos to Mandello del Lario, and Spain's Hispania Motor received a licence to build it. Production ended in 1954 after 71,534 bikes, and the closely related Cardellino replaced it, while the museum puts output at about 50,000 over three years.