Mark 3 ID?

[Mark3Cam]

Hey guys, glad to be here and hopefully gain some insight on a bike I just got. After checking a reference sheet on another forum I believe it’s a 1972 250 Mark 3 with a 1973 350cc motor. The bikes history was that it was raced and missing all the original steel body work.
Frame #103292 Frame Suffix IGM 1985OM. Engine only has motor #14978 and the motor suffix has been ground...
Aside from some original stock attachments like horn and Aprillia switch, along with frame design I’ve been confused by what I believe is a factory red paint frame. Just recently stripped the frame paint and the primer underneath was yellow - not sure if this is factory? I understand early examples had the red frames but the numbers seem to contradict this. Where there red frames that rolled out in the early 70’s?

I’ve attached a few pics of how I found the bike

[Mark3Cam]

So stripping some more paint off the frame and found a 350GT stamp in front of the frame number.

[Ventodue]

Hi, Craig from over on the BH Forum here

Coupla additional comments:

1. Your revised frame number of 103292 matches even better with the other 2 bikes on the BH/Robert Miller register.

2. The primer used on factory painted frames was a creamy yellow.

As you know, I can't find reference to any red factory-painted frames after the 1968 Mark 3s. But let's see what people say.

Also, has any one come across this 350GT frame stamp?

[Mark3Cam]

Thanks Craig! You seem familiar lol. Yes I hit up both forums to figure this bike out!

[Mark3Cam]

Sorry frame number was a typo as you can see from the pic

[Ventodue]

Sorry frame number was a typo as you can see from the pic

Nah worries ... . The 350 GT stamp remains a mystery, tho '

[Mark3Cam]

Had the frame paint been black would it all line up or the 350GT still be throwing us a curve ball?

[Ventodue]

Had the frame paint been black would it all line up or the 350GT still be throwing us a curve ball?

My current thoughts ...

1. The red paint is probably a blind. I suspect the frame was originally black. Why else would there be black paint under the cable ties?

2. But the "350 GT" stamp remains a mystery. As you know, yours is one of only 3 bikes in the public record that carry this stamp. But unfortunately neither of the other two bikes identify what model they are.

3. Your homologation stamp "IGM 1985" adds to the mystery. I've done a bit of a sort of the BH/Robert Miller records, patchy and incomplete as they are. And again, it is ONLY the other 2 "350GT'" frames that claim this homologation code.

As you know, that code dates back to the 250 'Type B' narrow cases, being first issued in November 1964. However, Ian F. says that, when the wide-cases came in, the existing code was carried over on to the new bikes. But, he says, only up until February 1970 when the new "DGM 7736" code was issued.*

So if all that is right, your frame has to be for a 350 manufactured between mid-1968 (because it has the curved loop between the down members) and Feb 1970. Which gives us a choice of:
Sebring
Scrambler
Mark 3
Desmo.

Starting with the first: Sebrings exported to the USA, the main export market, were not numbered. But then again, neither of the 2 other "350 GT" bikes are in the States ... Were are you?

And here''s another confusion:
A 6-digit frame number doesn't chime with the 5-digit number that Ian says 'should' be on a 350 .... . And guess what? The only 350 bikes on the Register with 6-digit frame numbers in the format 10**** are ... the 2 "350GT" bikes.

* Altho' issued ostensibly for the SCR, this code was, he says, used on the other models (i.e. Mark 3s and Desmos) as well.

[Mark3Cam]

I’m in Canada, British Columbia to be specific. The history I was related on the previous owner was that he was from Quebec and rode the bike out here to BC.
So that rules out the Sebring and as a bike sold in Canada makes sense of the stamped numbers too.
I was looking through the Bevel Heaven list as well and at least one of the bikes with the matching frame prefix also listed the engine prefix as DM350M3 - it doesn’t list the year but is in a group of 350’s from 1972.
I think a Scrambler could be ruled out as well based on the ‘ears’ for the headlight too. Based On all your input and weeks of research Iam leaning towards this being a 1972 350 Mark 3.
Aside from what might be a cut down pod for the tach mount,the black CEV tach itself, an Aprilia switch and the horn those are the only stock accessories left I believe. Would those items help to confirm this conclusion?

[Mark3Cam]

Rims are Akront aluminums...not sure if this was an upgrade or an offering from Ducati