widecase single production figures

[blethermaskite]

Here's a question that I have never come across an answer to.....or maybe "I missed it somewhere along the way".......does anyone know how many 1974/5 yellow disc brake 250 desmos were made in total? and does anyone knowhow many blue and gold 1974 350 mk3's were made in total? I have in the past seen figures for both models anywhere from low hundreds to nobody actually knows .
Cheers,
George

[Jordan]

If you can't get the data from the makers or importers, maybe registration authorities would?
Not necessarily paint colour, but years/models.

[Ventodue]

These are shark-infested waters you're bathing in here, George .. . For some reason, certain people seem to get very wound up about production figures, asserting all kinds of things as if they were Gospel and maintaining that all disbelievers are heretics who should be burnt at the stake.

Nevertheless, I'll risk getting my toes wet ...

IMO, Ian Falloon is STILL the best source of information about production figures. At least Ian has examined the factory records - in fact, as I understand it, he himself discovered a cache of them at Bologna when everyone thought they had been lost or destroyed, either just over the normal course of time or when the Castiglionis took over.

So what does Mr. F have to say?

For the 250 Desmo, he says that the total production of the 239 and 250 Desmo during 1973-74 was ... 727. And of those, 277 were 250 Desmos made in 1974, the year of the disc brake. P.s. All the post Silver Shotgun 250 Desmos were yellow, as far as I know.

For the 350 Mark 3, the blue and gold model only: well, it appeared in 1973 and went on to the end of 1974 (even if it was still available in the shops in 1975). For those years, Mr. F. has production figures of 476 for 1973 and 324 for 1974, making a total of 800 bikes over the period.

HTH

Craig

[blethermaskite]

hi Craig,
Thanks for putting your head above the parapet .....those are very interesting figures and pretty close to what I imagined, obviously I am curious about these two models because these are what I own. When I bought my 350mk3 new in 1974 from a dealer in Belfast there were only two of these in his showroom, a guy who was later to become a good friend bought the other one (which I believe is now in the I.O.M.) at the time I never saw another on the roads in N.Ireland, at the same time the dealer had a yellow 250 desmo disc sitting beside my 350 and I had a huge angst as to which one to buy....but went for the practicality of the bigger engine and the dual seat (somewhere to put the girlfriend ) I think all the widecase singles that came officially to N.Ireland came through Coburn & Hughs in England...we got maybe three 250 desmo's, three mk3 250s, and maybe a couple of 450s. I have owned several widecase singles mk3 and desmo but they all originated in England and were brought to N.Ireland privately.
After quite a search I tracked down one of the local 250 desmo's and purchased it a few years ago. When you consider how many of these two models were produced and then spread that all over the world its no wonder these were seriously rare back in the day and certainly more so now, I think there is only myself and a friend in Co.Fermanagh who are actually riding widecase singles on the road now here in N.Ireland (if anyone here in N'I. is reading this and wants to contradict me I would be delighted to here from you) That's not to say that there may not be some hiding here in sheds somewhere ???.
I wonder world wide how many still exist? they are not really the sort of bike that was ever scrapped but over 45 odd years quite a few must have disappeared for ever.
Any way, regardless of rarity or perceived value I continue to ride my two singles much as I did over forty years ago (well maybe a bit slower ) and will hopefully continue to do so for few years yet, I would rather wear them out than polish them away.
Cheers,
George

[Duccout]

Hi George,

The other factor to consider is the number of Ducatis that were converted to racing. In the old days any CRMC 250 race would see hordes of Ducatis on the grid, and over the years many would have suffered disastrous blow ups. It would be interesting to speculate how many Ducatis did end up on the racetrack?

[blethermaskite]

Here in N.Ireland where of course we have had real road racing for decades, there were dozens of D ucati singles being raced here regularly over the years, one of my widecase 250 desmo's even competed in the I.O.M production races (I think it blew up!) there are still a few being raced here in our local classic events. I would say there were probably ten times more Ducati singles (taking narrow case models and all capacities, into account) on the track racing here than were ever legally registered on the road.
Cheers,
George