Shout it from the roof-tops!
An ALL-ORIGINAL 1978 Kawasaki Z1R TURBO CHARGED with 723 miles!!!
Another amazing listing from Bob, who has been collecting, riding, racing and restoring bikes since graduating from AMI in Daytona Beach, FL back in 1980. Just this year he won “Motorcycle Collector of the Year” award at the 2023 Boca Raton Concours D’Elegance. Not everyone has that trophy on their shelf.
More on point, not everyone has an all-original 1978 Kawasaki Z1R turbo charged with 721 miles!!! Knowing the history of the make and model is one thing, knowing the owner history of the specific bike is equally as important.
Bob’s Description
Coming out of my personal collection is one of the 200ish all-original Z1R-TC’s ever built!!!!This is a documented all-original 700 mile turbo.
I believe this is the actual bike that was used for the cover picture on the owners manual supplement. This bike has all the original bodywork, all original paint, it has never been taken apart or molested!!!
This bike has been in private collections since 1978. It still has the original factory installed dunlop tires.
If you are not familiar with the Z1R Turbos, please search the history on line. It was a collaboration between Kawasaki and a former head Kawasaki executive to produce the first ever turbo production motorcycle.
This is a impossible to find opportunity to own an original piece of motorcycle history, so don’t miss out.
Tell your wife that these very rare bikes will only appreciate in value 10-15% per year, not like her hardback and shoe collection 😉
I have been collecting, riding racing and restoring very special bikes since graduating from “AMI” American Motorcycle Institute in Daytona Beach, FL in 1980. I have won countless awards for my bikes and just won “Motorcycle Collector of the Year” at the 2023 Boca Raton Concours D’Elegance. Something I am very proud of.
So don’t miss out. Send me your offers. Call me with any questions…. or come by my shop in North Miami.
RSBFS
Bob points out that it is worth knowing the history of this bike, and this is where we can help.
The Z1R Turbo represented a transitional period in motorcycle design. It was a bridge between the classic muscle bike era and the emerging sportbike era. It showcased how manufacturers were adapting to new technologies and trends.
The Story
Clement Salvadori wrote a retrospective on the model in 2014 for Rider Magazine. He tells the story of how “The fellow who figured out how to regain the title of Stoplight King was a Kawasaki executive, Alan Masek, who had his contacts in the hot-rod world. He had started a company called Turbo Cycle Corporation (TCC), working with American Turbo-Pak (ATP) and specializing in aftermarket turbo kits for the power-hungry. To boost (ha, ha!) Z1-R sales, Masek told ATP that he wanted to have them make a kit for that model, so they bolted on a collector exhaust system, which boosted a Rajay turbo that pushed the fuel through a 38mm Bendix accelerator-pump carb, which required a fuel pump. And, to ATP’s credit, they made the whole package look very neat indeed.“
Salvadori continues, “The turbo model, labeled as the Z1-R TC, was never officially recognized by Kawasaki, and was officially sold as an aftermarket special built by TCC, allowing Kawasaki to avoid any warranty claims as well as circumvent the EPA—it would not get away with that today…. Unfortunately, the party-pooping government of California, where the sales were biggest, passed a law prohibiting exhaust modifications on production vehicles. And that was the end of the Z1-R turbo.”
Turbo Charged
According to Wikipedia, “in 1978 Kawasaki offered the Z1R-TC, a semi-production model built by Turbo Cycle Corporation and sold through Kawasaki dealers. This is generally considered to be the first Japanese turbocharged motorcycle.”
Rarity
The Z1R TC was a limited-production model. According to Bonhams, “250 TCs were produced in ’78, all in the stock ice blue paint with discreet TC decals….Only 500 units were ever produced over a 2 year period. The first batch had this ice blue color and the second batch was the Black Molly.”
Performance
Robert Smith published a review in 2012 for Motorcycle Classics noting that “the TC might not have been ready for prime time on the street, but it certainly performed on the strip, delivering sub-11-second quarter-miles at 125mph-plus — until the clutch expired, anyway. Cycle Guide was even more impressed with the TC’s open road performance boost: “Nothing comes close to the out-of-the-slingshot sensation you get when the boost comes up near the 10 pound maximum,” they said, noting at the same time that the TC probably approached the limit for the tire technology of the day…. Although turbocharging is common in cars today, no factory turbo motorcycles have been built since the mid-1980s.”
After all the articles I read on this bike, I kept thinking about how the bike was priced $1,400 more than the non-turbo model ($3,695), it had no powertrain warranty and the buyers had to sign off to that effect with a witness before they could leave the dealership… So the original buyers were paying more, had no warranty and had to legally admit that they knew what they were doing. You earned bragging rights as soon as you wheeled it out of the showroom. It’s like Kawasaki was taunting people “Are you feeling like a bad ass?…. Well, are ya?”
And here we are in 2023 with your chance to purchase this historical bike.
Are you feeling like a bad ass? Well are ya?
–LL
