1974 LAVERDA SFC
Father and son Franco and Giorgio Fiorucci’s 1974 Laverda 750 SFC #17033 — one family for 45 years.
by Tim Parker
On the front fender of #17033 is a black, yellow and red Autosweden decal. Autosweden, located in the Piazza Conti, a stone’s throw from the Ponte Vecchia, is clearly a strange name for a Florentine motorcycle shop then focused on selling Japanese multi-cylinder motorcycles, and Moto Laverda.
Is the following a possible name explanation? Shop owner Brunero Dini rode a Kawasaki 900 solo the 4,500 kilometers from the Tuscan capital to the North Cape in Norway in three days gaining an entry in the Guinness World Records book. The route meant that he had to ride the whole of Sweden from bottom to top, and back!
“#17033 is a magnificent one-family example
of a so-called 17000 series 750 SFC that has never left Italy.”
It was a Giancarlo Minelli who purchased this lovely 1974 model from Autosweden on June 17 of that year, but he did not keep it but 17 months befor he sold it in October 1975 (also on the 17th) to Franco Fiorucci of Citta di Castello, a small town just north of the city of Perugia and due east and just nearer to Arezzo.
Franco, a truck driver — there’s a family monochrome photograph of Franco near his Fiat 619 heavy truck, the cabover series with the baffo (moustache) cabin front — had told his wife Maria that he was going to buy a piece of real estate so that he could park his truck safely at night. Instead, he came back with this motorcycle. You can imagine Maria’s surprise. Regrettably, he had a stroke at 50 years of age and so he parked the bike under a blanket having been severely slowed by this affliction.
Its Carta di Circolazione records that its next sale on August 4, 2006, was to his son, Giorgio, after over 30 years in a caring slumber. Soon uncovered by Giorgio — who had first ridden perched on it when he was 15 — he made it run again. On that first start-up, Franco immediately opened the window and shouted down into the street, “Wait for me, I’m coming downstairs.”
#17033 is a magnificent one-family example of a so-called 17000 series 750 SFC that has never left Italy. Its patina is marvelous; none of its inherent character has been spoiled. It has consistenza perfetta. It has not been restored because it, simply, doesn’t need to be. It was carefully stored and carefully recommissioned and thus is “pure vintage Laverda.” One cannot say better than that.
DETAILS:
#17033
Dell’Orto PHB 36mm carburetors
Borrani aluminum wheel rims
Ceriani suspension
Electron rear hub and sprocket carrier
Euro-spec tachometer only
Smaller European taillight
Original paint
Photos by Alessandro Lozzi