Manufacturer: Benelli SpA

Origin: Pesaro, Italy

Motor: Benelli 1-cyl, 2-stroke

Displacement: 49.5 cc

Power: 3.5 hp

Length: 8 ft. 4 in.

Identification No. CF140168

The long-established firm of Benelli has made a large range of motorized two-wheeled vehicles for the better part of this century. The six Benelli brothers formed their company in 1911, and they were making famous racing motorcycles by the 1920s. In the 1930s, they were one of the Pentarchia, the “big five” of the Italian motorcycling industry, along with Garelli, Moto Guzzi, Gileri, and Bianchi.

The factory was destroyed in World War II, but production resumed in 1949. Brother Giuseppi left to form Motobi, but he returned to the fold later. Production consisted mostly of small displacement 50-cubic centimeter to 175-cubic centimeter two and four-stroke cycles, along with double overhead cam racers.

The mid-sixties saw the introduction of a commercial tricycle in the well-established Italian idiom of a load-carrying platform attached to a moped or scooter chassis, with a cab or some form of weather protection over the driver’s position. Commercial platforms like the delivery vehicle offered here were ideally suited to the narrow roads and villages, but very few were made, making this a rare survivor.

The Argentinian Alessandro DeTomaso bought the firm in 1971, which put them once more in the forefront of racing. The company was sold and resold in the nineties, and it continues to make exciting machinery to this day.

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