By the late 1950s, Moto Guzzi was struggling. Cashflow was in such dire straits that the factory pulled out of racing in 1957, instead channelling development and resources into their road-going range, and towards securing more lucrative contracts.
One of those was to design an engine for Fiat’s new ultra-compact car, the Cinquecento. Guzzi’s chief engineer Giulio Cesare Carcano (designer of their famous 500cc V8 GP bike) came up with a 90-degree V-twin – initially 500cc, then increased to 650cc – compact enough to fit in the car’s tight rear engine bay, but it was rejected by Fiat and the engine was shelved. Several of the engine’s features were also used in the equally fruitless, contemporary ‘3x3’ military trike.
Carcano’s design efforts wouldn’t be in vain, though, as shortly after a lifeline came their way when the Italian police requested a replacement for the ageing Falcone. The V-twin was brought down off the shelf and a new machine was built around it. Dubbed the V7 (by then it had jumped to 700cc) it was a success, in both police and civilian versions, but it couldn’t resolve Guzzi’s woes. By 1966 the company was in receivership.
A masterpiece
A year later, new management brought in renowned engineer Lino Tonti, along with his favoured test rider and racer Luciano Gazzola, to breathe fresh life and ideas into Mandello; the writing was on the wall and Guzzi would need something in their range to compete with the multi-coloured, multi-cylinder superbikes of the late 1960s.
“The V7 Sport was fast, agile and characterful, but it wasn’t uncompromising and
