I bought my Guzzi Spada Royale in 1979. It was a limited edition by Coburn and Hughes, painted by Dream machine.
I am trying to find out exactly how many were made. Does anyone out there know the answer?
A friend of mine in Germany used to have a book about the history of Moto Guzzi, and in the book it was mentioned that only 125 of this model was produced. Unfortunately I cannot find the book and my friend does not have it anymore.
If anyone can help I would love to hear from you.
Thanks
Jef Walker
Hey @Jef_Walker, I’m afraid that I don’t know the answer, in fact I’ve never even seen one of these beasts “in the flesh” (let alone the fabled “Black Prince!” - also, I gather, a C&H special). What I do know, and this may be useful to you, is that an MGCGB club member has been building a register of the C&H bikes from that era - primarily the Black/Gold LM2’s as I recall, but they may just have the info you seek. Wish I could remember just who that was!
(btw, I took the liberty of adding a couple of ‘tags’ to your post, which might just help other seekers of the truth!)
Edit: Stewart Ellinson is the name, I think, with reference to that C&H info. But I don’t know if he’s active here (is on the MGCGB Facebook group), nor whether he has compiled info other than for the Black&Gold LM2’s.
Black Prince! I saw one in fact I tried to buy a new one when they came out. Unfortunately it was from Tony Rutter’ s in Cradley Heath. Having agreed terms I When I went the next day to finalise things only to be met by his mechanic who told me Tony had already sold it a couple of days before. Sadly Tony had had a serious accident racing and was clearly struggling with his memory. I looked for another but no luck. However a dealer in Birmingham replecated one. Identical Dream Machine paint and luggage. Only differences were I kept the standard seat instead of the King and Queen seat (Im 6ft) and I changed the name to Shadowfax. I still have it after 42 years. Its undergoing a refurb. Maybe Ill post a pic when its finished.
Hi Jef, sorry this response is late but I’ve only recently joined the forum. The book “Moto Guzzi Twins” by Mick Walker says only 100 Royales were produced . This was just to clear the 1000SP’s in stock before the “Spada NT” came in early 1980. This proved such a success that they then produced the “Black Prince”. Walker does not give any numbers for the Prince, but I would think the max number is unlikely to exceed 60. Hope this was of some use
I do have a 100% original Black Prince with only 32+K miles on it (bough s/hand in 1986 with 157 miles on it), but it is on a “Q” plate which I’m trying to get changed for an age related one, but seem to be having trouble with Piaggio Historic Group who, despite the frame VIN stating 1979 year of manufacture, seem to think it was made in 1984!!
Hi Kevin,
Yes, that is very interesting.
I thought there were 125 Royales,
So if there were only a 100 that is even better.
I have 3 Royales, one I’ve had from new 1979 ( won 13 Concourse awards, and looks better today than when it was new with 65k miles).
The other 2 are recent purchases, one of which I’ve been trying to buy for the last 15 years, and was left outside for 40 of its years, so you can imagine the state of it.
The last 3 months I have done a 100% nut and bolt restauration.
In a few weeks time it should be finished. Better than new, and only 27k miles.
The 3rd one I have is a Donner bike I bought at auction about 6 months ago. But I’m going to make that one into something completely different.
I’ve only ever seen one other Royale on the road in 44 years.
I’ve never seen a Black Prince on the road since 1979.
I agree you need to get that Q plate remove, it will have a massive effect on the valuation.
I had to get my Royale valued for the insurance company, I was staggered at the valuation!!..…25k!!!
They and the Black Prince are probably the rarest of Guzzis.
Hi Kevin,
Welcome to the forum.
Any chance you could post a picture of your Black Prince?
I haven’t seen one for 43 years. I came across the invoice for my bike and it was invoiced as a Black Prince but, as I said above, I believe it was a copy, so be interested to see in detail what an original looks like.
Strange your bike is on a Q plate.
A very nice looking bike. I’m curious about the silencers, I have a 1978 Spada with Sigma panniers and they follow the standard line of the normal upsept silencers.
This is mine
Yes, the silencers are Contis, still upswept.
Yours are probably the ones that are original and have the welded seem going the whole length of the silencer.
A long time ago the seem on my silencers burnt holes in the bottom of my Sigma panniers so I swapped them for seemless Contis.
I have just swapped them again for Keihan polished Stainless steel, exactly the same as the original but without the welded seem.
I too have Sigma panniers and what I think are the seemless Keihans but I bought them from Wessons in Brighton. Had them for decades but recently had them Cerakoted. 1500 miles to Mandello and no sign of heat damage to bottom of panniers.
