New 1972 Kawasaki Z1 only £720
Fri, 29 Jun 2012Looking at the pictures of Japanese firm Yamato's new Kawasaki Z1 you'd be hard pushed to tell it's not the real thing.
But in fact it's a scale model only just over a foot long, made with incredible attention to detail with several years of development to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original 900cc Z1 of 1972. Using 3D scanning of real parts, the bike was scaled down to create this model, which has now gone on sale in Japan at an eye-watering £720 apiece.
The makers claim that the bike has been made so similar to the original that you can actually unbolt many of its components, using a special set of miniaturised spanners that come with the bike. The side panels, tank, seat, wheels and exhausts all come off, and the makers have teamed up with aftermarket firms including Yoshimura to offer scaled-down versions of real bolt-on tuning parts!
OK, you'd have to be a serious Z1 fan with no shortage of disposable cash to actuallybuyone of these, but it's well worth spending a few minutes poring over the pictures in the model's development gallery.
By Visordown
See also: WSBK to Make Fake Headlight Stickers Mandatory for 2013, WSBK: 2012 Misano Results – Video, Isle of Man TT 2012: Lightweight TT Results.