6-8-21 Update: Five years later, this bike is back up for sale. Interestingly, the seller now claims that the original paint job was done by Ducati North America, though I haven’t been able to find any sort of confirmation of that claim. Bidding’s quite a bit stronger than it ended at last time, however it still hasn’t met reserve – find it with bidding up to $22,600 and the reserve not yet met here on eBay.
Original Post from 7-16-2016:
Post Listing Update: Despite 14 bids on eBay, this Ducati did not meet reserve at $17,100.
In 1979, Ducati built 200 examples of the MHR (Mike Hailwood Replica) to commemorate Mike’s triumph at the 1978 Isle of Man TT. Bowing to popular demand, Ducati ended up extending production far more than intended – approximately 7,100 were eventually sold. Ducati’s livery for the MHR was distinctive, and it’s been aped in this tribute…to a bike that was already a replica. Homages all around!
This example (VIN: ZDM1B00AA5B001232) is a 1000 S from Ducati’s ahead-of-its-time SportClassic line (seriously, why haven’t they brought these back yet?) The paint scheme was applied early on in the bike’s life and it has just 560 miles as it “has been used simply as a show bike for local events, TV, and display” since 2007. It features a Shark Performance exhaust and some billet rear sets. The seller correctly points out that this is much rarer than a Paul Smart, but I could also claim the same think if I took a 1000 S and rattle-canned it black. Pull off the pipe wrap (or even swap out the exhaust, there’s something about the lines of the header off the front cylinder that isn’t working for me) and put some miles on this bike!
Find this tribute to a Mike Hailwood Replica for sale in Derry, New Hampshire with bidding up to $16,100 and the reserve not yet met