Post Sale Update: This 500Z sold for $6,000 after 20 bids on eBay in Cedar Crest, New Mexico.
We’ve got two Yankees in two months! As I’ve mentioned several times before, the Yankee 500Z was the brainchild of John Taylor, the American importer for OSSA and Bultaco. He thought American dirt bikes should be able to compete with Europe’s best offerings, so he created Yankee Motor Company. He started his quest just by importing OSSAs, then threw OSSA engines in Yankee custom frames. The piece d’resistance, though, was the Z500. Yankee took two OSSA 250cc singles and fused them together to form the 500cc twin heart of this rare bike.
Unfortunately, John wasn’t particularly successful – which is why you may have never heard of this bike before. Just 760 were built because the bikes were 344 pounds dry, just too heavy to be successful in off-road racing. Trivia time: this was the first production bike with a rear disc brake, even though it still used a drum up front. Want to learn more? Check out this article on Motocross Action Mag.
This example was originally sold out of a Harley-Davidson dealership, which is why there are stickers on the sidecovers for Alcon’s Harley-Davidson. Everything is sia dto work, except for the front brake light, and the seller notes that hte handlebars and compression release are not original. Despite that, this seems to be a good example of a well-loved cult classic.
Find this Yankee for sale in Cedar Crest, New Mexico with bidding up to $5,300 and the reserve not yet met