European Z1?

[kettle738]

My 1973 Z1 is a European spec bike that apparently came from Holland, but I have very little history to confirm or deny that and I'd like to know.

Does anyone keep a list of which frame numbers went to which country?

Mick...........kettle738

[tedsonthezed]

I asked Kawasaki UK if they had any info like this and the factory has very little data on the old production runs - couldn't even confirm which month my 73 was made. Be interested to see if there is some sort of pool of knowledge somewhere as many old bikes now are not in their original countries.

[kettle738]

I worked out from this list http://www.kawa-z1.com/technics.shtml

that my Z1 (Chassis 09017) was manufactured 03/73 simply because bikes numbered either side of mine were made that month.

I would still like to find out which country it was despatched to though; it's strange that the records are so sparse, Brit bike owners often seem to be able to trace their bikes back to the supplying dealer, day of manufacture etc etc.

Hopefully someone might have some records?

[tedsonthezed]

Yes, from that list mine is April or May 73. My query to KMUK was more from interest and getting as much info as possible about my bike. Forty years ago, I would imagine, Kawasaki didn't operate to levels of efficiency that would be barely acceptable today. Others on the forum will know much better than me, and I haven't read all the books eulogising about how wonderful Kawasaki are, but I wouldn't be surprised if at times it was organized bloody chaos. One small difficulty, I was told, was that Kawasaki had absolutely no idea how successful the Z1 would be, would have scheduled months of production accordingly, and the success and clamour for machines probably played havoc at the factory.

Records on Brit bikes do seem to be more complete. A mate of mine has just bought a Velo that belonged to his dad. He visited a parts supplier who had all the old factory records - he found the day of manufacture, bike spec, shipment date, retailer details, customer details (his dad) quite easily. At least they could keep records properly while watching the industry decline.

[kas750]

yep there certainly were comprenesive records kept by the british bike makers.My interest in british bikes is only pre war when we truly were leaders in motorcycle manufacture.Heres the data held for my 1930 scott held by the vmcc who have the original ledger.

[kettle738]

That is proper record keeping.

Anyone got or know of a Z1 list? or perhaps Z1 owners clubs on the continent might have something.

Any knowledge out there?

[tedsonthezed]

Mind you, having thought about it and in fairness to Kawasaki, there is more data somewhere, because the production numbers per month are detailed in Dave Marsden's book. Maybe he got hold of the information before the factory threw all the old paperwork out. We probably now shudder to think of what was thrown away after a few years. But it wouldn't be computer records that are stored so easily now, just reams of paper clogging up the place.

I spoke to KMUK about a few things, asking what they still had on file about zeds. The answer is the same - very little, it was all thrown away some time ago. They might regret it now, mind....

[Steve Cooke]

I have a small fishing boat that has an old 1954 Stuart Turner engine in it, when I rebuilt it I was able to get photocopies of the original factory production paperwork showing the exact spec., the build date to the day and the name and signature of the bloke who assembled it, all handwritten in ink.
With regard to to the initial request I suppose Dave Marsden might be worth a try as he must of had access to a fair bit of Kawasaki dating information, also I've found Pierre's site has a helpful list for general dating.
http://www.kawa-z1.com/technics.shtml