S182 1983 BENELLI 900 SEI The Benelli factory can be traced back to 1911 when Teresa Benelli invested her recently deceased husband’s savings in a small property and some machine tools so that her sons, the six Fratelli Benelli, would have work. The brothers grew into adept machinists and fabricators, repairing or recreating parts and machinery around Pesaro, Italy. By 1918 they had turned to motorcycle manufacturing, with the youngest brother, Tonino, serving as their factory rider. He soon gained the nickname “The Terror,” coming in second in his first race in 1921 behind a 500cc Moto Guzzi on a Benelli 150cc in the Giro Moretti. Two years of breakages and losses taught the Benelli brothers valuable lessons, and by 1925, they were winners on the track. In 1927, Benelli revealed an advanced chain-driven OHC motor of 175cc, bringing a string of wins and the Italian Championship for Tonino in 1927, 1928 and 1930. More advanced racers of DOHC followed with a 350cc DOHC single winning the 1939 Isle of Man Junior TT and a supercharged 4-cylinder 250cc proving good for 146 MPH. The factory was destroyed in the war, but by 1950, Benelli had won the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship. In 1960, a new 250cc 4-cylinder racer debuted that beat the factory Honda fours; by 1969, this small factory had won a second World Championship. On the production side, Benelli had profited from more than 10 years of orders from American retailer Montgomery-Ward, who sold thousands of its small single-cylinder motorcycles. When Montgomery- Ward stopped its orders in 1970, the factory was thrown into crisis and the family sold the business to Alejandro de Tomaso, who’d made his fame in sports cars. The DeTomaso Mangusta and Pantera are legendary mid-engine sports machines combining striking Italian bodywork with a reliable American powertrain. De Tomaso wanted to enter the motorcycle world with something similarly dramatic, and he instructed Benelli’s engineers to design a modular multi-cylinder engine with a 500cc 4-cylinder and 750cc 6-cylinder. By copying the best of a Honda CB500, a new design was finished the following year, and the Benelli 750 Sei (six) was launched. The Benelli 750 Sei was the first production 6-cylinder motorcycle, and the design emphasized its uniqueness. With angular bodywork by Ghia and six chromed mufflers, it made quite an impression and an incredible noise, and with a very smooth 76 HP, it was good for 127 MPH. Production began in 1973, and 3,200 were sold before the 900 Sei was introduced in 1979. With rounded bodywork, 6-into-2 exhausts and a bikini fairing, the 900 Sei was a superbike, although riders who want the complication of a 6-cylinder machine are rare. Less than 2,000 of the 900 Sei were built, with only 80 sent to the U.S. One of those 80 was purchased new by J. Geils in 1983 and was ridden regularly. With a few modifications added over time, Geils made it his own café racer, featuring a unique racing seat and clip-on handlebars, and he pronounced it his “favorite motorcycle.” Coming from a man of broad tastes in cars and motorbikes, it’s certain to become the favorite of a new owner who appreciates Italian exotica.
