T171.1 1974 MAICO 250 This gorgeous and immaculate 1974 Maico GP250 Moto Cross is amazingly unrestored and original. The Maico 250 Cross was an amazing MX machine in 1974, with great power, lightweight and peerless handling. Maicowerk AG, better known as Maico, was established in the Southern German town of Pfäffingen in 1926, building small-capacity two-stroke motorcycles using ILO engines for the utility market. After World War II they built their own unit-construction two-stroke engines for a range of motorcycles and very advanced scooters (the Mobil) with amazing styling by futuristic designer Louis Lucien Lepoix. Maico began making purpose-built motocross and enduro racers in the late 1950s, and by the 1970s their two-stroke racers were effective weapons in international competition. Maico motocross teams did very well in the 1970s in both Europe and the USA, with riders like Adolf Wil, Ake Jonsson and Willy Bauer, who battled the well-funded Japanese MX teams and consistently placed in the top 3 of the Motocross World Championships. They also used their two-stroke tuning expertise to win 125cc Grand Prix road races in 1972 and ’73, which were arguably Maico’s peak years of competition worldwide. In 1972, Maico factory rider Ake Jonsson won nine races in a row of the 11-race Trans-AMA MX series, making him the American champion. He used the 400cc version of the Maico motocrosser, and two motorcycle publications (Popular Cycling and Motorcyclist) actually stripped down his racer in an LA shop after his Jonsson’s 10th round in the 1972 series to confirm the stories that his bike was a completely stock production model. Both magazines confirmed that while the bike was tailored to Jonsson’s riding style (the footpegs were moved back 25mm), it was fundamentally a bone-stock motorcycle available to any rider. Even more amazing, of the 32 heats run by Jonsson in the Trans AMA series, he never had a breakdown and not a single DNF. The 1974 Maico 250 Cross was a legendary racer, and nearly every serious MX racer wanted one. Added to that, the Maico had great style, being a brutally handsome machine that delivered the goods and earned a legion of fans in the USA when races at local MX tracks had their grids filled with these potent German two-strokes. On an international level, the Maico team did remarkably well in the World MX Championships in this era, regularly placing in the top 3 podium finishers in the points standings. Riders like Adolf Weil, Ake Jonsson and Willy Bauer regularly beat the far better-funded Japanese factory teams, and while always the underdog, it certainly placed the Maico name in the public eye. This amazing, original 1974 Maico 250 Moto Cross is unrestored and features a GP-style seat, a radial cylinder and head, sandcast engine cases, a Bing carburetor, 4-speed gearbox, a Maico handlebar with bolt-in cross-brace, Magura controls, Girling shocks, a stock exhaust pipe with J&R muffler, and Akront alloy rims. It’s a gem! THE AMS RACING COLLECTION
