Strange Kind of Love

No, not the strange kind of love sung about by the excellent Love and Money, but the growing affection for the Ducati 500 Desmo Sport. It predecessor the 500GTL was an unloved old frump, with Giugiaro-alike styling copied from the 860GT and performance that left the 450 Desmo it was supposed to replace untroubled.

So Ducati's dynamic duo stepped in - Dr T added Desmo heads, and Tartarini's styling for the still-born Rollah single (see Benzina #006) was bolted on. Lovely. But despite being 20-odd mph faster than the GTL the 500SD was forgotten until bevel twins' prices spiralled out of reach and folk started realising there is Another Way...more