285 Madison Avenue is just another nondescript glass-and-rock box on the island of Manhattan. Except right now, it’s been turned into a cave of wonders filled with some of the sexiest Italian motorcycles of all time. Behold, and fall in love.
These machines are owned by a Stuart Parr, just a friendly neighborhood rich guy with an easy laugh and a hyperwhite smile. He was kind enough to show me some of his machines, and he invited everyone to stop by the show which, [Update] is sadly now closed. But we’ve got plenty of good pictures for you to look at right here!
As a designer, Parr’s got a good eye for pretty things. And looking around his collection, it’s hard to argue with his taste. Every bike at the show is a small-batch, hand-built masterpiece representing glorious marriages of performance and style. Of course they’re all maintained to perfection, and clean enough to do surgery on. Not that you’d want any blood getting on these beauties.
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So do Parr’s bikes spend their lives collecting dust and rotting in a barn? Hell nope, he’s not letting these machines go to waste.
“These are not meant to be ridden gingerly,” he said with a smirk. “I get so tired of hearing people tell me to keep the mileage and RPMs under five thousand. Most of these start working at forty-five hundred.”
That’s an attitude I can respect. The show’s over now, but you can see more details right here or just scroll through the twenty-six bike collection right here and try not to droll on your keyboard too much.
1954 MV Agusta CS Sport 175
1960 Benelli 175 SS
1963 MV Agusta 125 Pullman
1966 Van Tech Motobi
1968 MV Agusta 600
1971 MV Agusta 750 S
1972 Ducati 750 GT
1972 Ducati 750 S Z-Stripe
1972 MV Agusta 750 GT
1972 MV Agusta 750 S (yep, another one.)
1972 MV Agusta 750 S (still another one.)
1972 MV Agusta 750 S (one more!)
1972 MV Agusta 750 S (Ok Parr really likes these.)
1973 Ducati 750 S
1974 Ducati 750 S
1974 Ducati 750 SS
1974 Laverda SFC 750
1975 Ducati 860 GT
1975 MV Agusta 350 Scrambler
1976 Ducati 750 SS
1977 Ducati Darmah
1977 MV Agusta 750S America
1977 MV Agusta 750S America without the fairing
1981 Ducati 900 SS
1988 Ducati 750 F1
2000 Magni 1200cc (Suzuki powered)
Images via Stuart Parr Collection
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.