Italjet

Italjet is an Italian motorcycle and scooter manufacturer founded in 1959 by the Tartarini family. Their first model was released in 1961 and it used a 125cc MZ engine. This first motorcycle was followed by many other bikes such as the Italjet 50, which was released in 1962 and was the first moped created by Tartarini. In 1965, the Italian company rolled out the Mustang 50 SS and the Vampiro 50. At the end of the 60s, thanks to the friendship between Tartarini and Floyd Clymer, a former American pilot who bought the Indian trademark (or so he claimed), the company was able to work on a new motorcycle. It was the Indian 500, a bike based on Grifon and equipped with the Velocette 500cc engine or the Royal Enfield 750cc twin-cylinder engine.

The huge Grifon 650 was officially introduced in 1969 and was mostly based on Triumph T120. It was actually the first time when Triumph gave an engine to a different motorcycle manufacturer.

In 1972, Italjet started importing and distributing Yamaha motorcycles. What's interesting is that this small business helped the company produce a new bike model, the Buccaneer 125, a 2-stroke, 2-cylinder engine, which won the Italian Junior Championship in 1973, 1974 and 1975.

In 1979, when Italjet participated to some trial races, the company made another agreement with Bultaco.Thanks to this agreement, the Italjet was able to develop a brand new motorcycle, namely the 350 T. In 1982, the company introduced a new motorcycle, dubbed Road Master 350, while in 1983 Italjet rolled out the Scott 350, a trial 4-stroke bike. In 1985, Italjet continued the motorcycle production with the Piuma Trial T3 350, an improved version of 350 T. Piuma was also available in a 250cc T2 version. (from www.autoevolution.com)

Italjet was doing great in 90's, then the sales were gradually decreasing and in 2003 the company had to face serious financial troubles. They were forced to give up racing and sell plans of some models, e.g. Scoop scooter. Still, part of the company survived, together with Italjet Moto brand, and remains in hands of Tartarini family.