Please note the “z” in Spezial. The beauty is sometimes hidden in the detail and when Larry & Harry named their Bullitt like this, it was to make sure that they did not interfere with the famous tobacco brand. Well, haven't we told you before, that they were young and naive!?
Of course you are not permitted to use a brand name, just by replacing a letter, but our 2 founders were so eager to make a bike with the same graphics as the famous John Player Special formula one race cars from the late 70´s. A bike that was using the distinct black and gold branding, how cool is that?
But they wanted it to be even more cool, so they added the portrait of one of their all time heroes, Mr Burt Reynolds. Super cool indeed, but also without any kind of permission to do so (we did mention that they were young and naive!).
Actually it was not the lack of permissions that stopped the production of this Bullitt model, it was the price of making the golden stripe on the bike. Making a Bullitt John Player Spezial, was 30% more expensive than making any other Bullitt and for a startup company, that will not work.
The Bullitts for sale in front of our Flagship.
Today, we occasionally stumble over this Bullitt. Mostly these samples are pretty beaten up, from years of wear and tear, but it is one the most beautiful Bullitts ever made.
If you happen to have one of these bikes in your garage, please send us a photo and maybe a little story about your relationship over the years. We did not produce a lot of these bikes, we guess something like 50 pieces, and we would love to hear, what ever happened to our babies, now that they have become teenagers.
