The considered a Mad Max-inspired bike sometimes conjures up a really distinct picture. However not each automobile in George Miller’s dystopian movie collection was a scraggy demise lure, coated in scavenged supplies and rust. Solid your thoughts again to the very first Mad Max flick, and MFP officer Jim ‘Goose’ Rains’ 1977 Kawasaki KZ1000 freeway patrol bike.
Goose’s bike was initially custom-built by La Parisienne in Melbourne particularly for the film, with inspiration taken from the Bol D’Or-style endurance racers of the time. Highlights included a excessive entrance fairing, a boxy tail part, alloy wheels, and a slick silver and blue paint scheme that was a far cry from the gritty aesthetic of later Mad Max sequels.
This trustworthy duplicate is the work of Tiago Gonçalves and Luis Costa at Unik Version in Lisbon, Portugal. And the concept to construct it truly began as a joke.
“We had a 1981 Kawasaki KZ1000 within the store,” says Tiago, “and a passing good friend requested if we knew that this bike was the identical mannequin from the 1979 film, Mad Max. In fact we knew, and that was one of many the explanation why we favored the bike a lot. He jokingly prompt that it will be attention-grabbing to construct a reproduction of the bike.”
As implied by their identify, Unik Version’s most important focus is customization. However they do restoration work too, and don’t thoughts constructing the occasional duplicate. “Clearly we like the entire inventive strategy of constructing and growing items,” says Tiago, “however above all we like challenges and honoring artwork.”
Two weeks after the concept was sparked, Tiago and Luis dragged the complete staff into the workshop and screened the unique movie to get into the spirit. One yr later, Unik’s Goose duplicate was carried out.
It took them a full yr, as a result of constructing a reproduction of a motorbike from a 43-year-old film isn’t as easy as you’d assume. Bodywork kits for Goose’s KZ do exist, however the mission referred to as for greater than only a few bolt-on elements. And Tiago and Luis had been adamant about getting each final element proper.
As an added complication, Unik’s donor bike was an 1981 mannequin—not a 1977 just like the film bike. So nothing was going to suit with out not less than some fettling.
Living proof: the fairing and tail part that Unik managed to import. Each had been a lifeless ringer for the unique, however the staff needed to fabricate new brackets to adapt them to the newer mannequin KZ. As per the reference materials, solely the underside of the seat pan is padded, with a storage compartment within the rear hump.
Unik needed to swap the facet covers out too. So that they sourced a pair of fiberglass copy gadgets, and modified them to suit the donor bike.
Getting the gasoline tank proper was one other problem. The crew discovered a 1979-model tank that match the invoice, however the 1981 body’s spine was too extensive to accommodate it. So that they reshaped its tunnel to get it to suit.
Fortunately the alloy wheels that the 1981 KZ1000 got here with had been an correct copy of the Lester wheels on the film bike, so these may keep. However the donor bike’s entrance fender got here painted—not chromed, like within the film. So Unik stripped the paint off and had it chromed.
This obsessive strategy will be seen all through the construct. Take the flip indicators, for instance—they’re new gadgets, however they’ve been mounted on {custom} stems to find them precisely the place they sit on Goose’s bike.
Then there’s the exhaust. Unik constructed it particularly for this bike, taking care to be sure that the four-into-two headers cross over one another precisely like they do on the unique bike.
Ending the construct off is a surprising silver and blue paint job, which reportedly took some doing to get good. The stickers come from a reproduction sticker equipment, whereas the blue lights and siren are precise ex-police elements.
There may be one small element that doesn’t fairly match up, however you’d have to be a fanatic to identify it.
“It was a giant dialogue,” says Tiago, “however the one factor we modified, was the rear view mirror! As a result of the film is Australian, and so they drive on the other facet of the highway from Europe, the mirror was initially on the appropriate. For apparent causes, we modified it to the left facet.”
“It’s a minor change… or not!”
Unik Version | Fb | Instagram | Photos by Manuel Portugal for REV
