Ceccato 125
Obscure Italian
These days, Ceccato S.p.a is a highly successful business located in Grisignano di Zocco, near Padua, west of Venice, with other branches in Germany and Brazil. Unlike the company that began operations in 1948 in nearby Montecchio Maggiore, Ceccato’s production is no longer motorcycles, but vehicle washing equipment – everything from cars to trucks, buses and trains. In over 60 countries around the world, Ceccato washing tunnels and other similar equipment keep transportation equipment sparkling clean. The firm has other lines as well, including a long-established line of air compressors.
The original company was started by Pietro Ceccato, born to an aristocratic family and raised in Montecchio Maggiore, who after completing a medical degree, turned his hand to operating a pharmacy. Pietro was also a talented musician with a keen interest in anything technical, mechanical or electronic. And like many of his countrymen, he was also a keen and capable motorcycle racer. This pastime began on a 250cc Moto Vicentini, but a graduation to a 350cc Velocette and later a 500cc Rudge brought far more success, including the National Championship in 1932.
However with a young family to look after, Pietro hung up his helmet in 1934 and soon after took out a substantial mortgage to allow him to buy land on which to build a multi-purpose factory, which opened in 1936. Among the items produced were ovens, spray painting equipment (including spray guns and air brushes) and a range of small industrial engines. Post-war, Ceccato, along with many other Italian companies, turned to the country’s pressing need for cheap transport. The engines were fitted to bicycles and mopeds, and eventually, a 75cc 2-stroke motorcycle.
The two-wheelers sold well, the factory was expanded, and workers hired. A new 200cc 2-stroke twin with the cylinders lying horizontally appeared in 1953, although it is believed not to have reached the production stage, and Ceccato began to look to the increasing number of public roads races in Italy as a means of publicising the brand. Later the same year, Pietro Ceccato was introduced to a young engineer, Fabio Taglioni, who had designed a 75cc twin overhead-camshaft racing engine – the first of many designs that were to flow from this legendary engineer’s fertile mind. Taglioni first offered the engine to Mondial, but when this failed, he turned to Ceccato, who bought the rights to the design. It went through many revisions, including from chain-driven camshafts to gear, and gradually improved to the point that it set several World Records in 1954 ridden by Orlando Ghiro. To save weight, a single overhead camshaft version – the Corsa – was built and proved to be the mainstay of the company’s racing efforts. These successes persuaded Ceccato to expand production of the road-going machines to include new four strokes, with a new range of 125cc, 150cc and 175cc models listed for 1954. Using a DOHC version of the 100cc engine, Ghiro and Vittorio Zito set a swag of new records in 1955, and the factory began limited production of a 125cc racer that developed 13hp at 10,000rpm, followed by a 175cc version. A major racing effort was planned for 1956, but tragically, Pietro Ceccato suffered a fatal heart attack in January. Despite the tragedy, there was no loss of momentum for the racing effort, as the business was absorbed by another company and
continued virtually as before. It would have pleased Pietro immensely to see Zito finally win the coveted Milano-Taranto race in the 75cc class, with Ceccatos taking nine of the top ten positions. Ghiro also won the class in the prestigious Moto Giro.
International expansion
Ceccato had also established a healthy export business, particularly in Argentina by their agent Guan Zanella. The Ceccato brand, using the Taglioni designed racers, racked up many wins in South American racing with the bikes badged as ZanellaCeccato. Smaller numbers were also sold in USA as well as numerous countries in Europe.
Storm clouds were gathering however, with motorcycle sales plummeting in the face of cheap cars, and Ceccato joined the list of casualties in 1961. The factory had sufficient stock of components to assemble bikes for another two years, after which the shutters came down on the motorcycle side of the business. Much of the motorcycle tooling was sold to Zanella and shipped to Argentina.
Such was the commercial benefit to the community, the district where the original factory was located in Alte (High) Montecchio Maggiore was officially renamed Alte Ceccato. Housing, stores and a church were all built for the company’s work force. But by 2002, long after the last motorcycles were produced, this factory was closed and the company relocated further east on the main highway between Milan and Venice, near Vicenza, to a purpose-built factory. Although the company changed ownership several times following the founder’s death in 1956, the production of car washing equipment escalated annually, spreading worldwide through a network of distributors.
However the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 hit Ceccato hard as the petroleum retailing industry ‚
shrank markedly and rapidly. In 2012, production of washing equipment was halted and the company filed for bankruptcy. Fortunately, it was sold to a successful Italian entrepreneur, Lorenzo Dal Maso, and was able to offer employment to many of the company’s 1000-plus employees.
Remembering the marque
For many years, a gathering of Ceccato owners and their bikes, along with surviving ex-race riders, has been organised by the Registro Storico Moto Ceccato, which is based in Brendola, just south of Montecchio Maggiore. The club was founded by Giampietro Vezzaro in 1989, and since then has amassed not just around twenty examples of the motorcycles, but many photographs, books, magazines, brochures and spare parts. From time to time, bikes are unearthed in Italy and in Argentina, including some of the estimated 500 of the Taglioni race bikes which are today highly prized.
The Taglioni-designed race bikes bear little resemblance to what the public were able to buy for everyday transport – the race bikes being of MV style with a majestic high camshaft.
The road-going 2 strokes (2T) and 4 strokes (4T) were similar bikes, with early models having a single down tube frame and the later models a double cradle frame in tubular steel. The styling is very typical of Italian offerings from the ‘fifties. The 125 four stroke range consisted of the Sport (identified by an S with the engine number) and the almost identical Turismo.
The model shown here has the engine number S 37439, the ‘S’ indicating it to be a Sport model. Thus it also sports a Dell’Orto UA18 BS3 carburettor, the larger of the two choke sizes used across the range. Turismo models generally had a black frame while the Sport models were red, both with black headlight shells. Mudguards on the Turismo were more heavily valanced than the lighter blades used on the Sport. The final models produced in the early ‘sixties were the updated Gran Turismo (GT) and Gran Sport (GTS).
Because of the relatively small numbers built, restoration can be somewhat of a challenge. Petrol tanks, for instance, often show signs of rusting out through the bottom if they have been stored with fuel inside. These tanks were originally made by the Xompero Company, also located in Alte Ceccato, not by Ceccato themselves. Similarly, mufflers were outsourced and are extremely scarce, although there are other similar Italian lightweight motorcycle mufflers correct for the period that are available. Many of the components are common to other Italian lightweights of the era, including the twistgrip, Aprilia switchgear, Giuliari seat, and Silentium muffler.
Today, if you happen to see a Ceccato air compressor at work, it’s a reminder that in a former life, some extremely glamorous road and racing motorcycles – also air compressors, strictly speaking – once wore the proud name.
A long way from home
Half a world away from Montecchio Maggiore, this
1961 125cc Ceccato GTS now calls Melbourne home. Owner Jock Main says, “I’m not all that interested in MVs and Ducatis – I have had a few of these over the years – but the less-known makes really interest me. So I went looking for a Ceccato and eventually found the 125 GTS, which looked OK but wasn’t really in very good condition. The first time I tried to start it the kick starter stripped the splines on the shaft. So that meant a strip down and I decided to restore it about two years ago.”
“My mate Tex O’Borne did the engine, which, apart from the kick start shaft, wasn’t too bad inside. Somehow he managed to get a shaft, so that was the biggest problem out of the way.”
“The rest of the bike only required tidying up. I don’t know if it has been restored before but it looks fairly original to me, and the paintwork certainly has cracks that look like they have been there for quite a while. The rest of it was just as it should be, apart from a few little things like the Japanese rims. It has Suzuki pillion pegs fitted; they have to be taken off. Since then I have really only ridden it around the block – I have too many other projects!”