Condor with a Ducati heart

Condor was Swiss. The Condor engines for the Swiss army (the naval orders fell through) were technically perfect feats that honored the land of complicated timepieces. But also in Switzerland they thought that it could all be a little less exclusive. For example, Condors came with a retuned Ducati 350 cc single-cylinder block. And after the discharge of the conscript in question, he took his Condor home with an emphatically clear maintenance book. But at some point, those perfectly maintained and documented service bicycles also waved their retirement. They hit the market.

Condors in Het Harde

At the time I had good contact with the late Simon Sindorf, a unique character and dealer in ex-army equipment. Simon had received about 100 Condors. When I was just having my first cup of coffee, another great thinker from Gelderland came in. He was looking for a five-axle Mercedes tractor for about three tons. But the conversation got out of hand when the gentlemen started to exchange gossip about the local notables. It was kind of the familiar story about older men and younger women. During that conversation, Simon's wife shouted that she was gone for a while. Outside she walked to a large Mercedes with only two axles under it. Simon watched her affectionately. “Mine is a good cook and she has a big ass. I wouldn't trade that for anything." This shows that dealers in heavy ex-army equipment can also be romantic.

A kind of restart

And it was again thanks to the government that Swiss motorcycle sales got a boost in the late 1967s with the development of a new model. Condor was looking for a 350 cc engine in 250 to replace the XNUMX cc version. And Ducati had just put the Scrambler on the market at that time. Italy was contacted for the development of a military motorcycle based on the Ducati power unit.

Condor made additional contacts with other Italian suppliers such as Marzocchi and Grimeca. The headlight came from Bosch in Germany. Condor made the rest of the bike and the Ducati block was retuned and hung in rubber. The military got the first Condor A350s in 1973. Condor received exclusive Ducati sales rights for Switzerland and from that moment until the oil crisis, sales to the public increased. When production of the military Condors stopped in 1978, 3000 of the Condor A350 had been made.

The Italians didn't get it

The relationship with Ducati seemed good, but Condor had to remind the Italian company again and again in the 2003s that Swiss legislation was becoming increasingly restrictive and obliging the importer to adapt the machines to the rapidly changing rules and environmental laws. The relationship with Ducati, Cagiva and Aprilia ended in XNUMX when the brands decided to take care of their own imports in Switzerland. Cagiva is exiting, but Ducati remains popular in Switzerland.