What a great story. Like you I worked for a large vehicle manufacturer for 40 years, much of my time spent in new product development and new product introduction. There may be legal and financial implications on some models of a product built during development. In many cases a vehicle is produced for appearance, fit, form and not function. They are also built well before homologation takes place. In most cases preprod models (rather than prototype) can be updated to meet homologation and sold off cheap. There are huge tax implications concerning some product development models and parts and some of those vehicles should be scrapped or at the very least never sold as the taxman has paid for them. Those vehicles built for fit and form would more than likely be unsafe to use. Not using proper processes or production materials. I guess your bike may be one of those, perhaps why it's a non-runner. Ours all went under the flame cutter. I can imagine why the factory have tried to shut this down, should an unhomolagated bike leave the factory, be used and fail then they are in deep trouble, they are responsible for every product they make. I can imagine that Ducati and Audi in particular (if they are aware of the situation) are seriously concerned. To me, they seem to have two options, buy it back or keep quiet in the hope no one never gets it up and running in the hands of a member of the public on public roads. You may have a bike that could have the potential to be very dangerous.
The non homologated angle was exactly what I had to deploy in the end - stating I was going to put it on the track Luckily the Book on the 999 launch had a lot of detail and information and I have discussed it with Ian Falloon who was in and out of the factory a lot in those days. There were 5 working prototypes mentioned in the book of which this was No1, and around 30 PP bikes which were homologated and have indeed ended up on the 2nd hand market - they have 11 Digit frame numbers where mine is 5 Digit. Where did you work btw?
So, din you get any answers? What happend too the bike?? Did you ever receive any canary birds in you mail??? Or confirmation from the nice lady???? Just wondering.......
What an interesting thread from the archives What attracted you in the first place to that particular bike when it was up for sale at Bonhams? Was it advertised as a PP bike?
Yes, it was advertised and confirmed the 3 bikes at the sale (all looking similar) were 3 of 5 promo bikes which left the factory R&D in 2007 for display / promo work. Ducati had confirmed to Bonham's they were 11 digit frame number Pre Production prototypes. They had an invoice from Ducati showing 2 of the bikes frame numbers when sold to a dealer in London following the promo work finishing at £15,000 each. The fact this one had many non production parts on it lead me to believe it was actually one of the first 5 prototypes mentioned in Alan Cathcart's book and subsequent investigations showed it to be the 1st one of the 5 and should never have been let out of the factory with the Pre Prod bikes - but it was, and it's mine
The fact this one had many non production parts on it lead me to believe it was actually one of the first 5 prototypes mentioned in Alan Cathcart's book and subsequent investigations showed it to be the 1st one of the 5 and should never have been let out of the factory with the Pre Prod bikes - but it was, and it's mine And what actual proof or supporting documentation do you have for this claim ?
Has signed the gagging order and collected the very large cheque,pension pot doing very nicely thank you very much.
