For Sale / 1978 Kawasaki KZ1000 Z1R-TC Collection: Turbo Lovers, Rejoice

While the big manufacturers seem reluctant to spend much money on internal combustion innovation these days, Honda shocked the world at the EICMA show earlier this month by revealing a new V3 engine with an electrically-driven compressor. Not a turbocharger, not a supercharger, but achieving the same forced induction through the wonders of electricity. Honda didn’t tell us when it was coming to market, nor did they tell us what bikes it would power. We expect it will be years before the V3 appears in a factory machine.

If you don’t want to wait around for years for the new technology, you could always go buy a bike using older supercharger/turbocharger tech. Something like a current-production Kawasaki H2R… or a vintage Kawasaki Z1R-TC with a turbo setup, or a supercharger. Or, a whole collection of Z1Rs set up that way.

Wait, what’s a Z1R-TC?

The Z1-R was Kawasaki’s four-cylinder superbike of the late 1970’s—built in 1978, then not manufactured in 1979 (depending who you believe), then built again in 1980 with a few changes. The Z1-R was a powerful, nasty brute of a bike, but faced stiff competition from the rest of the Big Four. So how to change the odds in the Kawi’s favor? Ex-Kawasaki exec Alan Masek had a bright idea: Bolt on a forced induction system, and blow the competition away.

Masek formed the Turbo Cycle Company in the US and made a deal with Kawasaki; Kawi would send him stock Z1R machines and his company would bolt up a turbo system. Kawi would then sell the bike through their dealerships.

If that sounds like an absolutely madcap way of selling an overpowered bike with an underdeveloped chassis to an unwitting public… you might be right. It would probably never fly in today’s risk-averse world, and it’s amazing it even happened back in the late 1970s. Even back then, there was a serious CYA angle to the game, and buyers had to sign waivers before they took their Z1R-TC, including an acknowledgment that the factory warranty did not apply.

But people did buy the bikes, and Kawasaki was the first Japanese manufacturer to sell a motorcycle with forced induction. The other OEMs followed over the next few years (read The Bear’s review of the old Honda CX500 Turbo here), but Kawi’s bike was first, and probably the most notorious.

TurboMotorcycles.org has a great overview of the Z1-R TC’s specs here. Note the 128 rear wheel horsepower—scary stuff, considering the tires and suspension of 1979.

Turbo Cycle stopped making the Z1-R TC around 1980 when emissions laws in the US caught up with them. With only a few hundred bikes ever built, their hot-rodded muscle bikes are very desirable, and rare, especially in un-crashed condition. They are probably the only Japanese bikes that approach the rarity of the hardest-to-find Brit bikes in the US market.

And now, there is a whole collection of them up for sale in Florida. Ten are listed, in a wide range of conditions, including some copycat machines that were not original built-by-Turbo-Cycle bikes.

The collection for sale

I don’t wish to mis-speak for Johnny Bohmer, the owner of this collection, so I am going to quote some excerpts from his eBay advert, verbatim.

The collection features a total of (10) 1978 Kawasaki Z1R forced induction motorcycles: Please note, the (#xxx) number in front of each bike description is a inventory item number, and not related to the fram, engine, or title.

• (7) 1978 Kawasaki Z1R TCs in varying conditions, from fully restored to unrestored. All of these iconic motorcycles come with complete paperwork and provenance, preserving their historic importance.
• (5) of the seven “verified” TC’s are cosmetically,mechanically period correct restorations, all five are fully sorted and ready to ride or display, out of the five (2) of them are extremely rare “log manifold” Molly TC 1.5 models and are only (2) VIN numbers apart.
• (1) of the “verified” seven TC’s is equipped with the Holy Grail “ Media Test Bike” options which was special ordered and is believed to be the only example left known to exist. This is a fully restored and very rare 1978 Kawasaki Z1R “Media Test Bike option” Stage-3 performance Molly TC-2.
• (2) of the seven “verified” TC’s are unrestored and full descriptions are below.
• Additionally, the collection includes (3) more motorcycles:
• a fully restored Stardust Metallic 1978 Z1R TC “clone”
• a unrestored 1978 Z1R TC Molly “clone”
• 1978 CUSTOM SUPERCHARGED Z1R This SUPERCHARGED Z1R was purchased from the original owner and then brought back to life after sitting for almost three decades in a garage. You will be hard pressed to find a cooler badass, head turning and show stealing motorcycle than this one!!

This is an extraordinary opportunity to own a piece of motorcycle history. Out of the “519” Z1R TCs produced in 1978-1979 by Turbo Cycle Corp., only around 90 are known to still exist today. Many were converted into drag bikes and met their demise through racing, making these remaining original Z1R TC’s sought after and incredibly rare.

Of course there may be a “few barn” find verified TC’s still out there but due to the rarity of these motorcycles the bushes have been beaten pretty hard in search of them. It is the consensus of the Z1R TC experts and enthusiasts that the number of “barn finds” would just be a handful if any.

The verification of the (7) Z1R TCs was obtained from the Turbo Cycle Corp. “sales registration log” records, including details such as the dealership that sold the TC, frame VIN, engine VIN and original purchaser. Additionally several of the TC’s have the original “Z1R-TC REGISTRATION Warranty and Purchaser Certification” this is a signed and witnessed document that states there is no Warranty. Photos of these documents along with photos of the title and frame/engine vin# ‘s will be provided in an email to the purchaser once the deposit has been received. Once the purchase is complete all the documents will be given to the buyer.

I think it’s fair to say that this is an incredibly unique collection and a rare opportunity to acquire such a piece of moto history. I would also think it’s fair to say that the world of vintage bike collecting is a buyer-beware arena. Not that I have to tell any prospective buyers this; with a buy-it-now price on eBay of $385,000 (or best offer), anyone smart enough to scratch together that dough is smart enough to know not to waste it.

The full ad is here; the auction closes on November 28. I am very, very curious to see if someone actually pays top dollar for these machines, and where they might end up if that happens. Maybe we’ll see one or more of these bikes at the Barber museum next year?