My friend Tom invited me over to his friend Dave’s house to show me Dave’s restored 1942 Zündapp KS 750. Dave restores motorcycles and exotic cars for a living and as a hobby. According to Dave, he acquired this back in the 80’s when he was restoring surplus army vehicles for a client. Back then the army vehicles were purchased in bulk lots and were imported. In one of the shipments this motorcycle was included. It came from Poland and was in disrepair. He could tell that the Polish had tried to salvage it. There were bullet holes in the frame, engine, and gas tank possibly from machine gun fire due to the pattern and number of holes. Dave commented that he could tell someone welded up the engine and machined it to get it to work at one point in time. Well the client he was working for did not have any interest in motorcycles and years went by with this taking up space in his workshop. So he gave the client an ultimatum, take it out and pay him for the time and work he did do or leave it. So the client left it to Dave. Thanks to the internet and 30 years later the Zündapp KS 750 has been restored. Dave told me he used this book by Hans-Peter Hommes as a bible for his restoration.

The Zündapp KS 750 was a motorcycle for a machine gun crew of three. You can see a small seat with round handle bar directly behind where the driver would sit. The side car has a driven wheel with a locking differential. Remember the motorcycle chase scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?  Where Harrison Ford and Sean Connery are fleeing from the Nazis? They used a similar motorcycle in that movie.

The only bullet marks left on the bike. Dave welded them but them them as you see to add a little flavor to the bike.

Tire pressure is marked in atmospheres.

Dave told us he put the Zündapp KS 750 in an antique bike show and he won 99.75 out of 100. They dinged him for the welded bullet holes. The judges wanted to give it a perfect 100 and even though they took 1/4 of a point for the bullet holes they told him “leave them”. They liked the bullet holes.

To make the Zündapp KS 750 more authentic he purchased an inert MG34.

One of my local machine gun friends has a working MG34. I will need to get these two guys together and make a video of the bike running and the machine gun working.

Dave’s friend Dan Dishart is an automotive photographer and he took some fantastic photos of the bike last winter. You can check out his other work on his website. danDishart-bc-ad