Z1OwnersClub GB

Finally after back and forth with the DVLA I have got Historic Tax for ponch

Hi Ted1r

a very nice bike!
Take good care of it, it has the MK2 engine, rather rare.
GrtZ
Philippe

ted1r wrote:I have got Historic Tax for ponch

Ponch is probably 'paunch' these days

PARDON!

Ted no paunch.....

ted1r wrote:PARDON!

Ted no paunch.....

Sorry Ted...Wasn't refering to you. I was refering to Ponch in the show. I'm sure you're a slim dapper dude

Erik Estrada -Ponch- now with St Anthony Police department.

z2.john wrote:

ted1r wrote:PARDON!

Ted no paunch.....

Sorry Ted...Wasn't refering to you. I was refering to Ponch in the show. I'm sure you're a slim dapper dude

No paunch on Ponch.

Taking my Ponch and paunch to Wickenby this sun

Ted bit of a paunch

Hi Ted1R, good to see another 1000C back on the road ! I hope you don't mind me asking - and I haven't been following any other threads, but what were the Tax problems for Historic Tax ?? The reason I ask is that I have a long term(still in many bits !) C3 project on the list "to do" - already uk registered but not yet in Historic - though now eligible. I'm just wondering what to expect / look out for - or maybe put the project at the back of the line.! ALSO again if you don't mind me asking, how is your fairing fixed to the headstock ? Is that the original set up for the late A4 ?? I've only ever seen the fork mounted fairings on C1 , C2, C 3's and recognise yours looks the same as the 81 onward 1000P - is ot priginal C4 ? : how does the headstock bracket look ?? Any advice / info appreciated ! Dave

Hi mate mine is the stop gap between the mk1/2 motors and the J engines one . it was the trial for the faring which went on the P models and only a limited where made, if you give me your eng frame nums I can track it down ,but its earlier than mine so tax free , just fill the in the v5 putting Historic in the Vehicle change bit and it will bee sorted ,usually about 3 weeks ish

Ted

Hi and thanks for the reply / info. I've put a couple of Z's on Historic already so no worries! I just wondered if there'd been a specific issue with the Police bike! Its interesting what you say about the stop gap model. I've had a couple of these bikes and done a fair bit of research over the years. I might be wrong but I have a theory that even though Kawasaki gave them a model/series i.e.C1/C1A/2/C3/C4 Every production batch / run was a little bit different yo the last one - i.e. they didn't just make them to line up and sell like a standard bike but they made them to order when a Police Force put an order in - and at the time of order the different Police Forces from all over the US could ask for or specify small changes - or maybe just Kawasaki R&D changed odd details as well, but either way, I've barely ever found 2 bikes exactly the same !
You'll also know the C1 was said to be the first factory production Police bike for Kawasaki - the z900 based Police bikes being "modified" from standards with work done outside the main factory... but I've come across a couple of C1's which have some parts which look just like the modified z900 ones and I'm not convinced that Kawaski didn't make some of the first 1000 models from standards and do the mods outside the main factory like the 900 ones. I've seen a Canadian Police 1000C which the owner stated was definitely a modified standard production Z1000 ! So coming back to the fairing question, I'm not surprised you've got a late C4 with a frame mounted fairing like a 1000P..... I have an idea that they just changed and updated stuff as they went along.
Also, just by the way, the 1000C seems to have been quite important bike for Kawasaki model development. The 1000C got cast 7 spoke wheels from the start and these only showed up on the standard bike a year or so later ! The Ltd900 got cast wheels as well but not the same. Also every 1000C frame I've ever found has reinforced downtubes below the headstock with the welded on twin wall reinforcement that only started for standard production when the Z1R came out and then the Mk2's. Your C4 I'm guessing has the triangulation / extra brace tubes in the top frame in the main spine - and this didn't show up in standard production until the J series / Gpz's. All in all there were a lot of Kawasaki 1st's built into the Police bikes. Yours being one of the last of the "original Z" series I'd say its a real piece of history !!! All the best, Dave

Thanks for the update ,but mine is a C4/A
The A as I am lead to believe is for Adaptation.





post some pics

Cheers Ted

Thanks for the detail picture..... another piece of the jigsaw (for me anyway ! ) I've seen this listed for 1981 C4's - according to what I've read, they made 81 C4 frames in both USA and also Japan but yours is the first "Made in Japan" I've seen ! Does it have the triangulated brace tubes welded in halfway down the top tube / spine plus a flat plate welded further back where the 3 top tubes start to curve downward ? I'm also assuming that the JKA.. denotes a complete machine "built" in Japan (?) Every other 1000C I've seen was USA (Lincoln) built - so yours must be pretty rare I would say ! Allowing for most of these bikes, US or Jap built being destroyed in action or scrapped !!

A long time ago….