Cosmopolitan Motors, Inc.: The 1965-1966 range of motorcycles.

This is a short blog relating to a 1965-66 advertising brochure produced by the company.

Cosmopolitan Motors Inc. were based at Hatboro, Pennsylvania just north of Philadelphia. They were one of the oldest and largest motorcycle distributors in the US, with a network dealership second to none. At this time they were importers of many different Italian made motorcycles and the brochure listed here gives the extent of their range for that year.

On the font cover is shown the works Benelli 250cc 4 cyclinder Grand Prix road racer. This is listed as a 150mph, 7 speed racing motorcycle that was constructed at a cost of $70,000.

The motorcycles shown within were made by:-           Benelli 

                                                                                                Capriolo

                                                                                                Parilla

A total of 13 No. motorcycles are listed for sale and are all lightweight machines of 250cc or under. Many are of the scrambler type favoured by the US market at this time and powered by both 4stroke and 2stroke engines.

The following pages give you an insight of what was on offer:-

In 1957 Cosmopolitan took over as US importers of Moto Parilla. These were high performance machines and very soon had gained an enviable reputation both in scrambling and road racing. Cosmopolitan were instrumental in the concept and supplying of the 250cc Wildcat Scrambler for their home market and also offered tuning kits to increase power still further.

They were also bang up to date with the technology of the time, a ‘Solid State Smith-Corona Computer’ being used for parts ordering and invoicing. It is nice to note that a Mid-West eddy current dynamometer was also available for racing and experimental work, that should get the red greyhound up to speed.

Moto Parilla pen-knife