Your Z – Phil Hindley – Z1

This 1973 US specification Kawasaki Z1 belongs to Phil Hindley from Cheshire in the UK.

Here is the story in Phil’s words.

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It has an interesting story….

My bike was found by a Marine engineer (Martin Heinesen) around 2007. Martin lives in the Faroe Isles.

Around 2016 Martin sold the bike to a UK buyer via eBay – and then I bought it in 2017.

Back to the interesting story – Martin was at sea on a project that took him to an area off the coast of New Foundland. He recalls that they were fishing for shrimps and he had some free time and saw the Z1 advertised in the local buy/sell magazine. He recalls the seller was Bob Lethbridge, or a similar name. Location was Paradise City, St. Johns.

Bob bought the bike new in 1973, in New Foundland. He kept it all those years and in its later years decided to ‘restore’ the bike, but only got as far as dismantling it and storing everything carefully in boxes.

Martin bought the bike as boxes of parts, and then spent his free time at sea on the fishing boat re-assembling it – It’s completely original other than the exhausts, which are genuine but dated 1976. Martin sourced these from a seller in Denmark as the originals were too far rusted.

I’ve enjoyed owning the bike, and it’s a talking point everywhere I ride it. 

Hopefully Bob may read this page, and we can discuss the bike and the stories it may tell from his ownership.

The story and the charm/patina of this bike makes the ownership very special.

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Page added to website on 18th September 2022.
Most recent page update: 18th September 2022.