Channeling Top Gun: A GPZ900R hot rod from Italy
It’s been over thirty years since Tom Cruise blasted across the screen in an F14 Tomcat, in the cult classic Top Gun. But who remembers the motorcycle he rode in the film" We do: it was a red and black Kawasaki GPZ900R.
Photographer Paolo Sandolfini wasn’t even born when Top Gun came out, but he’s a nut for everything 80s. So when he got his hands on a GPZ900R, the pop culture reference was too hard to resist.
Paolo bought the GPZ900R four years ago, after owning a GPZ750. Even though he had hated the 750, he somehow still wanted a GPZ. ?I really wanted the Top Gun bike,? he explains, ?because it looked really weird to me.?
Top Gun isn’t the GPZ900R’s only claim to fame. It was the first model in Kawasaki’s long-standing Ninja line, and was considered cutting edge when it hit showrooms. And with 115 hp from its liquid-cooled inline-four, it was good for a gnarly top speed of 154 mph.
Paolo’s based in Parma, near Milan in Italy, and managed to source a 1984-model GPZ900R. But it was in dire need of attention. It was filthy, and the fairings were littered with dents and scratches. But he has an ex-race mechanic on speed dial and between the two of them, they brought the old GPZ900 up to spec.
Anyone who’s stripped a faired motorcycle can attest to how much real estate there really is to work through. But the guys soldiered on, painstakingly repairing every last ding. They didn’t quite restore it to spec though?P...
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