1977 Montesa Cota 247-T. Owner: Pete Gray, Atascadero, California.
The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, and then the rest of Europe spun out of control. Spain sensibly decided to stay neutral in World War II. With a limited domestic market, business stagnated. But by 1944, with the end of that conflict in sight, Spaniards started thinking about the future. A couple of like-minded fellows, Pedro Permanyer and Francisco Bulto, met up and decided that providing their countrymen with basic transportation could be profitable. They built a factory in Barcelona and began producing Montesa motorcycles, little two-stroke singles under 125cc, and had great success. But the partners had their differences, and in 1958 Bulto went off on his own to found the Bultaco motorcycle company. Permanyer persisted, built larger engines, and in 1965 showed the 247cc engine (21 horsepower at 7,000 rpm) in a Scorpion motocrosser. Several years later a mildly detuned version appeared in the Cota trials bike, and in 1968 the Cota won the Spanish Trials Championship. It should be noted that trials competitions were very popular in Europe, less so in the U.S.
In the early 1970s the Japanese OEMs began modifying some of their competitive 250 dirt models into more civilized trail bikes, or as we might say today, dual-purpose. These had two-up seats, lights, a horn, whatever it took to make them street-legal. Permanyer took note. He had a great 250 engine, seen in motocross, roadracing, enduro and trials v...