Z1-R Turbo Official TCC Sales Log book

Did anyone notice this eBay auction for a Z1-R TC?

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/271103662112

The seller twice mentions that his bike is listed in the "official Kawasaki TCC sales registration log book". He even included two photos of the partially obscured log book.

Has anyone heard of this log book? I've read a lot of comments over the years from people pondering how many TCs were made, and if a given bike is a true, original TC. But I've never heard anyone claim that there existed a full log of every bike converted by Turbo Cycle Corporation.

Does anyone know how to get a copy of this list (specifically the frame and engine numbers)? If I could get that list I'd love to set up a registry web site similar to the registry for the ELR replicas.

I've never seen the list before. One thing that I find odd is, why he doesn't have pics of the frame serial # & engine # location. If they indeed had to replace the upper crankcase... why? What was the reason... this raised questions for me.... what else got else damaged? A bike of this pedigree shd. be WELL documented. Not saying it is not authentic but! Still, it is a very nice looking turbo, this bike (for me anyway) is Kawasaki's Holy Grail. From what I understand the Z1R sales back then did not do as well as Kawasaki had predicted and they upgraded the turbo package on 500 Z1R's to move them quicker. There were 250 ice blue and 250 black with Molly graphics. I wonder if Kawasaki (Japan) has full documentation of all the Z1R Turbos made. Also, I wonder if the turbos (themselves) have documented serial #'s

Doug

i was under the impression that all the z1r turbo bikes were dealer installed.

therefore,
you can't tell by the serial numbers if it was a turbo bike or not.

anyone know for sure?

leon

I read once that they were sent to ATP in Cali, but I'm not 100% sure.

back in the early 00 the ss camaro was sent from gm to some one like atp who did the hood cat back exhaust chip special badging a few dealers back in the mid 60's such as motion dodge did there own but I would think by the time of the tc kawasaki they were all sent to the tc turbo guys who did the mods AND a select number based on dealer orders were probably forcasted and sent

ss cars the size of the dealership decided how many you got in a given model year we were a pretty decent size dealer so we could put orders in for 10 not all 10 got built we ordered them as sold units


the way a dealer does it is as soon as they get an allocation for an ss or lets say a tc turbo he has to order it as a sold unit or it will never get built allot of build sheets have fictious names or some shmo from the dealership name as the purchaser in the accounting ledger

my name is on at at least 3 Vipers and 4 viper trucks due to allocations I've never had one but my name ia on the sticker lol

api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=...jsonp_13554565879773
Borrowed from a post on ZRXOA

charlottesville.craigslist.org/mcy/3457039423.html
I think I really like this one a bit more and it looks like it has been taken care of much better with some nice aftermarket wheels and less money.

this is a very bad pic of my z1r-tc i had back in the early 80's... it had a 2nd sticker from tcc on the front neck along with the kawasaki sticker and vin #'s.. and it give the date it was modified by turbo cycle corp.. and also a supplemental z1r-tc owners manual along with factory owners manual...

Yea, the "list" is not real. They sent the Z1R to ATP and they put the turbo on thus ruining the engine for any useful riding, then they sent the bodywork or whole bike, not sure to Molly Graphics in CA to ruin the factory paint with a respray over the silver 78 Z1R paint. No serial number sequence was ever recorded, they just sent leftover unsold 78s out to get this mod and then they sold for $5000 dollars. So my opinion of the bike in general is not positive, as I owned one at one time. However in any case this list shows 05/78 as a date proving it is on the list? Laugh there as it was way into 79 before they even thought of this idea to make the Z1R-TC

I can't speak for this list, but there is a list of all the frame and engine numbers the turbo kits were installed on for Kawasaki. The person who holds the list will not release it. All I've been able to do is get confirmation as to whether specific Vin & engine numbers are on that list.

So there is some documentation of which serial numbers were actually converted to turbo, but for definate sure this list on this thread is bullsheet as May of 78 they had no idea of this ill fated project. It was way into 1979, probably almost 1980 before they started building the Z1R-TC. I remember it well when it was announced, and had my sights set on one. The dealer 1 mile from my house had 2 of them, and it was darn close to 1981 before they were sold. This bike in question has 14,000 miles on it, if it's a genuine example of that wonderful TC, then 14,000 is a hell of a lot of miles, like 100,000 on a normal motorcycle. :sick: I wouldn't pay 13k for it, but like I said it was my life long dream to own one and that dream was quenched fast once I had it--- JUNK---

Hey Jeff, thanks for the information. I contacted the ebay seller and he said that he got the list from someone else, but he wouldn't give me any details. I don't really understand what the motivation would be to keep it secret, but it's unfortunate.

And whatever one may think of the TC, it is a very rare bike. It would be fun to set up a registry to see where they all are today. For example, it seems like there are a surprising number in Australia, which is a long way to travel...