Moto Guzzi's origins can be traced back to WWI, when a trio of motorcycle enthusiasts serving with the Italian Air Force hatched a plan to start a business: Giorgio Parodi would secure the finance, Carlo Guzzi would design the machine, and Giovanni Ravelli would race it. Sadly, Ravelli died in a flying accident soon after the war's end, leaving Parodi and Guzzi to found what would become one of the most exalted of Italian marques. Carlo Guzzi's very first prototype motorcycle of 1919 was unconventional in so far as its 500cc single-cylinder engine was installed horizontally and built in unit with the gearbox, and although the company would eventual turn to other engine layouts, the 'flat single' had established itself as a Guzzi hallmark by the end of the 1930s. Guzzi recommenced production post-WW2 with range of updated pre-war designs, which in the case of the 250cc Airone (heron), first introduced in 1939, meant it gained a telescopic front fork, larger diameter brakes and an aluminium-alloy cylinder barrel and 'head. The Airone offered a 70mph top speed and the ability to cruise at 60mph all day, and remained a top-seller well into the 1950s. Believed to be an older restoration, this charmingly patinated Airone is offered with an Italian registration document issued in 1975 and other related paperwork.