• Unique creation by Lino Tonti
• Raced in period by Massimo Pasolini
• Restored by a specialist

The celebrated Italian motorcycle engineer Lino Tonti is best remembered for his Aermacchi-based Linto 500cc Grand Prix racer of the late1960s/early 1970s, the engine of which comprised two Ala D'Oro 250 top ends on a common crankcase. Most textbooks date Tonti's activities as a motorcycle constructor in his own right from this point - 1969 - yet the existence of the unique machine offered here shows that his first racing motorcycle was built much earlier.

Tonti's first job was at Benelli, where he worked on their supercharged four-cylinder 250 racer of 1939. Following a spell with Aermacchi after WW2, he went to work for FB Mondial in 1957, helping them break MV's dominance of Grand Prix racing's lightweight classes that year. Tonti's next job was running Bianchi's racing and development department, for whom he designed a series of double-overhead-camshaft twins for the 250, 350, and 500 classes. After Bianchi's closure in the mid-1960s, Tonti moved to Moto Guzzi, developing its Giulio Carcano-designed v-twin around an entirely new frame, a move that transformed the big Guzzi from capable tourer into a proper sports bike.

The 75cc class was an important one in Italy during the 1950s and 1960, with most of the Italian manufacturers offering machines in this capacity. It was also an important racing category, particularly in the long-distance road races of the era such as Milan-Taranto and the Moto Giro d'Italia. Looking every inch the 'tool room special'. Tonti's unique creation is powered by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine with inclined cylinder and chain-driven twin overhead camshafts, which is mounted in a tubular spine-type chassis featuring a leading-link front fork and swinging-arm rear suspension. The Linto's rider was Massimo Pasolini, who raced it in national events including the Circuito di Riccione and Circuito di Forli, winning the latter in 1950 at an average speed of 75km/h (47.2mph). Copies of period photographs are on file, including one of Linto Tonti lifting the diminutive machine off the ground!

This - almost certainly - first Linto was tracked down by Giancarlo Morbidelli with the assistance of Mr Augusto Farnetti, one of the foremost experts in historic Italian motorcycles. Restored by a specialist, it represents a wonderful opportunity to own a unique piece of Italian motorcycle-racing history.