Motobi / Benelli / Parilla Factory Race Team Toolbox

About a year ago, my buddy calls me up one afternoon and tells me that the toolbox he purchased, showed up in the post that day, and asked if I wanted to come by for a first look. Of course this isn't just some random toolbox. It's a genuine 1960's Factory Toolbox for the Motobi / Benelli / Parilla Racing Team that came out of Cosmo.

It's probably best for me to let him tell the story of it's history, since what I personally focus on is Norton motorcycles, and 'd hate to mince the facts. Here's a full description as given by my buddy Jon, who's an expert in all things related to Italian and Spanish road racing motorcycles:

This toolbox is the one that the Cosmo race team used from the late 1950's thru the early 1970's. I bought it from Cosmo's owner, Larry Wise, via an auction he conducted in 2012. He provided documentation of the toolbox and I also remember seeing it in the old Cosmo race shop in Hatboro, PA on one of my visits there in the late 1980's and early 1990's. It's main caretaker and user was Giuseppe (Joe) Rottigni, the racer, tuner and mechanic of virtually all the race bikes from The Cosmo shop. This toolbox travelled with him to the races all over the US. He is famous in Italy for winning the 1957 Moto Giro on a 175 Parilla. He was famous in the States for introducing European-style road racing techniques to us cowboys. The Parilla factory sent him over to their US distributor (Cosmo) to teach them how to service the Hi-cam engines. He liked the US and stayed for the rest of his life, eventually tuning the Motobi engine for Cosmo as well. He passed away in the early 1990s. 
I like to think of this toolbox as one of the holy relics from the origins of real road racing in the US, not to mention from the history of the great Italian marques Parilla, Motobi, and Benelli.The other user of the toolbox was a young Eraldo Ferracci. Similar to Rottigni, he was sent over by the Benelli/Motobi factory in 1964 as a service technician for Cosmo. In Italy, he road raced Motobis as an employee of the Benelli brothers and was technically trained by the head of the Motobi/Benelli race shop, Primo Zanzani. The story goes that Eraldo had a knack for crashing and the Benellis figured they'd save money by sending him to the states! Again like Rottigni, Ferracci liked the states and stayed. He left Cosmo in the early 70's to establish his own motorcycle shop and race team and eventually gained fame and fortune under the guise of "Fast By Ferracci" as the official US Ducati race team, winning numerous US championships and a World Superbike Championship with Doug Polen as rider.

What's inside? Of course, that's the big question, right? Is it stock full of uber rare Dellorto SSI carburetors? Well, not exactly. Surely anything of that status would have been pillaged long ago. But what remains is a whole bunch of small spare bits. Carb jets, springs, fasteners, circlips, specialty tools... Basically anything that someone would need to remedy an ailing motorbike in the paddock. And even without any of that, the box itself is a real piece of history.

In my eyes, this thing is a museum piece. A truly romantic connection to motorcycle racing history here in the United States. I know that if this was a Norton Factory Race Team box, what it would mean to me, and I know that Jon surely feels the same way about what this great piece, means to him.

If you've got an old Italian or Spanish motorbike and are looking for parts or service, you should contact Jon, as his company Historica can likely help you out:

Historica

Jon Jacobson

email - straycat27@icloud.com