History of Aermacchi

Aermacchi = Aeronautica Macchi = "Aer Macchi" is italian and means "air machine". It is spoken [aer'maki].
AMF = American Machine & Foundry
A.R.S.I.M.A = Associazione Registro Storico Italiano Motocicli Aermacchi; (Italian Aermacchi club located in Varese);
Ashtray head = Nickname of the horizontal, single cylinder 4-stroke motor with the "fat cylinder and head"
Cagiva = Castiglioni Giovanni Varese, (Photo of Claudio Castiglioni, 2003)
Varese = City in northern italy. This is where the Aermacchi factory was and it is still there. Today it's the MV Agusta factory
VIN = Vehicle identification Number which identifies each bike

What do the names of the motorcycles mean?

Chimera = dream
Ala Verde = green wing
Ala Azzurra = blue wing
Ala d'Oro = golden wing
SX = It probably means "Street & Cross" for some models with high exhaust system

1912	Nieuport Macchi is founded by Giulio Macchi, later it is renamed in Aeronautica Macchi. It's a company specialized in airplanes
1945	Three Wheel Truck MB1 is indroduced, it is Aermacchis first ground vehicle.
1951	Aermacchi started to manufacture motorcycles. They introduced the 125N, a 2-Stroke* 125cc scooter which was developed by the engineer Lino Tonti*
1956	The 175cc Chimera was introduced; Speed Records: 50cc standing mile = 82.530 kph; 75cc flying mile = 161.337 kph; 75cc flying kilometer = 167.208
1957	Chimera 175cc was the first 4-Stroke* motorcycle produced by Aermacchi. It went into regular sale in 1958*
1958	Chimera 175cc ,Chimera 250cc
1959	Chimera 175cc ,Chimera 250cc
1960	Chimera 175cc, Chimera 250cc, Harley-Davidson bought 50% of Aermacchi, Italy
1961	Chimera 175cc ,Chimera 250cc
1963	(Brezza) ,Chimera 250cc
1964	(Brezza) ,Chimera 250cc
1965	(M-50), (Brezza)
1966	(M-50), (Brezza)
1967	(M-65, Brezza, Sprint 250cc SS, Sprint 250cc H)
1968	(M-50, Rapido MLS, Brezza)
1969	(Brezza), Harley-Davidson is adopted by AMF (American Machine & Foundry), (350cc Sprint)
1970	(Leggero, Baja, Rapido, Leggero, Ala Verde 250, Sprint ERS, SS-350, GT-350)
1971	(Leggero, Baja, RC-125, Rapido, Ala Verde 250, SS-350, 350-TV, GT-350)
1972	(Shortster, Leggero, Baja, Rapido, Ala Verde 250, 350-TV, SS-350, SX-350, GT-350, Sprint ERS)
1973	(X-90, Z-90, Baja, Rapido, SX-125, RC-125, TX-125, SS-350, SX-350) SS-350 from now on with electric start
1974	World Championship 250ccm, Walter Villa RR-250, (X-90, Z-90, Baja, RC-125, SXT-125, SX-175, SS-350) Last year of the 4-stroke bikes, end of an era
1975	World Championship 250ccm, Walter Villa RR-250, (X-90, Z-90, SXT-125, SX-175, SX-250, SS-250)
1976	World Championship 250ccm, Walter Villa RR-250 and also in the 350ccm class, (SXT-125, SST-250)
1977	(SXT-125, MX-250)
1978	(MX-250), Aermacchi is completely sold to the Cagiva-Group
2008	History repeats itself, Harley-Davidson takes over the MV Agusta Group (Cagiva) from Claudio Castiglioni for 109 million dollars
2009	Harley-Davidson rejects the MV Agusta group, after just one year. Claudio Castiglioni and his son takes over again.
2011	Claudio Castiglioni dies at the age of 64 years on August 17th. His son takes over the business dealings.

I still mix up production years and model years some times. It is a little hard to keep them seperated, because Aermacchi always speaks from production years but Harley-Davidson speaks from model years.
Example: Harley-Davidson Shortster (MC-65) it was produced in 1971 only but sold as 1972 model and not as 1971!

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