Mondials, built by the Boselli brothers (Fratelli Boselli), are quite rare in the US. Contemporaries of Parillas and MV Agustas, Mondial built some quite competitive motorcycles during the 1950's, winning many Italian and European races. In the mid-50's their 175 Turisimo Veloce (literally Fast Tourer) was at the top of their range of street bikes. It was/is a very desirable motorcycle.

Listed on eBay, I won this 1957 Mondial 175 Turismo Veloce in November 2012 and picked it up from Eastern Shore, MD the next month. It was supposedly freshly imported from Italy, in excellent original condition, and ready to run. It certainly looked the part.

Once home, I took stock and began to clean and polish it up. An early hint of things to come was when the crankcase breather turned out to be a wine cork carved to shape and painted silver. Looking further, I determined that it needed a few things to get going. I found a diagram of the breather and made a real one to match the original. The original 6V battery is no longer available, but I found a British box made to resemble a battery into which I was able to place a small gel battery. Genius. I noticed an oil leak coming from the points case on the motor. Taking off the cover it was apparent there was a leak from beneath the points plate. Getting to it required removing the points of course. This then revealed the next problem. Somehow, the points cam had become corroded beyond usefulness. I've no idea how that can happen short of it swimming for years. This pretty much stymied the effort until I ran into Ed Miller, antique BMW expert and master machinist. Ed saw it as a challenge and, somehow, replicated the original in a matter of days. For his efforts he got my last bottle of Tobermory single malt, Ed does like his whiskeys.

By this time other projects had begun and so the Mondial remained in the shop untouched. As time passed and it became apparent that  I was not going to get to this, I decided it would be best to pass it on to someone with the time, desire, and skills it warranted. In the end it was purchased by a West Coast auto restoration shop owner interested in building a small collection of motorcycles. I believe him to be the perfect caretaker for this important little bike.

 
Derusting the tank using the electrolyte method. Works OK, not great. The original corroded points cam and the Ed Miller made replacement.

 

Mondials were a force in the Giro, the biggest Italian races of the day. A Brief History, found on the interweb, but I forget where.