Ducati 1200 V4 Apollo - 1964

About vehicle
Europes biggest post-1945 bike the idea for a new four cylinder ducati came from joe berliner, the marques american importer, in 1959- his brainstorm was to tender for the supply of motorbikes to the american police, who were constrained by anti-trust legislation to consider alternatives to the harley-davidson. The specifications called for a displacement of at least 1200cc and 5.00xl6in tires. Berliner partly financed the project and dictated its conditions. It was a tremendous challenge for ducati, whose biggest models had previously never exceeded 200cc. a simple layout taglioni chose simplicity, following the philosophy of big american v8 automobiles in opting for a v4 with overhead valves operated by a single camshaft mounted between the cylinders. It took two years to build the prototype, which was finished in 1963- two engines were built: A touring version with twin 24mm carburetors, developing 80hp @ 6000rpm, and a performance version with 32mm carburetors, whose loohp @ 7000rpm translated into a top speed close to 100 mph.
The apollo never ivent into production, though five years after the project was killed its descendant, the first 750 v-twin made its appearance.