Moto Guzzi Motorcycles
"Bulletproof Guzzis"
By Greg Field
October 6, 1998
Apparently, I haven't told this one, and it is a list exclusive.
I didn't use it in the book because, though I heard three very similar
versions of the same story from three of the motor cops, I couldn't confirm
enough of the details that I felt comfortable repeating it for the record.
It could be total BS, or it could be essentially true. With that caveat,
here goes:
One day, two Guzzi-riding motor officers stopped for coffee and donuts.
Unbeknownst to the cops, the bank around the corner was being robbed.
When the robbers came out and took off at high speed, the cops tooks off
in chase, thinking they were just speeders.
As one of the cops pulled up close behind the speeding car, one of the
robbers leaned out the window and fired a bullet right through the windshield
on the bike, striking the officer. Whether the bullet or the resulting
crash killed the officer, I'm not sure, but after the incident, the LAPD
quickly adopted a new standard for the shields on their bikes: They had
to be bulletproof!
That said, LAPD was reasonable about the requirement, stating that when
mounted at the angle it would be on a motor, the shield had to be able
to deflect several of the common pistol rounds (one told me that it was
the .38 Special, another the .357 Mag) when fired from a specified distance
(30 feet, one said).
To meet the new standard and make some money, a company named Code 3
adapted the then-new impact-resistant plexiglass Lexan to police windshield
and began marketing them to LAPD and other forces. (One cop told me Code
3 was started by a former cop and a former employee of ZDS Motors, the
west coast Guzzi distributor, and that the company pioneered the use of
electric sirens to replace the old friction-type.)
As with all things police, the new shields had to undergo testing.
One cop told me they actually mounted the new shields to bikes and fired
their service revolvers at the shield from the prescribed distance to see
if they really would deflect bullets. To the cops' delight, the shields
actually did as advertised.
Code 3 went on to make versions of their shield for Harleys and other
bikes through at least the mid-seventies. Not sure if they're still in
business.
If anyone has any more details on this story, I'd love to hear them.
Greg Field, Seattle, WA gfield
at halcyon.com
1973 Eldo and 1986 LeMans 1000
I had always heard "supposed to stop a .38 at 25 feet". Very similar
story.
Have been told by somewhere along the line, that former race car driver
Dan Gurney had something to do with Code 3 as well, either that or something
to do with the development of Lexan possibly. (Racing windshields??)
Code 3 still in business, marketing items for the emergency services
industry. Think they are out of Texas somewhere. They have no knowledge
of police bike windshields anymore however, at least in my chat with them.
Regards,
CHEESEHEAD info at motoguzzi
Brooklyn WI
Flock o' Geese
From Sheldon: Cheesehead and
Gordon run MG Cycle in Brooklyn (not NY) Wisconsin. Check out their
web site at http://www.mgcycle.com
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