The Royal Tinto wine label is always reserved for an iconic motorcycle. Our beloved 1973 Yamaha TD3 250 is no exception to the rule. The TD3 has roots dating back to 1959 as Yamaha ventured into producing not only production racing machines but conversion kits for people to convert their street bikes to road racers. The TD3 boasted all the right genetics to be a top contender at any racetrack with features such as a dry clutch, horizontally split crankcases, a 6 speed transmission and 34mm carburetors. The high revving 2 stroke engine produced 49bhp @ 10,500 RPM, good for over 140mph off the showroom floor. The bike was a mainstay for privateers of the era, and a key part of Yamaha’s domination of 1970’s road racing.
The TD3 was an evolutionary step forward in the long line of successful Yamaha air-cooled two-strokes and was the last of its kind, Yamaha introduced a water-cooler version in 1974, the TZ250. The TZ250 was produced until 1995 and noted as one of the best racing machines made.
Our TD3 was purchased at the Mecum auction in January 2016. The moment is one that Marcelo and Damian often reminisce about. Marcelo, who was attending the auction, first spotted the TD3 the Thursday night prior to the Friday afternoon auction. The bike had caught the attention of Marcelo because as he describes “it is a very complete and nearly perfect example of a showroom bike. The front brake, which by the way is very sought after by itself, even has the original mesh screen! This is unheard of because most of the hubs out there have an air scoop. The first modification everyone who really raced the bike did was to put the air scoops to cool the pad brakes better. It seems that this bike was either raced a few times or never at all.” The chase was on.
The following morning Marcelo made his morning rounds and watched as the countless motorcycles went through the auction block. Some motorcycles auctioned that day reached over $100K. As the TD3 approached the auction block Marcelo rings Damian to let him know he had decided to bid on the bike. Damian recounts the phone call “I remember receiving the call while working in the front office at the winery. Pops tells me that he is about to bid on a super original TD3, my only reply as the auction started was “don’t be a chicken”!! (a reference to our tradition of drawing a chicken foot on our throttle hand before our vintage moto races). As the auction went on I could hear the action. There was someone else in the crowd bidding against him! The auctioneer calling the fast paced calls for the bids got me into a frenzy. I began yelling at my Dad over the phone to keep going! As the auction came down to the final bids it was a two man show down, only one man had his son screaming at him over the phone to keep going! Pops ended up winning the bike and he got off the phone to tend to the auction ushers. The funniest part of the story was as I walked back into the office, Gayla (our Wineclub Manager) and Erikka (accountant) were frantically running around the house looking for me. I gave them a puzzled look as they were asking me if I was okay. Apparently they thought I was being attacked by someone in the front yard because of all the yelling! We had a good laugh about it and I just let them know that Dad had just bought a piece of Motorcycle history