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1954-55 |
MSDS stands for Macchina Sport Derivato della Serie --- literally, “Sport Machines Derived from the Series"; in other words, this was the Italian racing class for “ production racers." When the MSDS models were imported into the USA by Cosmo, they were initially called MSDS in ads, but soon renamed Gran (or, depending on the ad or brochure, Grand) Sport. There were also the DS models, sort of a shorter version standing for Derviato della Serie, that were simply Sport models. The Earles fork design was thought to help racing, but was dropped after a few years and replaced with a more conventional fork.
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Parilla's 1954 USA intro: Bob Schanz of Cycle magazine had the chance in late 1954 to test ride the new 175 Turismo & Competitione. After adjusting to the European riding style, he was able to push the bike to almost 100 mph. There was a mention that 25 bikes were imported into the country to meet AMA racing regulations, but only a handful were in the country at the time. It would be a several more years before Parilla was imported in greater numbers.
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Colors & prices: This model was not really offered in the USA, but Cycle magazine in a 1954 road test stated that the price for a Competitione was $1,000. Colors were cream and black or red and black. |
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Italy 1954 |
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Today's MSDS outlook: [1]
Very tough to find any of the Earles fork bikes on the market. Rumor has it that 1 or 2 are in the USA, but most of them are in Europe. The later MSDS bikes were sold in the states with the big round gas tank during the first years of Cosmo's existence in 1957 before the name change to Grand Sport.
N.B. 1. Today refers to c.2007.
