A Brief History of the Marque
Manufactured: 1925-1928*
Officine Nagas & Ray, Viale Certosa, 39 - Milano.
Alessandro Nagas and Tullio Ray founded their motorcycle business shortly after WWI and became importers of Indian and Zundapp, with showrooms in Milan and Turin and agents across the country.
In 1925 they opened a factory in Milan which built motorcycles designed by Giuseppe Remondini fitted with a unit construction single-cylinder sidevalve engine of 348cc with external flywheel and oil pump driving via three-speed transmission with both hand and foot controls.
The frame was of tubular cradle style with parallelogram forks, and it had brakes on both wheels. The machine was marketed in 1926 along with a sport version, also of sidevalve configuration. In 1927, Remondini began work on an OHV model which was announced to the press in 1928.
After the Wall Street crash of 1929, sales of their American imports, Indian and Ford, plumetted. The company founders, Nagas and Ray, had had enough and retired, leaving control of the business to Remondini who formed an agreement with Argentinian industrialist Tito Jonghi. The company adopted the Jonghi name and in 1932 operations moved to France.
* Notes: Production years 1922-1928, according an older source.
Sources: MC Storico Conti, Wikipdedia IT, Tragatsch p225, et al.
If you have a query or information about Nagas & Ray motorcycles please contact us
