1959 Aermacchi Chimera 175

“Ground control to Major Tom”. The space race has begun.  I will be joining from the Black Hills of South Dakota and riding this 1959 Aermacchi Chimera 175 in the Cross Country Chase.  I imported this Chimera from a seller in the Netherlands back in 2020, It flew from Amsterdam to Denver international airport, and I have been working on ironing out the bike since.  Aermacchi made approximately 119 of these bikes with this specific bike being 1 of 7 that was sent to the Netherland when new. As you can imagine, restoring these bikes is difficult with many proprietary parts.   This bike was “restored” back in the late 1980’s by a previous owner that lived just a few hours north of Amsterdam where the bike was sold new. I decided the bike needed a good refresh.  I rebuilt the wiring harness, replaced a few switches with NOS units, went over the chassis front to back, sent the engine off for rebuild.  As of writing this I am not yet done with the bike but will have it back on the road long before the Chase starts so I can prepare for liftoff.