A potted history of the Moto Guzzi California

Up to 1997 more than 50,000 Californias had been built. Since then? ...I have no idea, perhaps someone out there does. At current factory production levels, that number of Californias would account for approximately five years worth of work alone.

The ever present "Cali" as it is affectionately known is one of the best loved and most instantly recognisable of Mandello's motorcycles, past and present. Recognition is aided by the fact that, visually at least, it has remained virtually unchanged since the California III was unveiled in the late eighties wearing the now characteristic tear-drop tank. I say visually, because the modern Cali is almost as far removed from the Cali III as that model is to the original version.

850 GT California

The story of the Cali, then, is a long and illustrious one stretching back what is fast approaching 40 years; one of the last exponents of the famous Tonti-framed big V-twins...even the V-twin motor was itself a young pup when the Cali came into existence.

There is no doubt that, in the late 1960s, first with its 700cc and later 757cc versions of the V-twin motor, Guzzi forged a reputation as a builder of solid, long living, reliable, quality motorcycles. The one criticism that was levelled at them initially however was the fact performance was less than exhilarating. This may have been down to the soft state of tune, one of the factors behind the reliability of the engine! To address this, the factory's decision makers felt that it may be possible to achieve a bit more zip simply by lengthening the stroke and therefore achieving a capacity of 844cc which offered 51 horses output to play with.

At the Milan show of 1971 Guzzi unveilled the new 850 GT and, with it, the 850 GT California, thus commencing a long line of motorcycling heritage that continues to the present. At Squadra Guzzista we are fortunate to have within our group one of the earliest versions, Neil's 850GT, and one of the latest, Gareth's California Vintage...living motorcycling history...marvellous! In actual fact prior to the 850GT version, Guzzi had already badged a 757cc as a California. The new model for 1971 was merely an updated version of that machine which had been sold for European eyes only.

The thinking behind the California theme must have been to rival Harley's "american dream" mystique which had been so successful and to tap in to the imagery of touring freely in sunshine on endless highways through dramatic scenery...I suppose if the model had been called the Moto Guzzi Grimsby or whatever the Italian equivalent is that may not have been possible. Anyhow, to make the dream a reality the 850 GT Cali was given a large screen, high wide bars, panniers (in Harley style) and acres of chrome. The finished article, gleaming in black and white paint certainly looked the part!

The marketing pap must have worked because the fledgling Cali was an almost instant sales success. It arrived in Britain in 1972 and guzzisti in the USA, Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and France were all also able to dream evocative dreams whilst cruising their local highways and byways. The amazing success of this model, coupled with the continued solidity of the design and build and its unbounded ability for long distance travel in comfort, for the standards of the day, helped to begin to ingrain the Cali into the conscience of the touring motorcycle buyer. Mandello kept the dream alive until 1974, and for the final year of production a disc brake was fitted to the front powered by a Brembo caliper. Rather than signalling the end of this popular model however, 1974 would prove to be an important one for it's future.

850 T3 California

The incredible 850T, badged as Interceptor in some markets, arrived in 1974 and for some people this is the most significant of Moto Guzzi V-Twins. The public liked the smooth revving engine and somehow for a standard road bike inherited the handling capability of the V7 Sport which had also been released that same year.

The critical acclaim levelled at the T because of this fact caused a sensation. Guzzi had another marvel on its hands and, not wishing to forsake the popularity of the old Cali in the touring market began to plan for a successor.

Quite simply, the T formed the basis for the 850T3 of that same year. All was not perfect with the T and amid complaints of poor finish and poor braking the factory threw it back out on the street with a new badge, the T3, to highlight the good points of the T but also to underline the fact that this was a new machine without the failings of its predecessor as both finish and braking had been upgraded, mainly by a twin disc unit at the front.

The factory now had the opportunity to utilise the mile-munching ability of the machine and combine it with a full dress specification wearing the 850 T3 California badge on the side panels.Full dress spec for the new Cali comprised a large touring screen, "western" bars, a steering damper, the famous (infamous for some) "buddy" seat with integrated grab rails, lockable fiberglass panniers on chrome frames, a rear carrier rack, front and rear crash bars, footboards for the rider, heel-toe gearchange lever, and the long sidestand that one could deploy whilst still seated on the bike. All these are features that even modern riders of the retrospective California Vintage will recognise and have been a constant of the model throughout the years. The 850 T3 California also wore the linked braking system so unique to and synonymous with Moto Guzzi.

California II

The Milan show of 1981 was graced by a new version of the Moto Guzzi California, now badged as California II. This was not just a styling exercise but some considerable changes had been made over the previous model.

The bore was increased and it now competed in the 1 litre class displacing some 948 cubes. A distinctive exterior feature of the new motor was that it carried the "square" cylinder heads and barrels which had also been seen on the Le Mans III...a feature that continues to this day which means that, to Guzzi riders at least, seeing a Cali II on the road doesn't immediately appear to look particularly dated.

Interestingly, it is reported that at about the time of the design of the Cali II the factory had updated its machining equipment and the model benefited from the resultant improved engineering this facilitated. This may go some way to explaining how, almost 30 years since its release, this version of the Cali remains such a long lived and useable machine. It was also a good seller so there are still a fair few around and even today one in good nick would pose an effective purchase. Within the ranks of Squadra Guzzista members there are a number of them...Dan Kalal and Steve Bradley will surely testify to the enduring qualities of this machine. There are also some stunning examples in our gallery of guzzisti.

California III

In 1987 the Cali was once again revised. By this time it had been firmly established as one of the principal Moto Guzzi models, especially in the touring sector where it still held a strong position despite the arrival, in 1978 of the Spada.

Just how important this latest update was for mot Guzzi cannot be put into words. The California III as it was denominated became the biggest selling of all the big twins and gained the now familiar look with the curvaceous tear-drop tank we now associate with it. Once again this model represented a major re-working of the theme. Initially, power was increased almost 10bhp over the outgoing version and many variants were produced in order to cast the Cali net as wide as possible...another Cali trait which remains to this day.

In 1989 a fuel injected version arrived using the fuel injection unit obtained from the Daytona. 1990 saw the "Classic", essentially the Cali III with lower bars and no touring gubbins. in 1991 the now 71 bhp SpIII was added to a Limited Edition model. Such was the popularity of this incarnation that it became standard for European Californias for the following year while in the USA they kept the previous engine spec. Wheels were mostly spoked although cast wheels were also produced.

There was further diversity available throughout this model's lifespan. Fuel injected versions were available at the same time as carburetted versions of the same production line. The motor's spec also changed as the factory strove to meet changing emissions and noise regulations. Further variants of the California III appeared in the form of the anniversary edition of 1992, celebrating 70 years of Moto Guzzi, with a leather saddle and other assorted bling items including a numbered plate and certificate with each bike.

The LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) arrived in both carb and fuel injected formats. This was a theme already in place since the CI (Carenatura Integrale) which was a strange old stick wearing a hideous full fairing, huge top box with full height back rest, square headlight, and was finished in the most vomit-inducing brown and beige combination. Needless to say, the CI did not sell many examples. I have since found one for sale at a dealer in the UK for about £2k so if looks aren't what rocks your boat and simply need something to travel a few miles on it may be your bag.

I must say, whilst researching this article I found the profusion of Cali III versions with their differing formats and variants incredibly difficult to follow as there were so many differences from one to another.

California 1100

1993 was a tricky year for Guzzi. Apparently it had been operating at a loss (what? Guzzi? never) and turnover was reportedly down to 35 bn Lira (approx £27.63 I think).

In typically Latin fashion however this was shrugged off and the factory began to look to the future. Perhaps by shortening lunch breaks to under the two hour mark or by other such means unknown to me the company managed to increase production by 5000 units and turnover increased to 45 bn Lira (approx £33.17..or there abouts). Naturally, the main focus of the revival was to enhance the most popular models and this, essentially, meant the California.

The California 1100 arrived in 1994 again, offered in both fuel injected and carb formats as there was a difference of opinion between owners (which is still evident I might add) as to which format offered the best Guzzi qualities.

The new version's motor had more power than the Cali III, now 75bhp and, interestingly, torque was apparently also up by 26%! There were also upgrades to the gearbox, suspension, gearing, the frame, brakes...and the wheels were larger. The main improvement however was in terms of build quality and finish. This is remarkable for a factory under financial strain but the fact that so much effort and resources were levelled at the California demonstrates just how important it was to the continued success...or even survival, of the factory.

The new model was a success straight away. The press, especially, were enthused by the fact that the 1100 Cali would comfortably outperform any rivals in the cruiser sector. The critical success received translated into success at point of sale and the 1100cc Cali was now Mandello's most important motorcycle. For the first time the fuel injected versions were outselling the carburetted models due to the fact that there appeared to be a definite , notable difference in performance held by the former over the latter.

In 1997 the factory celebrated the success of the Cali 1100 by producing a special run of 750 75th anniversary machines, finished in a striking red/silver combo with a leather seat and some added bling in the form of a polished ally alternator cover and a numbered badge.

To the present, the California EV1100i

There seems to be no end in the popularity of the California. 1997's EV 1100i was still increasing in popularity helped in no small measure by having been declared as world's best cruiser, a claim one would find difficult to argue against.

Funnily enough, there were very few changes to the engine for the new Cali. The high standards of finish and build set by the 1100 were improved even further, as was the spec.

It now wore the attractive instrument console from the Centauro. It was sprung by Marzocchi forks and White Power shocks while wheels were by BBS. Brakes were now the outstanding Brembo "Oro" series which meant that essentially the Cali was stopped by the same brakes as a Ducati 916! There was arguably no other cruiser on the market that could compete with the EV in terms of ride, comfort, equipment, spec and, more importantly, in the handling and performance stakes, so much so that Cycle World declared it the best cruiser available at that time.

In 1998 the EV was followed by the "Special" (Bassa in the USA) variant which was styled to look kinda low rider with a lower seat, wider bars and even more bling.

The gradual upturn in fortunes for Guzzi's cruisers, namely the California, contrasted with the dramatic downturn in the fortunes of the factory's sporting machines, once the cornerstone of the factory's appeal. Since first the Daytona and then the 1100 Sport were discontinued the factory was relying on the cali to keep the wolf from the door as, due to shortages in funding, the V11 Sport project had been delayed.

What was needed was a way to attract a new, younger, customer whilst at the same time be able to promote the Cali, by now the star of the show, even further...enter the Jackal.

California Jackal

Essentially, the jackal was a stripped down EV. Released in 1999 the new bike was truly back to basics...both in construction and in purchase price. Guzzi hit upon the Harley trait of offering a basic motorcycle (in Harley's case the Sportster) with a dedicated and wide range of accessories to allow the buyer an easier means to both buy and then, over time, to create their own ideal and personalised Moto Guzzi.

The Jackal was offered in three basic colours, black, silver, red had all the bling removed from it, had as many parts painted in basic black to save cost and basically had everything kept to a minimum. They even did away with the rev counter opting instead for a simple single speedo unit within a chrome surround. What the factory knew only too well was that this Cali could confidently outperform any of Harley's entry level rival machines. In this stripped down, and therefore lighter form, the jackal would be anything but untouchable to the Milwaukee offerings.

It was a clever bit of marketing and in the USA a great many Jackals found themselves into the garages of owners who were not altogether concerned with badge politics. The hard-core Harley customer would in all likelihood not be persuaded to swap Milwaukee for Mandello but plenty of first time buyers opted for the most basic of Calis. Even today there are a great many fellows around the world who cite a Jackal as their first introduction to Moto Guzzi motorcycles. It is for this reason that I have included the Jackal as a section in its own right as opposed to just a footnote of the EV. It has formed its own successful nice and deserves this accolade.

I myself own a Jackal so m fondness for this variant is biased but others in Squadra Guzzista like Patrick and Dave own them too. In all our cases we have kept the mods to a minimum, perhaps stretching to such useful ones a a screen, maybe some cases for touring but, in common with other Jackal riders we like to keep the bling at bay as it is nice to enjoy the performance benefit that a lighter machine brings.

Guzzi has even offered variants of the Jackal, so successful has it been...several Stone formats including the Metal evidence this. The factory has also offered revisions of the standard Cali, the EV, in the form of the Classic, Classic Touring (with windshield, legshields and panniers) there is even a California Special Sport offered in a very attractive Black/Red colour combo not unlike the old Airone. The EV is still going strong with even further revisions such as the Aluminium.

California Vintage

The very latest version funnily enough looks to the past, back to the early days. Styling is very reminiscent of the 850 T3 California even down to the black and white paint scheme and modern take of the "buddy" seat. I love the detail of the copy-cat tail light. Underneath the Halcyon nostalgia however there lurks a modern motorcycle.

Our own Gareth (MagniMan) has reviewed this bike from the point of view of an owner so I'll not dwell to much on this but I wonder what lies ahead for the California. it's a long time since a Cali had to compete with as many stablemates as Guzzi's current crop of offerings but one thing's for sure, the California has seen it all before and I, for one, wish this most incredible of Guzzis a long and grunty life well into the future...in whatever form that may take.

You and your "Cali"


We are now looking for the real story of the California, one told by you.

We would like to bring this article to life by reading the individual memories and stories of California owners past and present!

What experiences of the Cali do you have? Want to share them? Open a new discussion thread below!

Why not send a pic of your Cali for our gallery? e-mail to info@guzzista.com

I hope you enjoy this short video made up of images of Californias submitted by Guzzisti over the last year!