CONDOR A580

Two little-known facts about Switzerland: 1) Though militarily neutral, the Swiss actually do have an army; and 2) Switzerland once made motorcycles. Those two facts intertwine with the Swiss-built army bike from Condor-Werke-AG, a company founded in 1901. As World War II closed, the Swiss Army was looking for a home-built replacement for its aging fleet of two-wheelers. The worth of opposed-Twin engines as used by BMW and Zundapp (and adopted by Harley-Davidson with its XA army bike) was clearly evident, so that’s what was specified. A low-compression sidevalve design meant the bike would run on just about any grade of gasoline. Reliable shaft final drive eased maintenance chores out in the field.
The bike was in production through 1957, though examples remained in service until 1977. Production was almost exclusively slated for the Swiss Army and Police forces, though small-scale civilian sales were attempted from time to time. Not very successfully as the solidly built bikes proved to be heavy, slow and inordinately expensive, though reliable as the day is long.
Sweet engine .Unrestored example 12V converted