Unless you're as lost in the motorcycle sauce as we are, as it were, you might not have heard of the motorcycle manufacturer CZ. Founded in 1919 in Strakonice, Czechoslovakia, Česká zbrojovka started off life as a branch of the arms division of Škoda Works. By 1932, after a downturn in the European arms market following WWI, production had switched from weapons to motorized bicycles. The first CZ-branded motorcycle rolled off the assembly line in 1935 and, save for a stretch making machine parts for ze Chermans during the WWII occupation of Czechoslovakia, the company produced bikes up until the '90s.
Those are, of course, just the basics of CZ's history. So, why the short CZ history lesson today? To give you just enough historical reference to enjoy this wild restoration video from the guys over at Crazy Restoration.
One Gearhead's Trash Is Another's Treasure:
What we have here is, as far as I can tell, a mid-60s CZ Model 453. Powered by a 123cc, two-stroke single mated to a four-speed transmission, these were handsome little bikes when new. This poor, wrecked specimen in the video is a long way from showroom fresh, however. Aside from a locked-up engine and copious amounts of rust and dirt on everything, the wheels are all bent out of shape and there's a huge dent with accompanying gash in the fuel tank. Most people—me included if I'm honest—would give this thing a hard pass as good for nothing but scrap.
The Crazy Restoration team is not "most people", however. In this video, which tracks around six months of hard, knuckle-breaking work, the bike undergoes an incredible transformation. So much sanding, fabrication, painting, and general labor went into the bike that the CR guys may as well have built one from scratch. They reused nearly every part that was safe to reuse and were able to source NOS and aftermarket parts where available. The end result speaks for itself.
Go ahead and give the video a watch, it's well worth your time. It's also gratifying to see one more classic bike saved from the big scrapper in the sky.