Thoughts of A Mad Max-inspired motorcycle often conjures up a very different image. But not every vehicle in George Miller’s dark series is a shaggy death trap, covered in rust and scrap materials. Relive the first Mad Max movie and MFP officer Jim ‘Goose’ Rains’ 1977 Kawasaki KZ1000 Highway patrol bike.
Goose’s bike was originally built specifically for the film by La Parisienne in Melbourne, with inspiration from the Bol D’Or-style endurance racers of the time. Highlights include the tall front fender, boxy tailpiece, alloy wheels, and glossy blue and silver paintwork, a far cry from the raw aesthetic of later Mad Max sequels.
This faithful reproduction is the work of Tiago Gonçalves and Luis Costa at Unik Edition in Lisbon, Portugal. And the idea of building it actually started as a joke.
“We had a 1981 Kawasaki KZ1000 in the store,” said Tiago, “and a friend passing by asked if we knew the bike was the same model from the 1979 Mad Max movie. Of course we do, and that’s one of the reasons we like this bike so much. He joked that it would be interesting to build a replica of the bike.”
As their name suggests, the main focus of Unik Edition is customizability. But they also do the restore job and don’t mind building the occasional copy. “Obviously we like the whole creative process of building and developing the works,” says Tiago, “but most of all, we love challenges and celebrating art.”
Two weeks after coming up with the idea, Tiago and Luis dragged the group into the studio and screened the original film to boost their morale. One year later, Unik’s Goose clone was completed.
It took them a whole year because creating a replica of the bike in a 43 year old movie is not as simple as you think. Body kits for Goose’s KZ still exist, but the project requires more than just a few bolted parts. And Tiago and Luis are determined to get every last detail right.
Adding a complication, Unik’s donation bike is a 1981 model — not a 1977 model like the bike in the movie. So nothing will fit without at least some tweaking.
Specific case: the bib and tail that Unik manages to import. Neither was compatible with the original, but the team had to build new stands to adapt them to the newer KZ model. According to the reference, only the bottom of the saddle is padded, with storage in the rear hump.
Unik also had to change the side cover. So they sourced a pair of fiberglass renewable items and modified them to fit the donor bike.
Getting the right gas tank is another challenge. The crew found a 1979-style tank that matched the requirements, but the backbone of the 1981 frame was too wide to accommodate it. So they reshaped its tunnel to fit it.
Luckily, the alloy wheels that the 1981 KZ1000 came with are an exact replica of the Lester wheels on the bike in the movie, so they can stay put. But the front fender of the donor bike is repainted, not chromed like in the movie. So Unik removed the paint and chrome plating.
This obsessive approach can be seen throughout the construction process. Take the turn signals, for example—they’re new, but they’ve been mounted on a custom bodywork to precisely position them on Goose’s bike.
Then there’s the exhaust. Unik built it specifically for this bike, taking care to ensure that the quadruple ends are exactly the same as on the original bike.
Finishing the build is a beautiful blue and silver paint job, which is said to have taken some work to be satisfactory. The stickers come from a set of replica stickers, while the green lights and sirens are actual old police parts.
There is a small detail that doesn’t quite match, but you need to be a fanatic to spot it.
“It was a big discussion,” said Tiago, “but the only thing we changed was the rearview mirror! Because the movie is Australian, and they drive on the opposite side of Europe, the original mirror is on the right. For obvious reasons, we changed it to the left side.”
“It’s a small change… or not!”
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