Ebay Bike O' the Week: Bexton Moto's Gary Nixon Ninja 300 Replica

.A guy by the name of Molly made his mark back then..did the Yamaha "Speed Block" too. Goggle "paint by Molly".....
How Kawasaki Got Its Green
By Mike Vaughan Wed, Oct 20, 2010
Have you ever wondered how Kawasaki adopted its unmistakable shade of green? Well, we've got the back story for you. (Photos: Provided by Mike Vaughan)

Back in 1968, as Kawasaki struggled to create a distinctive image for themselves in the rapidly growing U.S. motorcycle market, the company explored several different options to help set them apart from the 25 or 30 other motorcycle brands vying for the buying public’s attention.

The A1 Samurai and its derivatives had been introduced, the legendary H1 Mach III was in the wings, and no one knew exactly how much attention it would receive when it was launched. The A1RR, a 250cc two-stroke race bike, had seen success on road racing courses across the U.S., but in a sea of reds, blues and yellow competitors, the bike, in its red and cream livery didn’t stand out.

George Hamawaki, then president of Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., gave National Sales Manager Don Graves, and National Marketing Manager Paul Collins, the task of coming up with a device to strengthen Kawasaki’s identity; whether it be design, color, or something else.

Graves, who’d been in the custom car business while in college, contacted a well-known custom car painter, who referred him to a guy by the name of Molly Sanders. Sanders had a shop in a Quonset hut behind a service station in Brea, Calif. As Graves tells it, “I spent two days drinking with him, and was impressed enough to get the go-ahead from Hamawaki to obtain some new paint ideas.” Business was done differently back then.

Sanders was sent 20 tank and fender combinations and told, “The sky’s the limit.” Thirty days later he called to say he was ready. Graves sent the chassis’ over to have the newly painted parts bolted on. Shortly afterwards Graves and the rest of Kawasaki’s top management went to Brea for the presentation. Sanders prefaced it by saying, “You not only have to look at the colors, you have to listen to my reasoning for them as well.”

1979 KR250

A 1979 KR250 Kawasaki motorcycle.

The samples consisted of shades of blue, red, yellow as well as some other themes on standard colors. Graves finally asked the question, “Which of these colors is going to set Kawasaki apart from its competitors?” Sanders’ response was, “None of them, but I’ll show you the color that will,” and with that he brought out the unmistakable green. The reaction was something less than enthusiastic; nearly everyone on site was shocked and puzzled by the odd color. Sanders then proceeded to explain why he recommended this color; “… it’s unique, it’s distinctive, it stands out any place on a race track, and it’s not likely to be confused with any other color and most of all it’s new, it’s never been seen before. It creates an exclusive Kawasaki color that can’t be confused with anything else.”

A meeting was held at Kawasaki’s corporate headquarters the next day, and in spite of some protests, Hamawaki gave Graves and Collins the go-ahead. They immediately went to the clothing and accessories people, and shortly afterwards Kawasaki’s Racing Green was introduced to the world.

Initially, the color was restricted exclusively to competition products. The restriction was broken in 1982 with the Eddie Lawson Replica, a KZ1000R motorcycle. Over the past 40 years Kawasaki’s green has changed, it’s more fluorescent than it was originally, and it now appears on streetbikes as well as race bikes. But it still accomplishes its original mission, to unequivocally identify a product as being a Kawasaki.

Wow, never knew that, but it explains why my first Kawasaki (circa 1970) was blue/white, and my last (so far) was green. Thanks!

Was that 1970 an "Avenger"?