Dunstall GT750L

What is a Dunstall and who was Dunstall?

Paul Dunstall

The short version of the story is that Paul Dunstall had a head for business and liked motorcycles.  Back in the sixties he opened a small shop in a London suburb selling parts initially for Nortons that were replicas of the parts used on his race team bikes.  Swept back exhausts, camshafts, and bodywork. His racing Nortons were race winners and they looked good as well as going fast.

He was the man to go to for Norton twin parts and performance modifications.  As his business grew, so did the product range and he offered parts for an ever expanding range of bikes.  At one time he and his staff were buying Norton's and removing parts and replacing them with Dunstall branded products and eventually Dunstall was registered as a motorcycle manufacturer. As far as I can tell, the only bikes that were sold as Dunstalls and which were manufactured by Dunstall's organization were Norton twins.

Dunstall Suzukis

According to all recollections that I have read so far, Dunstall did not manufacture a Dunstall Suzuki or Dunstall Triumph or Honda.  The UK Suzuki importer reportedly bought body kits from Dunstall and converted the bikes straight out of the warehouse in a effort to boost sales and popularity of the two stroke triples which were approaching the end of their commerical life.

Dunstall did offer a complete body kit comprising a tank cover, two up seat and side covers and integrate rear fender (mudguard).  They also offered a GT750 specific fairing comprising main section, sides, screen , headlamp surround and brackets. They were initially offered in 1976 to fit the A model and later were offered to fit any model GT750. A couple were registered in the UK as Dunstall Suzukis but that speaks to laxity of the rules rather than to accuracy of manufacturer.

For the GT750, Dunstall prints of the time show a three into two exhaust system but it was never made available for sale.  Interestingly, in the UK most were fitted with the much lighter Piper three into one exhaust. In Australia the popular exhaust was also a three into one, this time from local firm Bromlech.  Back in the day there were not a lot of good expansion chamber exhausts and a three into one looked the part, sounded fantastic and dropped a ton of weight off the bike.

As part of the 1976 marketing program, the UK importer had one painted in Texaco sponsored Heron Suzuki GB race team colors to resemble the race TR750s of the year and that was used in advertizing featuring Paul Dunstall.  But the public were able to buy them in yellow, red or back.  Despite that, the 76 race team color scheme remains popular in the UK.  In the US, the local distributor fitted a pair of Kimtab snowflake wheels to make their demonstrator look more sexy and in the UK they were also shown with alloy wheels but none were offered by Dunstall or Heron Suzuki GB as options.

In general a Dunstall was a bike that had the tank cover/seat and fairing kit.  They were rare enough in the day and are even rarer today.

One of the nicest Dunstall Hondas in the US is this one which is immaculate.

There are a few Dunstall GT750 Suzukis in the UK and on one recent rare sunny day, three appeared at the same time. It is rumored that this rare occurrence may have been historic and one or more may have arrived in the back of a van, but that was in the UK where sunshine is not so common - at least not for a whole day at a time. Here we have the Three Amigos.

There are many bikes around that claim to be Dunstalls and most have some period bodywork but most are not Dunstall parts.  Like most companies of the time, Dunstall had parts designed and manufactured by specialists and the body kit and matching fairings I believe came from the Mitchenall brothers whose Avon branded fairings reveal the family DNA.  It may well be that some of the tanks or fairings that are loosely sold as Dunstall parts may have come out of the same moulding shops, but that doesn't make them Dunstall parts.

And that brings us to this bike.  It's a 1974 GT750J with full Dunstall body kit and full fairing and has been fully rebuilt from the ground up.

Mag type wheels on Dunstall publicity shots looked nice, but Kimtabs are rare, as are most wheels from that era. Fortunatey in the late seventies, Suzuki fitted cast wheels to the GS range and that's where this pair came from.  They are slightly wider than stock GT750 wheels and that really helps the look and with tire selection.

More about this Dunstall GT750