In 1977 Kawasaki made the first Japanese Turbo Charged Motorcycle sold through the dealer network.

Kawasaki took a stock Z1R Turbo and fitted a Rayjay American Turbo which made over 120 rear wheel horsepower.

With performance wars at their peak, Kawasaki worked with California-based American Turbo Pak to make a run of Z1R-TC’s, turbo-charged Z1R’s. The stock bikes left Kawasaki’s California warehouse, were disassembled, upgraded, and sent to dealer without a warranty.

Which brings us to this motorcycle which was built by RC Hill’s Kawasaki of Orlando USA for Billy Gibbons front man for the band ZZ TOP. Billy is a renown hot-rodder and performance nut, he employed RC Hill’s to customise a 1978 Z1R Turbo.

The engine was stripped and 6:1 compression turbo forged piston was fitted. The crank shaft was balanced and welded; an extra deep sump was fitted with a separate oil pump for the turbo. This is called a Stage 3 Upgrade of which only a handful were made. The bike then underwent a custom paint job with gold leaf to Billy’s Specifications including mural characters on the tank with the words ‘Destroyer II” which relates to the type of guitar that Billy Gibbons favours.

The Bike has many parts including the bolts and hardware which have been 24 Carat Gold Plated.

The bike has only travelled 6 thousand miles from new and is a prized possession at the Antique Motorcycles collection for over 15 years.