Today finally, and fortunately, women on motorcycles are no longer news (or almost) but the emancipation of women more than fifty years ago had already begun. This advertisement in the 1971 Motociclismo pages reminds us of it which, with typical style of the time, wishes the motorcyclists a happy new year. To hand them, no less than Cristina Müller, daughter of Bruno owner (from Trieste) of the homonymous brand of off-road motorcycles.
Handcrafted motorcycles but highly sought after (even today) by enthusiasts, motorized “Morini Franco” as stated in the advertisement, but a volte also Sachs e Zündappthe latter endowment which greatly increased its value (more for the exotic charm of the foreign product than for any real superiority compared to the Morini Franco engines).
Cristina, according to the vulgate attractive stewardess on scheduled flights, (there are in fact rare images of her that testify to her grace) she was also a talented motocross rider, therefore quite credible when he invited girlfriends, daughters and sisters to borrow the Müller motorbike from boyfriends, fathers and brothers for a ride “on the banks and between the bumps”. A ride in beautiful style, like his jump in the accompanying image, to “spend a few minutes of leisure and very pleasant emotion” outdoors and realize how “handy and docile” he is; certainly not “to compete with the Ostoreros”.
Emancipation aside, looking at this advertisement with the driest and least naive eyes of today’s social era, we find an ingenious attempt to broaden the audience of consumers, relying on the hope of boyfriends, fathers and brothers that their respective “Moto Müller sympathizers” would decide to go out on Sunday as a couple, and therefore to buy a second bike. Also taking advantage of the fact that the Müllers were “cheap”.
On this last statement, however, today we would feel comfortable involving the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority to investigate whether there is a case of misleading advertising, given that the Müller motorcycles (which contrary to what one might think were not German , but built in Robecco d’Oglio in the province of Cremona) cost on average one and a half times a Fantic Caballero…
