Wilier Copper Plated Rare Vintage Bicycle 1940s

Wilier Triestina is an old company which was already founded in 1906. Not in Triest though, as the name might suggest. Triest was not even part of Italy back then but the name expressed the wish for a unification with the city on the Adriatic coast.
Wilier became famous for beautiful and fast road bikes - especially the ones covered in a special paint.
Known as "Ramata" amongst enthusiasts - which in Italian means "of color of copper". Unlike Ramata paintjob, where the effect is achieved by chrome plating the frame and then adding a copper-colored translucent layer of paint, our Wilier has been actually copper plated. To prevent an inevitable oxidation, it has been covered with layer of clear coat. The real copper plating can be seen as an origin from which the iconic "Ramata" came from and as you can imagine, these bikes are very rare indeed.

But the paintwork is certainly not the only highlight of this Wilier. You don't find such old exemplars very often. This model dates back to the 1940s and in its style and setup it is pretty identical in style, construction and setup to the bikes which the great Fiorenzo Magni rode for the Wilier Team in 1948/1949.

Regarding the components, it is equipped with an original Campagnolo Cambio Corsa Shifting, the legendary rod-operated masterpiece which secured race victories in the roughest environments due to its capability to keep the chain under tension in every situation.

Nice details like the Wilier crankset or an original Ambrosio cockpit complete a bike which does not only have the style but also the condition to take part in historic bike races. After all, this bike might have competed against Bartali's, Coppi's and others in the late 1940s!
More than a bicycle, simply a piece of art.