Champion of the most disadvantaged for some and bloodthirsty murderer for others, what neither his admirers nor his detractors will be able to deny is that Guevara was a brave guy when it came to defending his positions. And much of this revolutionary ardor was born at the handlebars of a rickety Norton 500 called “La Poderosa.”
Probably no motorcycle can be said with more reason that it changed everything in world geopolitics. Because it was at the controls of this machine, owned by his friend Alberto Granado, that Ernesto Guevara saw his social conscience awaken and he stopped being an idealistic young doctor to become a revolutionary and guerrilla leader.
It is still interesting to imagine what would have happened if Guevara had not accepted Alberto Granado’s crazy proposal or if the weather had not been favorable and the trip had been postponed or if an asthma attack that day had not allowed Ernesto to accompany his friend. .. The answer – in all cases – is the same: the world would not be the same.
Probably “Che” would not have existed as a guerrilla leader, the “Barbudos” would have had it more difficult in Cuba and Ernesto Guevara would have retired after working as a doctor in Córdoba or Buenos Aires instead of being shot on October 9, 1967 in an inhospitable corner of the Bolivian Sierra.
But the fact is that on January 4, 1952, Alberto and Ernesto started the motorcycle, hit the road and with that began an exciting journey, at the end of which the young doctor decided to change the scalpel and stethoscope for the machine gun and grenades. .
Ernesto and Alberto wanted to know the reality of that punished and impoverished South America and to do so they designed a route that had to take them through the Andes, cross the Chilean coast through the Atacama Desert and from there to Peru and Venezuela to reach the West Coast. from the United States, to San Francisco.
The journey began in the Argentine capital on January 4, 1952 and ended in Santiago de Chile seven months later when the motorcycle said “Enough” after the enormous punishment received.
Much has been said about that trip, countless articles and books have been written – one of them signed by the protagonist himself – and an excellent film has even been made. Now it’s time to get to know a little more detail about the motorcycle that made it possible.
The Norton 500 M18 model 1939 was a machine purchased from military surplus and that Granado baptized “Poderosa II.” It was a single-cylinder that delivered 29 HP, with a four-speed gearbox and under normal conditions capable of reaching 125 km/h, a speed not inconsiderable for the time. The one belonging to the two Argentines, however, was not even close to 80 as it was full of spare parts, blankets, bags with clothes, kitchen utensils, a first aid kit, picks and shovels and even a shotgun.
At that time Norton was the leading British brand in the world with the legendary Manx and its modern “FeatherBed” frame piloted by legends like Geoff Duke.
The one used by future revolutionaries, however, was a road model derived from the military model designed to be attached to a sidecar. That is why its frame was rigid in the rear axle and the front suspension worked by parallelograms; a very uncomfortable configuration for the pavement conditions that the adventurers encountered in their path.
Ernesto Guevara himself explains that “the bike was very difficult to control with the weight placed on a grill that is behind the center of gravity, lifts the front at the slightest carelessness and throws us away.”
The Norton 500 was known for its oil leaks and how difficult it was to start when its tuning was not perfect. However, despite all of the above, it was also an almost indestructible machine that had endured unimaginable punishments in the war and that – equally on the journey in question – demonstrated extraordinary endurance until it burst where other motorcycles would have done much before.
“Without anything being announced to us,” Che explains again, “the motorcycle bucked sideways and sent us to the ground. Alberto and I, unharmed, examined the machine and found one of the steering supports broken, but the most serious thing about the case is that the gearbox also broke into pieces; It was impossible to continue and we only had to wait patiently for a moderate truck that would take us to a populated center.”
Alberto Granado, upon seeing her irrecoverable in the middle of the Chilean immensity, says goodbye to her with some heartfelt words: “It’s like abandoning the corpse of an old friend.”
The machine was later recovered – with Che becoming a celebrity and after many vicissitudes – and is preserved and exhibited in the Guevara De la Serna family home, now converted into a museum in Altagracia.
