ALANYA: JAWA

I must admit that I am not a fan of motorcycles .Not at all. But I liked riding my moped when I was too young to drive a car. Old cars, motorcycles and old equipments of different types are objects for my interest of the past because I appreciate reading history and viewing films about the past. Old equipments are to be found in the old movies. It is even more interesting to view old cars, motor cycles, guns, technical equipments forgotten and lost as original objects than viewing photos of the objects. While I was hunting for new objects for my camara during my stay in the city of Alanya, I was surprised finding an interesting and well-known motorcycle in use in Alanya: JAWA 353/354.

The motorcycle was famous in Norway among boys from 1950 to about 1960. JAWA is a motorcycle made in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1929 by Frantisek Janecek. He started the business after having worked in the armament industry for several years. The first model was introduced on October 23, 1929. The model which was popular among boys in Norway in 1950, was JAWA 353/354. The motorcycle was exported to about 120 countries worldwide. It was one of the most successful models of JAWA. I was told that the motorcycle was not made in Turkey- but I am not quite sure about the information given me from people I talked to in Alanya?

I know for sure that the production of JAWA motorcycle was introduced to India in the 1950s. Anyway , it was a nice to see that old motorcycles can be used like they were used in the good old time when the daily life was little different from to-day.