Latest addition to my collection, Shoei S-12 manufactured 24 July 1976.
The inside is mint and it has some nice patina on the outside.
It was missing the visor so I made a new one.
The bottom rubber was torn so replaced that too.
Shoei sticker on the front was missing so I have recreated that with paint.
Cool looking helmet!
AGV was founded in 1947 by Gino Amisano, AGV name being his initials and Valenza, the city in which the company was based.
AGV initially made leather seats and motorcycle saddles, adding leather motorcycle helmets a year later. Helmet production became the core business when they started making fiberglass helmets in 1954. Around this time, AGV began making sponsorship deals with motorcycle racers, eventually claiming greats such as Angel Nieto, Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene, Wayne Rainey and Valantino Rossi as their riders.
In the 70’s F1 greats wore AGV’s including Emerson Fittipaldi, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Alan Jones and infamously Niki Lauda in his fiery 1976 German Grand Prix race.
Gotta love Emerson's sidies and Barry's mullet in these photos!
Joseph Buegeleisen founded the Joseph Buegeleisen Company in or around 1933 in Detroit, Michigan. Joseph had worked for his brother Elias’s company selling Resistal aviator goggles in the early 1930’s.
Joseph’s business manufactured Buco helmets (and other cycling related products) using the advertising slogan "Look better, feel better, are better".
The Joseph Buegeleisen Company would become synonymous with motorsport, becoming the largest US accessory and safety helmet manufacturer of the time. In the 1950's and 1960's Buco was sold in Harley Davidson and Indian Motorcycle dealerships among others.
Surprising then that photos of these helmets in period are hard to find, but here is one worn by Peter Revson of Formula One, IndyCar, Can-Am, and Trans-Am fame. The other is Graham Hill in the 1960’s wearing a Buco Resistal II (which sold in 2024 for GBP £144,000)!!!