This is a rare one: a 1968 Ducati 250 Scrambler. It’s located in Middletown, New York and is listed on eBay with a current bid price of just over $1,500, but the reserve isn’t met. The seller doesn’t say that it was actually found in a barn, although it looks like it was. They say that it’s in “Barn Find Condition”.

The seller says that they “bought it not running. The engine turns.” Speaking of engines, this is the second series of Ducati Scramblers. They were made from 1968 through 1976 in several sizes: first was the 350, then this little 250 was born. They also made a 450 and on the other end of the scale, a 125 for the European market. The second series had the “wide case” engines, which, well, they were a little wider than the “narrow case” engines were. If you haven’t noticed, this is a 250 single-cylinder. The 350s had a high enough compression ratio, 10:1, that they required a decompression lever on the left handlebar. The 250s, with a 9.2:1 compression ratio, didn’t need that feature.

Ducatis have a wide network of clubs, websites, and forums available to help with the restoration. These were overhead cam engines and they had around 18 hp. These Scramblers weren’t really made for strict off-road-duty like the early Scramblers were, but I’m sure it would handle 90% of anything that a person could throw at them, sort of like the person who drives a new Jeep or other SUV and never takes it off-road, yet they could if they wanted to. This bike in restored condition will most likely be parked in front of any number of quaint coffee shops and be right at home.

You’ll want to delicately polish this engine, you don’t want to lose that super cool detail. This bike is being “sold with a bill of sale”, and for anyone who has ever gone through that before, which I am now, it’s an absolute nightmare. Or, it can be; not always, of course. But, sometimes it can’t be helped that there isn’t a title with decades-old motorcycles, or cars. These bikes are rare with less than 1,000 of them being sold in the US. I’ve never seen one in person but I think this would be a great restoration project. Is anyone else out there a Ducati fan? If so, would you restore this bike to like-new condition or just get it working and ride the wheels off of it?