The Spanish motorcycle industry at the close of the 70s – like the rest of the country’s manufacturing base – wasn’t a particularly happy environment. In the trials world at least, the Spanish ‘Big Three’ of Bultaco, Montesa and Ossa had ruled the 70s, beating off the best efforts of the fledgling Japanese trials effort for the most part. The Spanish had seen their lead in motocross development at first erode and then evaporate under the onslaught from the Japanese factories but, in trials, they still held most of the aces at least. Spanish bikes ruled the roost on the world stage and their manufacturers should have been making hay – but instead they were imploding in a welter of strikes and stoppages.

Ossa was the last of the three big Spanish outfits to get involved with trials – indeed, it wasn’t until 1951 that Ossa branched out from their cinematographic origins into the world of motorcycle manufacture – and it would be 1967 before they entered the trials fray. And, unlike Bultaco and Montesa, this relatively late start was translated into an ongoing reluctance to really drive development of their trials models forward. Although our own Mick Andrews (and others to be fair) brought home a more than fair share of trials glory to Ossa, by the time the company really took the development bull by the horns and came up with the Gripper, the deteriorating industrial relations situation at the plant – as in the rest of Spanish industry – scuppered any real chance Ossa had of cashing in on what was a pretty decent motorcycle.

In truth, Ossa had been there before. From the ruins of a home motorcycle industry decimated by the introduction of cheap, licence produced SEAT cars (Fiats built in Spain), Ossa had carved a niche for itself as a manufacturer of off-road bikes to feed the growing US lightweight motocross and trail riding market – and trials riders were another target. The MAR (Mick Andrews Replica) of 1971 proved a massively competent bike. Factory rider Mick Andrews had delivered three SSDT wins in a row for the factory – as well as a couple of European Championships – and the stage should have been set for Ossa to clean up in the showrooms too. But despite Mick’s exhortations to factory bosses, his ongoing programme of development ideas for improving the bike remained just that – ideas.
The result was that Ossa failed to make a killing on a potentially winning hand. Mick left Ossa to sign for the more go-ahead Yamaha concern and, with a product that had fallen demonstrably behind the opposition since Andrews’ change of allegiance, Ossa sales started to struggle. In the late 70s, the company went into government receivership before returning as a workers’ co-operative. A period of stagnation – with works riders coming and going on an alarmingly regular basis – followed and it became increasingly clear to the beleaguered management that a genuinely new model was required.

The return of Mick Andrews to the fold in 1977 shored up Ossa’s international reputation somewhat – but seemingly did nothing to speed up the arrival of a desperately needed new design. And, in 1979 – after a spell of making do with marginally developed MAR models – Mick appeared on the prototype of the new model, which featured a development of Ossa’s motocross engine with radically slimmer crankcases and a radially finned head. The so-called ‘Yellow Peril’ Ossa looked as though it might be just the bike to put Ossa back on track – especially when a production version appeared late on in the year.

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