Here's the story I found on the web. In the late 1970's or early 1980's, the Italian company, Firenze, produced a road bicycle. This bike was outsourced to Taiwan, who built them.
Thousands of these outsourced Firenze bikes were then imported into the United States. Once they got here, it turned out they were not up to US code. (Much like Japanese cars built for the Japan market cannot be sold in America).
A loophole allowed stores to give them away as opposed to selling them, so these bikes were turned into promotional gifts for electronics and stereos (purportedly in the Bay Area).
The Firenze bicycle is of mediocre quality, but few were produced and not many are still in existence, let alone functional. Today, the Firenze is desirable because of its history.
