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• Purchased directly from MV Agusta by John Surtees in 1986
• Extensively paraded by John Surtees
• Sold by Surtees to the current owner in 2005
• Offered from an important overseas private collection

Arguably the greatest team in Grand Prix racing history, MV Agusta won everything that was worth winning at world level from the early 1950s to the late 1960s and beyond. Machines raced by the legendary Italian works team are among the rarest and most desirable racing motorcycles ever made. All surviving examples are held either in museums or private collections and only extremely rarely is one ever offered for public sale.

The MV (Meccanica Verghera) story began in 1945 when Count Domenico Agusta was forced to seek an alternative means of utilising his family's aero engine factory at Gallarate. Forbidden to manufacture aircraft engines following Italy's defeat in WW2, the Count turned to motorcycle production, commencing with a 98cc two-stroke lightweight, exactly the kind of utilitarian transport that Italy needed to re-mobilise in the aftermath of war. Within a few years a 125cc model had been added to the range, the racing version of which would bring MV its first major competition success when Franco Bertoni won the 1948 Italian Grand Prix. It was the birth of a legend; MV went on to win no fewer than 37 World Championships between 1952 and 1974, more than twice as many as closest rival Honda achieved in the same period.

The racing 125cc two-strokes were a major success, winning the arduous Milan-Taranto road race in 1950, '51 and '52, but at World Championship level the MVs were outclassed by the four-stroke FB-Mondial with its twin-overhead-cam engine. Count Agusta's response was to hire Gilera's chief designer Piero Remor together with its chief mechanic, Arturo Magni. However, the new Remor-designed 125cc four-stroke was not an immediate success, and it was only following Mondial's withdrawal from racing that MV bagged its first 125cc World Championship, in 1952.

MV's 500cc four first appeared at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1950, Arcisco Artesiani finishing fifth. A development of Remor's Gilera design, it followed the same basic layout but in some respects took a step backwards, most notably in the use of only two carburettors and the adoption of shaft drive. The frame and suspension likewise departed from orthodox practice, the former consisting of a mixture of tubes and pressings while the latter featured blade-type girder forks at the front and a friction-damped 'parallelogram' arrangement at the rear. Step by step these eccentricities would be removed, often at the instigation of the team's No. 1 rider, Les Graham, whose 1951 season was disappointing to say the least.

Misfortune dogged the team for the first part of the following season, before Graham scored a breakthrough victory aboard the MV 500 four in the Grand Prix des Nations at Monza, which he followed up by winning the Spanish Grand Prix. Despite his earlier setbacks, Graham finished second to Gilera's Umberto Masetti in the 1952 World Championship. Graham's death at the Isle of Man TT the following year dealt MV's hopes in the 500cc class a devastating blow. The next few seasons would be relatively lean ones for the team, only Carlo Ubbiali's victory in the 125cc World Championship in 1955 providing a glimmer of satisfaction.

It all changed for the better in 1956. By this time Remor had departed, leaving Magni in charge of the race team. A 350cc four had been introduced, but by far the most significant development was Count Agusta's signing of John Surtees, who rewarded the Count's faith in his abilities by taking his first 500cc World Championship that same year. At the end of the 1957 season MV was the sole Italian manufacturer left in Grand Prix racing following the withdrawal of Gilera, Morini and Moto Guzzi. It was the dawn of a 'Golden Age' for the Gallarate firm, which took the 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc World Championships for the next three years.

Following Surtees' departure, Rhodesian Gary Hocking continued MV's domination of GP racing's premier class, taking the World Championship for them again in 1961, while the arrival of Mike Hailwood in 1962 only consolidated MV's grip. The Englishman left MV at the end of 1965 having brought them four consecutive 500cc World Championships, his place as No.1 rider being taken by erstwhile team-mate Giacomo Agostini. It is to this heroic period that this motorcycle belongs.

By this time, increasing competition from Honda had prompted the introduction of a lighter and more compact three-cylinder '350' in 1965. In 1966 a progressively enlarged triple replaced the ageing four-cylinder MV in the 500cc class, and would prove good enough to secure the Championship for Ago and MV for the next six years. Responding to the emerging threat from Yamaha, MV returned to a four-cylinder design for the 500cc class in 1973, having already made a similar move in the 350cc class. The new 16-valve four (all previous fours had been 8-valvers) proved good enough to bring new recruit Phil Read two 500-class World Championships, but by then the two-stroke tide was unstoppable and Read's 1974 championship victory would be MV's last.

When the contents of the MV race shop were sold off in the late 1980s, following a lengthy period in storage, the principal purchasers of MV's heritage were Team Obsolete's Robert Iannucci and Jeff Elghanayan in the USA, Ubaldo Elli in Italy, and John Surtees in the UK. This genuine ex-works '500' was purchased in 2005 directly from John Surtees by the current owner and accords with the specification employed by the MV Agusta factory team during the mid-1960s. While the race record of this motorcycle's principal components is unknown, it must have been raced by either Mike Hailwood or Giacomo Agostini or possibly both of those riders over the course of the 1965 season.

Commencing in 1950, MV Agusta's works 500s were raced by stars such as Les Graham, Umberto Massetti, Carlo Bandirola, Dickie Dale, John Hartle, Nello Pagani, Tarquinio Provini, John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Giacomo Agostini among others. The machine offered here is believed to date from 1965, the year Mike Hailwood was joined at MV by Italian rising star Giacomo Agostini. Hailwood had already bagged three consecutive World Championships for MV in the '500' class and would add another to his tally in 1965 before leaving for Honda. Agostini finished runner-up in '65 and would take the first of his seven consecutive premier-class World Championships for MV the following year on the new three-cylinder.

In a 2005 letter to the current vendor, John Surtees states: "This machine is of the type that was raced in the senior class of Grand Prix racing by the MV Agusta team until 1965. It is a development of the same type of machine that I rode up until September 1960. This particular machine was the only one that the factory kept as a complete machine after they had transferred to running the new smaller 3 cylinder machines. The bike remained in the factory race department until the decision was made to sell all the ex racing team stock, with the exception of some machines which were built up for the MV Agusta Museum.

"Upon receiving the machine it was totally stripped, checked, cleaned and rebuilt. The seat covering was replaced and a pair of replica rear dampers fitted. Otherwise the machine is totally original. You will note it is fitted with a box section swinging arm which was one of the very last developments that MV Agusta did to this machine.

"All details like hubs, spokes, rims together with the rest of the bike are all original and it is the only machine to have stayed fully complete."

John goes on to say that he had used the MV in demonstrations throughout Europe and also in New Zealand, and that he last rode it at the Spa Francorchamps Revival meeting in 2006. An image is also on file of the machine at Goodwood in 1995 - and another with Barry Sheene sat on it at (we believe) Silverstone. It should be noted that this is not one of the replicas that MV licensed John Surtees to build in the 'modern' era.

Its authenticity confirmed by the Agusta Museum's director Enrico Sironi, the machine offered here - frame number '1109', engine number '1109' – represents a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own one of the fabulous multi-cylinder 'fire engines' that brought MV Agusta 139 victories and 16 World Championships in Grand Prix racing's 500cc premier class, together with a further 76 wins and nine Championships in the 350cc category.

Following a period of inactivity, this motorcycle will require recommissioning and/or restoration to a greater or lesser extent before returning to the road and thus is sold strictly as viewed. Prospective purchasers should satisfy themselves with regard to this motorcycle's completeness, history, authenticity, originality and mechanical condition prior to bidding.
Offered without key