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Overview
Ultra low mileage and cherished example from a great home
Original UK delivered bike
One of 200 examples for the European market
Matching numbers engine/frame
4,670 miles from new
Full supporting history
Konis added in 1979
Ex-Andrew Wood from 1978 - 2010
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1977 MV Augusta 750S America
MV Agusta have an extremely rich competition history, still remaining the 2nd most successful GP bike manufacturer. Throughout the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s MV Agusta won 37 world road-racing championships including 16 500cc titles in just 18 years, a record that has not been beaten since. Road bikes were often an afterthought or simply a method of funding the production of their race bikes.
The MV Agusta 750S America was a project championed by Chris Garville and Jim Cotherman who ran the primary US importer of MV Agusta bikes in the 1970s. They insisted that there was a gap in the market for an expensive, high performance and low volume sports motorcycle inspired by MV Grand Prix race bikes. A special version of the 750s was conceived with a full fairing and engine bored out to 789cc, producing a claimed 75bhp.
The 750S used the DOHC transverse 4 cylinder engine, a variation of their 500cc Grand Prix engine introduced in the early 1950s. This engine was decades ahead of its time and the same formula was used throughout the 1970s. Not many manufacturers could boast engines tested for 20 years by championship winning GP bikes!
Unfortunately the demand was not quite what Garville and Cotherman had envisioned, this may have been largely to do with the hefty price tag. In the UK the bikes launched at £3,187, one third of the average house price at the time! Due to this exclusivity there were just 540 built with 200 of these for the European market.
This is a very rare example delivered new to the UK and first register on the 8th of February 1977. The first owner owned the car until October 1978 during which time he covered 1,600 miles including the careful run in period. It was sold to Andrew Wood of Bentley and Rolls Royce specialist P&A Wood who cherished and carefully maintained the bike for 32 years before it was sold to the previous owner in 2010.
The bike is in incredible original condition, it remains completely standard apart from upgraded Koni rear shock absorbers which were fitted in 1979