Seventy-one MV Agustas to Sell at Mecum’s Monterey Auction

1946 MV Agusta 98cc Velocita, MV’s first race bike.

Wanna buy an MV Agusta? How about 71 at once? Mecum Auctions has lined up what must be the single largest collection of MV Agustas in the world, and all 71 bikes – dating from 1946 to 2007 – are to be sold as a single lot at Mecum’s Monterey Auction August 16-18, 2012.

Among the 71 MVs amassed by collector Gary Kohs is a rare 98cc 1946 “Velocita” or Sport. Based on MV’s first production motorcycle, the 1946 MV 98, the Sport was the very first racing machine produced by Count Dominico Agusta and his brothers in their small factory in Cascina Costa, Italy.

The depth and breadth of the collection is nothing short of amazing, including both memorable (like the 750S America) and largely unknown examples of the marque, such as a 1956 48cc Ciclomotore. Typically, you’d expect a collection this large to be broken up into individual lots; it’s got to be easier to find a single buyer for a single 1975 MV 750S America than for a 750S plus 70 other MVs. That doesn’t seem to worry Mecum, however, who think the collection will be a huge draw. “Gary Kohs spent so much time and effort – and passion – putting this together, it made sense to keep them together as a group,” Mecum’s Sam Murtaugh told me recently. Murtaugh says the collection is generating a lot of interest in Italy, where some would like to see it go. “Some people think they need to come back ‘home’ – maybe to the MV museum. I think they’re lobbying to get them,” Murtaugh adds.

1975 MV Agusta 750S America will be sold as part of the collection.