Description
Having started motorcycle production in late 1945 with a 98cc two-stroke, Count Agusta’s Meccanica Verghera (MV) introduced its first production four-stroke road bikes, a pair of 175 models, at the 1952 Milan Show.
Meanwhile, MV had been busy racing and the firm achieved its first major international success when Cecil Sandford won the 1952 125cc World Championship – MV’s first. For the following season, MV made a single-cam, customer version of Sandford’s works DOHC racer, the Sport Competizione, which quickly became popular with 125-class privateers. In 1955 a second over-the-counter racer was added to the range: the 175 CSS. This was intended primarily for Italian Formula racing, and despite being pricier than a Manx Norton it quickly dominated the 200cc class in the UK and elsewhere. It was one of these 175s, bored to 196cc, that provided Mike Hailwood with his first ever race win at Oulton Park in 1957.
Not surprisingly, the 175CS Sport Disco Volante became MV’s best seller and production continued until 1958, latterly alongside the ‘Squalo’ (Shark) variant that had been developed for the Formula Sport Derivata race series.
Powered by MV’s monoalbero (SOHC) 172.3cc engine introduced in 1955, the machine offered here was used by an Italian MV dealer for publicity purposes and local races. It sports an original MV dustbin fairing along with a tank from an early-‘70s MV 750 Sport and it has been fully restored by the current owner using Squalo parts, including the magneto ignition system (the roadsters used a flywheel generator). It has had one owner since 2002 and it comes to sale with MV Agusta Historic Registration certification and will be sold with a Coys bill of sale.
