1976 MV AGUSTA MAGNI 861
SOLD — $150,000
Frame # 221-0415
Engine # 221-0424
Odometer reading 13,066 miles
Every 1970’s MV is special, this one is, no question, extra-special. It left the factory in Gallarate as a 1976-model Monza 850 and went straight to Arturo Magni’s Samarate shop for the complete “Magni Treatment” — today’s word for what used to be known as “customized” when this bike was new.
Complete with an aluminum tank, a capacity of 861cc, four 30mm carburetors with chokes added, and chain drive to a 5-inch wide, rear rim and a quoted 100 horsepower, it was shipped to the UK, the first Magni to be imported there, in 1977 to be first registered in July the following year with the number VBL 860S.
Best stories? One: This bike’s engine noise was used for the Yamaha XJ750 Turbo in the chase sequence in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again. And Two: It’s verified by a huge service and publicity file, with documents, correspondence, and magazine articles. After a lifetime of due care and attention and magazine journalists’ penmanship in payment for a number of test rides, it is truly unique owing to having so much period documentation.
1976 MV Agusta Magni 861