Price-tag MV

Spotted on Pistonheads - a lovely MV Agusta 350 at an unbelievable £12,000. It's with a posh car dealer, so maybe they don't know what they're up to; time will tell. But I've never seen one crack four grand, even via true specialists like John Fallon.

John recently managed around twelve grand for a lovely Tony Brancato restored 450 Desmo that was probably the best 450 you'll see, and let's face it, Ducati single prices have recently skyrocketed. But MVs? The fours, oh yes, but in the end the MV 350 was just a poor old pushrod parallel twin trying to keep up with Japanese 400s, when it cost more than their 750's - in 1976 the £1400 asking price was just a few hundred quid less than a Ducati 860, and half as much again as the surely superior Morini 350 Sport. The press were particularly cruel to the MV (but loved the Morini) and Bike magazine called it a great pretender: the black and white pic is their wonderful spoof of the sort of poseur they imagined would buy it. Tester Peter Watson was unequivocally damning, but then time tends to re-write every line. The bike sure is pretty, and having followed them on the Giro, I can vouch for the handling and brakes.

But £12,000? That's bevel 900SS money...