This beautiful scooter is a version of the DKW Hobby scooter built under licence by Manurhin, a French gun manufacturer.
The company started building the Hobby back in 1956 under the name of the Manurhin MR75, known as the Concord in the UK.
The Manurhin scooter models are apparently among the first motorcycles to have used powder coating paint techniques.
This one, with lovely French blue paint, is a 1961 version sold by Bonhams auction house in 2007, as part of the Peter McManus collection.
Bonhams says:French armaments firm Manufacture du Haut-Rhin began producing the German DKW Hobby scooter in 1956, using a proportion of French-made parts.
Manhurin’s MR75 (marketed as the Concord in the UK) was constructed to a high standard and must have been one of the first motorcycles to be painted electrostatically, a process commonly known as powder coating.
When DKW ceased production of the Hobby, Manurhin continued with its version, which in 1957 occupied third place in the European scooter sales chart behind Lambretta and Vespa.
The example that went under auction at Bonham’s sold for just 253 pounds, which we think means that if you find one of these around it could provide a very nice opportunity to restore a vintage scooter.
1961 Manurhin scooter