By Mike Kron and Robert Agresta
“Motormeister” Friedel Münch was born in 1927 and was riding motorcycles at age six. Mr. Münch started motorcycle racing just after the end of World War II. After a serious racing accident at Schotten, Münch’s racing career was ended. Münch made ends meet by tuning Horex racing motorcycles for other riders before joining the Horex factory.
Münch gained experience and a reputation as an engine builder and when the Horex plant began making parts for Daimler Benz in 1958 they stopped making motorcycles. The factory was sold to Daimler-Benz in 1960 and Münch bought all of the parts and equipment for the motorcycles and operated the repair shop until 1965.
Münch immediately began dreaming of a race bike, like the 4 cylinder Gilera. He made the molds and castings and had already finished casting the parts. Münch’s motorcycle would beat everything in the world in terms of power and speed without compromising quality. The only problem was it was just too expensive.
Around this time Münch’s longtime friend Ernst Leverkus, who was known as “Klacks” told Münch to build an "Autobahnmotorcycle with a sidecar" and that he should use a car engine to save the costs of building his own engine.
Münch eventually came across the NSU engine and knew that this would be the engine for the "big bike". Mr. Leverkus arranged a meeting with Jean Murit and he told Mr. Münch, that Murit wanted to buy the first of these bikes, so that Mr. Münch could start the Mammut 1000.
The bike was in a German motorcycle magazine and so Münch received a lot of phone calls and letters about it. Münch began taking orders build some bikes and that was the start of Münch Motorcycles. The early Münch motorcycles had technical issues and some owners were bringing them back to Münch for warranty repairs. Some months later Klacks arranged a meeting with motorcycling pioneer Floyd Clymer from Los Angeles who essentially bought the Münch workshop with a steep investment. Clymer directed Münch in turn that all new Münch's had to be shipped to America. Clymer spent significantly on advertising in the United States and opened a shop in California with a mechanic, selling the Münch for $4,000 USD at the time.
“It was so different and big, it was like from outer space, or from another world.”
Clymer was a a racer, dealer and distributor, a magazine publisher, a racing promoter, an author, and motorcycle manufacturer. Clymer invested in the Münch brand in 1968 and brought the bike to America. Clymer died before serious production could commence.
Münch set the gold standard in motorcycle design offering unprecedented power in a street bike having retrofit a 55 horsepower, 1000 cc 4-cylinder car engine for use on a motorcycle instantaneously making Friedel Münch a pioneer of motorcycle engineering.
“This means to me, the Münch was 10 years ahead of all the others. The Munch was a motorcycle from the future.”
The Münch Mammut was unveiled to the public at the Köln international motorcycle show in the fall of 1966. A prolific example, the Mammut paired an air-cooled four-cylinder engine with a modern tube frame and Münch racing brakes. The Mammut appears physically very large and powerful but retains a certain sense of design proportionality. The motorcycle was so different when it was shown because a "normal" motorcycle in Germany was a 250 cc to 350 cc engine. A 500 cc motorcycle was like a Porsche and now here there was a 1000 cc bike at the show.
Vitesse contributor Mike Kron has been restoring historic collectible motorcycles like the Münch Mammut since 1987 in Krautheim-Klepsau, Germany. Today he is the only active restorer of the Mammut, of which less than 500 were ever produced.
RA: What has been your experience in Motorcycle restoration?
MK: My father collected old motorcycles staring in the 1970’s. I worked with him on the bikes, but only as a hobby. In those days in Germany it was the normal way to finish school and make an education, I studied for 3 years to become a mechanic. After that I made my education and went on to university. At the same time, I was asked by some collectors and museums to restore their old bikes. I did this business alongside my studies in school before completing my “Meister-Schule” which is a school you need in Germany to run your own business. I opened my workshop in 1987.
RA: You must have had real talent and passion considering you were able to restore old bikes while still in school.
Gunter Sachs Riding his Mammut bearing the iconic Dracula Symbol
MK: The basics of mechanics are what I learned from my father as a kid. From there I learned by studying the texts of old books, I practiced by working on vintage bikes before I began working on motorcycles professionally.
RA: So that is how you developed your passion for motorcycles?
MK: I have worked on them since I was about 10 or 12 years old, I learned so much about them and still learn from them. I like the clear mechanical and design aspects -- where you can see all the parts from a bike like on a motorcycle from the 1920’s. Motorcycles always gave me a feeling of being free. To have the sound, the wind and all the friends and other people I met and will met.
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RA: How did you know the Mammut was so special?
MK: When I was 17 I bought my first HOREX motorcycle. The Horex motorcycle became a very long “friendship” and I restored a lot of them. Horex was my favorite. The Münch motorcycle was well known in the motorcycle community, but it was so expensive and far away like a Ferrari!
We looked at the Münch at the meetings but were not able to buy one because it was too expensive. I learned that Mr. Friedel Münch also liked the HOREX motorcycles -- he built HOREX racebikes and worked for a short time at the HOREX factory. During my research over the years I came to learn that the Münch Mammut was based on a lot of HOREX parts. For me it was a way forward to go from Horex to Münch. When I bought my first Münch in 1998 a liked it even more, the way of riding, the sound and all the details.
RA: Do you have a Mammut of your own?
MK: Yes, I now have 4. One is my bike which I have ridden since 1999, another Münch is now in restoration and nearly finished and the other 2 are awaiting restoration. I used to ride the Mammut a lot when I bought and restored my first one, but now there are a lot of other toys are in my collection which also need to be ridden. I have a Porsche 356 and 911 and some other German and English bikes. I mostly ride in my area where I live and to the south to Bavaria and Italy.
RA: That is an incredible countryside. Terrain like the Val d’Isere where Jean Murit lead the Rallye des Chamois.
Forbes became a motorcyclist late in life. He founded and rode with a motorcycle club called the Capitalist Tools. His estate in New Jersey was a regular meeting place for tours that he organized for fellow New York area motorcyclists. He had a stable of motorcycles and once gave actress Elizabeth Taylor the gift of a Münch Mammut.
Yes, in Germany the most famous owner of a Münch was Herr Gunter Sachs. Another famous Münch owner was Mr. Malcolm Forbes from America. I actually bought one from him. And another famous Munch owner was the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, whose bike I also bought some years ago.
RA: What is the best description of the Mammut you have heard?
MK: When the Münch was first shown at the Köln motorcycle show in September 1966, it was so different and big, it was like from outer space, or from another world. You have to know, during those times the motorcycle had no future in Germany. It was only a vehicle to transport the man to his work, nothing more. The motorcycle as a hobby came much later.
Elizabeth Taylor and Malcolm Forbes - Capitalist Tools Motorcycle Club
This means to me, the Münch was 10 years ahead of all the others. It was the first street motorcycle with a 4 cylinder inline engine which was mounted in the frame like the Gilera and MV race bikes…the Honda 750 Four came much later. The Munch was a motorcycle from the future.
RA: What is the farthest you have ever shipped one of your restorations?
MK: To the USA and Canada.
RA: These bikes are so special and are already commanding steep prices at auction. Do you think that the value of the Mammut will continue to grow?
MK: We have now reached a very high price level ( approximately €125,000 ) in Germany and it is still rising. Only 250 of them are still around and most are in museums and private collections, so yes I think the value will grow over the time.
Kron’s restored Mammut is historically correct down to the smallest detail. Having resolved some of the difficult problems including the production of missing parts for the Mammut – an exceptionally difficult task given the extremely small production, Kron and his team are able to cast models down to the finished part every time.
Kron carries on the legacy of Friedel Münch the creator the machine favored by alpine riders like Opel-heir Gunter Sachs in St. Moritz and Jean Murit, a famous French former racer and organizer of the Val d’Isere rallye: Les Chamois 2770, which took place from 1965 to 1970 when it peaked at 6,000 participants. In July 1966, Murit rode his new bike at the head of a procession from the Val d’Isère up to Col de l'Iseran, Europe's second-highest mountain pass.
Like Kron’s Mammut, the Rallye des Chamois has also been reborn. In 2016, Val d’Isere Tourisme reinstated the famous alpine hill climb with 500 participants. Perhaps, like Murit, you will also ride your Mammut in the 2018 Rallye des Chamois with Vitesse.