Munch Mammoth/NSU engine

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

Andrew Buc says: 

>Ca. 1965 I read an article about a motorcycle called the NSU Mammut (German 
>for "mammoth"), and I recall it having a big engine for a bike (as you might 
>guess w/a name like that), possibly 1 liter. I'm not sure, but strongly 
>suspect, that the bike and car used the same engine--what a concept!
 

Yes they did, more or less. I have Munch Mammoth sn 24 (1968 model). It uses
the NSU air cooled 4 cyl engine (mine is 1,000cc), plus a Horex transmission
(4 speed). It is the last of ten "Clymer-Munch Mammoths" Floyd Clymer (as in
Clymer Manuals) got interested in Friedel Munch's motorcycle and bought into
the company. Floyd died shortly thereafter, and there were only 10
Clymer-Munch bikes produced. Total production was either 250 or 400,
depending upon what you read, and about ten to twelve are known to be in the
US. (Malcolm Forbes had one, Jay Leno has one, and a guy in Ft. Lauderdale
has two, including sn 1, for which he claims to have turned down $175,000 -
but he has quite an ego, and a very low opinion of everyone else in the
world). Value is about $20,000 to $25,000 - Friedel Munch is still alive
(aged mid-70s or so), and he will build you a new Munch Mammoth, but you
need to bring him about $40,000. These things sold for about $4,000 in
1968/69, which doesn't sound like much until you realize that a BMW R69S
cost $1,895 back then. 

There are a lot of non-NSU parts on the engine, including a pair of 40 DCOE
19 Webers (it's rather over-carbureted!). The bike is actually an ode to
wretched excess - and you can go from 1000cc to 1100 or 1200 or even 1400ccs
by judicious mix and match from the parts book. There's an NSU car club in
Chicago area, and they have lots of little bits which fit the bike, too.

Best Regards,

Mike Arman