One rare & unique "momo" (pre-momo Monza)

[70SATMan]

Well, I have put gold in Gun engravings that would look a lot better, (owners of cheap guns liked that)... yet, no one knows if this was painted or not. The reality is with or without paint, the edges of the Monza logo are
so crisp that you can catch your nail on it, and it will shave. The engraving, F & R is all like that, just as firearms brand or model stamping / serial numbers. Extremely crisp.

The two pictures by Al Agustin, the engravings look rough, specially the 2nd one, and the Font is different. It looks as made by a "ball milling machine" or possibly a laser. The other, no idea.
No laser available in the 60's.

It is unfortunate Mark Morissey passed away unexpectedly, he would give a perfect opinion, as a foremost expert on Moretti's work.

As far as your very accurate observation of the paint, well, a dab of paint remover will take it off, then, if not to your taste, you can re do it. I am certainly not going to.

This one has an incredibly equal depth of paint. Measured it with my wife's jewelry depth finder in .001ths. the backside engraving / cold stamping, is perfectly even in depth.

Regards, Alberto

You’ve misunderstood my point. Being a custom wheel (obviously) I think the paint was added specifically and the Monza impression likely done with stamping like the other early wheel markings on the back.

Later with the production wheels, the spoke shapes in most cases were the same and differences in stitching, leather vs vinyl and no spoke thumb spats etc defined the models. Since the same base wheel was used, the engraving of the name either Monza, LeMans, Sebring etc were done by machine and if you’ve had these wheels in your hands it’s obvious.

Your wheel is a completely original one off in my opinion so, not really the best judge of the regular production wheels in Al’s photos. While I don’t have the in depth knowledge of the company history, I can claim to have sold Mark his very first, first Gen Prototipo which started him down the path of collecting/knowledge that we all now benefit from.

I wouldn’t touch your wheel either!

Happy Holidays!

[70SATMan]

I am no expert but have a few 'stacked' MoMo steering wheels but I do know that I would be pretty nervous stating the example on the right with the circular indents at the beginning and end of each letter was genuine.
We now live in a world of fakes, knock offs and forgeries and I think its just a damn shame those that practice this illicit craft have stooped to MoMo

Exactly! That’s why seeing the rest of the wheel is so important. Many other clues. I also believe that there were manufacturing licensing agreements in the East so, naturally production differences would be apparent. If officially done, one should still consider them original MOMO but, not to the same early quality standards as the Italian produced wheels.

[NZVW]

Exactly! That’s why seeing the rest of the wheel is so important. Many other clues. I also believe that there were manufacturing licensing agreements in the East so, naturally production differences would be apparent. If officially done, one should still consider them original MOMO but, not to the same early quality standards as the Italian produced wheels.

Amen, bit like Spanish Weber's

[al agustin]

Thanks Guys, I'm with you as well, the font on the right one looks suspicious and too different. It's from Thailand as well...yikes!

[swift53]

Brilliant observations from all!

I think Momo land is a an art in itself, and to follow every single iteration in its perfections or not,
is a very tough act to follow. Specially now that Hokey Pokey players have entered the world of forgeries, and alas a lot falling into their viscous traps.

Of course, there are still 'bonafide' players out there, albeit from 'strange' locations, that turn out to be kosher.

Let's not let this thread die, as very illustrative and educational, clearly we all can contribute to it, and potentially turn it into a reference thread.
Happy New Year to all!

Best, Alberto

[swift53]

This is from AlfaBB, and a lot of great observations, and material to learn from.
Mark Morissey is all over.

https://www.alfabb.com/threads/catal...wheels.174837/

[al agustin]

Awesome article, thank you!
If anyone is interested...after what I have seen/read, I'm convinced it's a fake..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275583509859

[swift53]

You are welcome Al!

Amazing link too e-bay, and the pathological liars on there.
Imagine how many bought them...patina added on some, probably on a Tuk-Tuk

HNY!
Best, Alberto

[StephenAcworth]

From everything I’ve learned in this forum and others (and much from the sadly missed Mark) I’d say the skiving is in the wrong place on this wheel (not going to comment on the very strange lettering).

Stephen

Awesome article, thank you!
If anyone is interested...after what I have seen/read, I'm convinced it's a fake..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275583509859

[911 TR 68]

For comparison, here are pictures of my used Monza, black, flat, 38cm, brown leather.

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