Norton Motorcycles 1950s

Today in Motorcycle History

Molnar Manx

Manufactured by Andy Molnar in Preston, UK, 1994-2024

Molnar bought the rights to the Manx name from Bernie Allen in 1994.[1] Initially he manufactured spare parts for the Manx, then began building complete engines to 1961 specification, and the creation of the Molnar Manx was a natural progression.

The firm collaborated with Steve Tonkin who built a road-going version of the Molnar Manx named the Tonkin Tornado.

Molnar Precision continues to produce high quality classic racing components.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/molnarprecisionltd/ fb.com/molnarprecisionltd
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N.B. 1. The Molnar site states that they bought the jigs and manufacturing rights from Unity Equipe. The brief section on Unity Equipe gives a slightly different version of events.

Sources: silodrome.com, wikipedia, et al

Stainless Engineering Co

The Stainless Engineering Company of Preston in Lancashire was established by Andy and Kim Molnar.

The company was set up in the 1970s to produce spares for classic machines, especially Manx Nortons. They acquired the rights to the Manx name in 1994, and with the original factory drawings, they begain building complete machines in 1997. The machines look original from the outside but internally they have been further developed, while the weight has been much reduced.

Note: The Molnar Brothers have their own web site - Molnar Precision Limited. [manx.co.uk]


Below is a quote from the Company Profile:

'The story so far.....

Our retail stainless steel department was the starting point for our business, set up in 1979 because Andy couldn't buy decent quality parts for his own bikes. At first all the manufacturing was sub-contracted out but, in 1983, Andy set up a small workshop at the back of his house and ran the business part-time whilst continuing his full time job as Production Engineer at British Aerospace.

In 1991 Andy and Kim went into partnership, and the business moved to a modern 3,500 square foot industrial unit. The manufacturing facility was expanded, and more complex components and assemblies were added to the range, starting with the Manx hubs and dural yokes. We now manufacture 21 different types of replica drum brakes.

1994 saw the acquisition of the rights to manufacture the Manx Norton, and in 1998 we purchased the pattern equipment originally used to produce the Rutter G50 castings, so we are now able to supply a full range of G50 and 7R parts.

2004 saw a change in the structure of the company with the move from a partnership to Molnar Precision Ltd. This in no way affects the quality of the products or service, as Andy remains in charge of production and Kim in sales and customer service.

Throughout the development of the company, we have invested heavily in modern machine tools, as we believe that this is the only way to produce parts of a consistently high quality. We now have 7 CNC machining centres in the workshop.

Over the years we have applied the expertise acquired in developing our own product range to sub-contract machining work for other companies in the motorcycle world. One of our most challenging projects has been the manufacture of new Vincent V twin crankcases.

We have many happy customers around the world; around 50% of our product is exported. Many customers have been buying parts from us since the beginning, so we must be doing something right!'

Source: Graces Guide