A few weeks ago, MV Agusta debuted a prototype polygonal, square-esque engine at EICMA, and it was the talk of the town. The 5-cylinder engine, with three pistons in one row, and another 2 in the second, and driven by a weird U-shaped crankshaft, is said to have production intent, with the first motorcycle powered by the oddball coming likely late next year.
But MV Agusta's square engine isn't the first to attempt the design. Ariel Motorcycles, yes, the precursor to Ariel Motors and the makers of the awesome Nomad off-roader, once made a square engine for its bikes. In fact, RideApart covered the "Squariel" back in the day, and our friends over at The Autopian cited our original coverage when the MV dropped.
And that story, along with everyone else's coverage of the new MV Agusta motor and the history of square engines, likely put the motorcycle back in the zeitgeist. So much so that one intrepid owner of a Squariel likely thought, "Hey, maybe it's finally time to sell mine?" That seems to be the case with this new listing from Bring-a-Trailer and its Squariel auction subject.
