Is this home?

I've been saving this little bit of the story for a while - just in case it came to a complete conclusion.  It hasn't yet, but it still might.  However, even without a full conclusion (yet) I think it is still a story worth telling.

I've always been a bit miffed that I have no historical documentation or information for my scooter, but on the other hand I have rather enjoyed the process of trying to uncover the facts about my bike.  Initially I thought I might find a good lead through the still existing Manurhin Manufacturing organisation in France, but they so far have refused to answer any email I send them (surely there must be someone there who remembers 'Le bon vieux temps')  And I thought I might have found a little enthusiasm from a company with a proud historical pedigree like FN Midhurst whose forefathers were once UK concessionaires for Manurhin Scooters, but alas once again, not even an acknowledgement from them.
And so I started to lose hope in finding people who might be interested in a little historical probing.  Until that is, I started to look at repairing my seat pans.

Right from the beginning I was keen to see if I could get the engine up and running, and while I was working on this I stored all the body bits out of the way at the back of my shed.  Once the engine was running I started to turn my attention to other bits (Im not sure why the seat pans were important at this stage), and it wasn't until I dragged the leg-shield out of the dark that I noticed a little decal on the inside that for some reason I hadn't consciously seen when I was taking the bike apart

This looked to me to be perhaps a sticker placed on the bike by either a service mechanic or even a dealer.  Its Scottish address seemed to concur with my understanding of where the barn was that the scooter was discovered in by the chap I bought it from.

I wondered if Google might turn up anything on Doug Murray - and blow me! it did! :-)
I sent a speculative email to Murrays Motorcycles and had an immediate reply from Mr Gordon Murray




".......You have got the correct family but one generation on.   My dad is Doug Murray but he closed his motorcycle business in 1967 and went into selling cars.  Going by the address he must have sold that [my scooter] new or nearly new as he moved out of Hawkhill in 1962.   He is 83 now........ "

Over the course of a few emails, Gordon went on to explain that he was still in touch with the shop forman and he thought that the old shop sales ledgers still existed somewhere.  I was very excited.  I wondered if chassis numbers might have been recorded, in which case I could trace my scooter.
Sadly Gordon hasn't been able to find these ledgers (yet) but he sounded very interested to help so I still keep my fingers crossed.
In the meantime, Gordon sent me a photo of his dads shop in its day, along with a little bit of historical context;

Note the Vespa and the Scootacar (which still exists in Dundee!)

"......There were 2 main motorcycle shops in Dundee in the 50's and 60's.  Doug Murrays was the 2nd largest.   George MacLeans was the biggest and sold Triumph,Norton,BSA etc etc.   My dads shop had the 1st Honda & Yamaha franchise in Scotland.   There were also a couple of smaller workshops.  He was also the 1st Toyota/Daihatsu/Skoda car dealership in Scotland.  People say he was ahead of his time as these were unheard of makes at that time.   I remember that the Toyotas and Daihatsus had radios as standard which was not the norm.   The picture of the shop was taken sometime between '56 and '62 but I am not sure exactly when.    My dad always was one for the 'unusual'...... "

"Unusual"?  This convinces me more than ever that this is where my Manurhin was originally sold..... Now if only I could reach out and find the young Scottish laddie who bought it!