Marvellous Mi-Val
You'd be forgiven for never having heard of Mi-Val, so rare a machine are they here in the UK; they are and were in fact fairly scarce anywhere outside their home nation of Italy.
More recognisable is their place of origin – Bologna – and their conception, which mirrored that of many of their contemporaries.
The Mi-Val concern started life before the Second World War as a manufacturer of machine tools – the factory, its tooling and most of the workers were moved out of Bologna to the relative safety of the province of Brescia in anticipation of the advance of the Allied forces.
After the conflict the company returned to Bologna, though leaving behind their technical director Ettore Minganti who remained in the north for fear of retaliation due to his past links with the fascist movement.
Recognising the urgent need for cheap transportation,
