The twice-annual
Bonhams sale at the enormous Stafford motorcycle show is always a bellweather auction, big enough, and with enough variety of machinery, to give a true indication of how the collector's motorcycle market is behaving. Coming 5 months after the world's largest vintage bike sale by
Bonhams and MidAmerica at Las Vegas, Stafford always brings out some of the best machines in the world, and thus sees some of the highest prices paid for motorcycles, anywhere. This year's roster of top Stafford sales is an interesting list, with a few unexpected names popping over the $100k mark, but I'll take the big fish in order.
The top of the list is, as usual, a
Brough Superior SS100, in this case a 1939 MX-engined model, which normally don't top price lists, being considered less collectible than the JAP-engined SS100s of the '20s and early '30s, when they could genuinely lay claim to being the fastest motorcycles in the world. When George Brough grew fed up with his racing JAP engine's lack of development for a road-worthy motorcycle by 1934, he began using the more civilized 990cc engines from AMC, in both sidevalve (SS80) and OHV configurations (SS100). This particular machine broke the boundaries for an MX100, being formerly the personal property of George Brough himself...and if you're going to spend a wad on a Brough Superior, you might as well buy George's! It sold for £253,500 ($426,100). That places it on
the #6 spot of my 'Top 20' most expensive motorcycles in the world...at auction anyway. After speaking with the new owner, I was assured he was prepared to pay 'much more' for a bike George was documented as having ridden and competed in the Edinburgh Trial upon. So there's room for more growth at the top, but it will take more than one arch-enthusiast to get there...
Second billing goes, surprisingly, to a
1972 MV Agusta 750S, in lovely low-mileage condition (6500 miles on the clock). Selling for a whopping £85,500 ($143,713), which is about double what I considered the going rate, the MV 750s have always seemed more collectible than rideable, as they're plenty common in people's living rooms, but not so much on the road... that's my personal 30-year survey. They're undeniably gorgeous, and I've ridden a couple...but I think a Ducati 900SS is a better bike - faster and more nimble. Ducati didn't win 63 World Championships with exotic 4-cylinder DOHC racers, though...so the MV wins as the stuff of dreams.
Next up is a genuine rarity; an
original paint 1914 Henderson 4-cylinder, which sold for £79,900 ($134,300). The early 'long frame' Henderson is one of the most coveted of American motorcycles, considered a two-wheeled Deusenberg, being durable, fast, and very beautiful. This particular machine was originally imported to Oslo, Norway, and clearly stored well. This price reflects what it would likely fetch in the USA.
This
1953 Vincent Series C Black Shadow sold for £70,940 ($119,240), which is pretty much the global price for an immaculate 'C' Shadow. This machine was originally sold to the Indian Sales Corp in San Francisco, and I wish I'd found it there!
The first of my 'also rans' in the
'I need to spend more than $100grand or I can't go home' category is a surprise:
the first Honda-Bimota teamup, the HB-1 of 1975, Bimota's very first model, and one of only ten built between the first prototype Honda-based Bimota racer, and this machine in 1975. Nine were sold as kits only, including this one, as Bimota weren't interested in selling complete road machines at the time (and sadly, are no longer doing thus today). This HB-1 has an engine pumped up to 970cc, and I'm sure it still flies, although I doubt it will see much café racer time on the streets, having just been purchased for £57,500 ($96,650).
The last of the big sellers was another
Brough Superior, this time a late SS80 with AMC engine and a Brough petrol-tube sidecar, as originally specified. It's believed this machine is all original, and is in lovely shape. It sold for £55,200 ($92,783).
Lest you think it was all crazy money at Stafford, a perusal of the catalog shows the vast majority of machines sold were affordable, and some were downright cheap. Just don't expect to find a big British twin for easy money nowadays - not even a Hesketh...
By the way, the
1929 Ex-Works TT Scott I featured a few weeks ago sold for £31,050 ($52,300).
