The auction world is abuzz over the recent
'sale' of the 'Captain America' chopper at the Profiles in History auction house last October, claimed at $1.62M, making it the most expensive motorcycle ever to sell at auction, and likely the most expensive motorcycle of all (regardless of rumors of the $1.1M sale of the ex-Rollie Free 'bathing suit' Vincent).
Weeks later, it turns out there was no sale; the anonymous 'buyer' backed out after Peter Fonda, who had previously endorsed the machine, sent Tweets the day of the auction casting doubts on the bike's authenticity. The seller, Michael Eisenberg, went to great lengths to bolster the authenticity of 'Captain America', hiring a forensic investigator and even subjecting Dan Haggerty, who restored the bike, to 3 polygraph tests (which he passed). Of course, what was certified by Haggerty as genuine would be the frame, used in the 'B' (or stunt) 'Captain America' built by Larry Marcus and Ben Hardy, as documented in my book
'The Chopper; the Real Story'. The rest of Haggerty's restoration was a reproduction of the 'A' (or hero) bike, long ago stolen and dispersed.
![]() |
| Another non-auction sale; this Winchester was claimed in the press to have sold at auction for $580k, but it wasn't. |
The upshot of all this: 'Captain America' is NOT #1; it's off my list of the '
World's Most Expensive Motorcycles'. Activity like this Profiles in History sale, and earlier this year,
the sham 'sale' of a 1910 Winchester at Worldwide Auctioneers, cast doubt on the reliability of auction houses and their press releases, or at least, releases from THESE auction houses.
![]() |
| The 1929 Brough Superior SS100, sold today by Bonhams for $494,580 |
By contrast,
Bonhams auctions (a sponsor of
TheVintagent.com) is looking more like 'old reliable' every year. Suspicious machines (or sellers) generate considerable anxiety with the Bonhams staff, as I experienced recently, when an important racing motorcycle (formerly owned by myself) was offered to
Bonhams. Doubt had been cast on it, which is akin to a virus in the auction world (as seen with 'Captain America') - ultimately it was withdrawn.
![]() |
| The JAP KTOR powerplant of the early SS100; a racing engine repurposed for the road; the fastest road bike in the world at the time |
Today,
Bonhams really did sell a gorgeous
1929 Brough Superior SS100 'Alpine Grand Sports' for £315,000 ($494,580), and my quote about this bike can be seen on
the BBC website. This Brough now sits on the
#2 Most Expensive spot, just behind the 1915 Cyclone with a Harley frame, sold way back in 2008. The rapidly increasing price of good pre-1930 SS100s means the #1 spot is within reach...until a better Cyclone is sold, anyway. Which will happen next Spring; watch this space.
Subscribe to TheVintagent.com by email - it's free!
