Three motorcycle auctions (London, Paris and Gainesville, Florida) in the next few weeks offer unprecedented opportunities to obtain some rare European motorcycles.
Bonhams' Retromobile (Paris) sale later this week (4 February) will be followed by Coys' first annual London sale to be held at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show on 13 February, and the lots include a fabled Moto-Guzzi V8 (Estimate: US$270,000 to $315,000) plus more many very important Italian racing motorcycles including a 1951 Moto Guzzi 500 Bicilindrica Grand Prix racer (estimate: $170,000 to $185,000), a 1956 Mondial 250 GP Bicilindrica ($170,000 to $200,000) and a 1961 Ducati 250 Trialbero prototype ($130,000 to $145,000).
One of the stars of the show will be the first motorcycle from a new French custom manufacturer, Praëm, which is based on Honda's VTR1000 RC51 SP2 v-twin and is expected to sell for between $100,000 and $160,000. It's the first time that a company has launched a motorcycle at a major motorcycle auction, though it is far from unprecedented in the automotive world where savvy elite car marketers have long since worked out that auctions are where the most monied enthusiasts come out to play.
To date, only CGI images of the new Praëm SP3 SP3 have been seen, but it looks to be quite exquisite with 4,000 hours of craftsmanship invested in it's creation, a dry weight of 180 kg (408 lb) and 165 hp (123 kW) on tap, it's likely to be very quick as well very sought after.
To date, only CGI images of the new Praëm SP3 SP3 have been seen, but it looks to be quite exquisite with 4,000 hours of craftsmanship invested in it's creation, a dry weight of 180 kg (408 lb) and 165 hp (123 kW) on tap, it's likely to be very quick as well very sought after.
Unused since completion, this outstanding piece of motorcycle art would be equally at home in a motor museum or an art gallery.
One of the more interesting aspects of the bike is that it uses a $6,000 limited edition TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre 11 chronograph atop the fuel tank. The watch retains its wristband, so it can be worn by the rider when the bike is parked – a nice concept but we don't really expect this to go mainstream any time soon, at least not for bikes that will ever be parked in the street. This is the only actual photograph of the bike to date.
For those seeking less exotic but more traditional high-value steeds, there's also (clockwise from top left in above image) a 1927 Brough Superior 680 ($170,000 to $200,000), a 1950 Vincent Rapide Series C ($85,000 to $105,000), a 1931 Indian 402($70,000 to $85,000), and a 1954 Vincent Rapide Series C ($55,000 to $70,000).
In its announcement regarding the new London auction, Coys committed to holding the auction annually in conjunction with the enormous MCN-backed event, continuing a period of significant growth. Following the company's long-standing success as the official auction of the Techno-Classica event and it's association with the Monaco Grand Prix Historique and it's associated "Legende et Passion" auction, Coys secured a long-term deal to become the exclusive auction partner of both the Frankfurt International Motor Show and the Porsche Classics at the Castle events last year. Major car and motorcycle shows appear to be a logical venue for classic auctions as the collectible marketplace grows, and Coys is establishing new and highly relevant venues to continue its long car and motorcycle auction heritage. Bravo Coys!
In its announcement regarding the new London auction, Coys committed to holding the auction annually in conjunction with the enormous MCN-backed event, continuing a period of significant growth. Following the company's long-standing success as the official auction of the Techno-Classica event and it's association with the Monaco Grand Prix Historique and it's associated "Legende et Passion" auction, Coys secured a long-term deal to become the exclusive auction partner of both the Frankfurt International Motor Show and the Porsche Classics at the Castle events last year. Major car and motorcycle shows appear to be a logical venue for classic auctions as the collectible marketplace grows, and Coys is establishing new and highly relevant venues to continue its long car and motorcycle auction heritage. Bravo Coys!
Jerry Wood's Florida auction on March 8 doesn't contain motorcycles of the same exalted status, but there are many bargains to be had and quite an opportunity to pick up the bike, engine or part you've been looking for.
The J.Wood & Company auction takes place in Gainesville (Florida), just 100 miles from Daytona Beach, four days before the 75th running of the famous Daytona 200 road race, so there's an opportunity to take in both events in a single trip and, as with the London auction, there are quite a few Italian bikes, with plenty of other deletable classics too.
The sale is of the estate of Bob Barker, one of the engineers behind the first coming of the Can Am motorcycle. Bob helped develop the company's very fast Rotax rotary valve two-stroke dirt bikes in the early seventies. After an initial spell at Bombadier's home base in Canada, Bob moved the race team to Florida so it could develop the motocross bikes all year round. When the Can Am program was finally closed, all of the fabrication machinery was sold to Bob, and is also for sale in this auction. During this period, Bob developed and rode a Can-Am 125 cm3 machine to a world speed record of 136.5 mph (220 km/h), a record which still stands. He broke numerous other speed records but we're having trouble tracking down the extent of his two-wheeled exploits, which appear to have been numerous given the contents of his garage.
The J.Wood & Company auction takes place in Gainesville (Florida), just 100 miles from Daytona Beach, four days before the 75th running of the famous Daytona 200 road race, so there's an opportunity to take in both events in a single trip and, as with the London auction, there are quite a few Italian bikes, with plenty of other deletable classics too.
The sale is of the estate of Bob Barker, one of the engineers behind the first coming of the Can Am motorcycle. Bob helped develop the company's very fast Rotax rotary valve two-stroke dirt bikes in the early seventies. After an initial spell at Bombadier's home base in Canada, Bob moved the race team to Florida so it could develop the motocross bikes all year round. When the Can Am program was finally closed, all of the fabrication machinery was sold to Bob, and is also for sale in this auction. During this period, Bob developed and rode a Can-Am 125 cm3 machine to a world speed record of 136.5 mph (220 km/h), a record which still stands. He broke numerous other speed records but we're having trouble tracking down the extent of his two-wheeled exploits, which appear to have been numerous given the contents of his garage.
Bob was also a road and dirt racer of many years standing prior to his involvement with Can Am and many of the motorcycles in this auction belonged to Bob since they were new or near new, being in original or "as raced" condition. Included in the sale are a 1928 Indian 101 Scout in original condition, a 1960 Norton Manx, an AJS 7R, a Gilera Saturno Corsa, a Gilera Saturno Sport, a Parilla Grand Sport, several Ducati 250GPs, an NSU Super Max, an NSU Super Fox, a Velocette KSS, Zundapp Twingle, and some bikes in as-new condition, such as a Royal Enfield Bullet with 161 miles (259 km) on the clock and a Ducati 250 MKIII with 1,825 miles (2,937 km) on the odometer.
Like Jerry Wood's last big "barn find" auction, the cache of bikes, motors and parts is so large that it is still being catalogued. "We have only begun to dig out what is there", said Wood.
"We did find a great engine collection that starts with some very early examples and goes through to the 1970s. There's a large amount of parts and they will be placed with the motorcycles that they belong with or sold by the box lot.
"For example, we did find a Yamaha TD1 engine, brakes and a fuel tank that looked new. We found many toys, some in boxes and some rusty. There is a lot of treasure here and it will all sell to the highest bidder."
The star lot of the auctions is unquestionably a replica of one of the fabled Moto Guzzi factory 499cc racers that was used during the 1955-1957 World Championship Grand Prix seasons.
Moto Guzzi is best known these days for it's transverse V-twins, but the engineering audacity of producing a DOHC V8 racer sixty years ago made world headlines and it ensured that the brand would be known globally, despite many previous technological triumphs. It also set the scene for Honda to perform equally remarkable technological wizardy a decade later when the Japanese company created the six cylinder 250cc RC166, and the most outrageous of them all, the five-cylinder 125cc RC149. Honda race engineer Nobby Clarke recalls assembling the Honda 125's valve gear with tweezers.
Moto Guzzi's 90 degree V8 had water cooling, double overhead camshafts on each cylinder bank, eight 20mm Dell'Orto carburettors, sixteen valves, eight glorious cacophonous megaphone exhausts (when I visited the Guzzi factory back in the early eighties, they started the V8 for me and it makes a truly glorious sound) and produced 78 hp (58 kW) at 12,000 rpm, giving it a top speed of 172 mph (277 km/h).
As powerful as it was, it was apparently diabolical to ride and unreliable into the bargain, and works rider Ken Kavanagh, renowned for his bravery, refused to ride the motorcycle following the 1956 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. That's quite a statement given he was one of the originators of the entire project. Horsepower alone does not make a racing motorcycle and the frames, suspension and tires of the day were simply incapable of dealing with that much horsepower.
The Guzzi V8 offered for sale is not one of the originals (of which just two remain), and was constructed in Italy during the early 2000s by a small team of expert ex Moto Guzzi technicians. They meticulously adhered to the machine's original specifications, with those parts that were needed created from original factory drawings. Like the originals of the 1950s, this replica also has crankcases and brake drums cast in magnesium, with the steels, alloys and other materials, including the suede leather seat upholstery, being precisely to 1956 factory specification.
This bike has an estimated price of £190,000 to £220,000 (US$270,000 to $315,000) but may fetch more than that if the right people want it. It will be worth watching to see what happens with this bike – if it were a real one, it would most likely sell for a lot more and would potentially threaten the world motorcycle auction record.
It may look like a Ducati at first glance, but with it's cylinders angled at 120° (with a 180° crank pin offset), the Moto Guzzi 500 V-twin predates Taglioni's 90° Ducati L-twin design by nearly four decades. Conceived (like Vincent and Ducati) to take advantage of morphing two of their strong single cylinder engines together, the bike won major premier class Grands Prix both before and after WW2.
The lightweight and sweet-handling bike was in its heyday in the mid–thirties, winning the Italian Grand Prix three times and taking a win at the IOM in 1935 Senior TT with Stanley Woods in the saddle. The Senior TT was the world's most important motorcycle race at the time.
The Moto Guzzi 500 Bicilindrica's competitiveness was waning by the time the World Championships were inaugurated in 1949, but it still hung on to take its last win in the 1951 Swiss GP. Only around a dozen Bicilindricas were built during the two decades it was used by the Moto Guzzi factory team, with this bike being from the final year. Strangely, the bike somehow found it's way to South America where it fell into disrepair, only to be discovered and returned to Europe where it was restored to it's former glory.A significant motorcycle that just might exceed it's estimate of £120,000 to £130,000(US$170,000 to $185,000).
FB-Mondial and it's Drusiani-designed engines were dominant in the 125 class at the advent of the World Motorcycle Championships in 1949, winning all three championship events held in 1949, 1950 and 1951 to take the first three world titles in the 125 class with its Bialbero (Italian for DOHC) single cylinder engine. It continued to prove competitive right up to 1957 and, buoyed by this success, the firm set about fusing two 125s together for the 250cc class.
Between September 1956 and March 1957, Mondial's engineer Nerio Biavati built one prototype twin-cylinder DOHC 250 based on a pair of 125 Bialberos. This bike was the first prototype built for its entry into the 250 class and although it made a very competitive 35 hp (26 kW) at 10,000 rpm, it was deemed too heavy to be competitive and was shelved in favour of a single cylinder design (which took first, second and third place in the 1957 world title).
Due to financial woes, Mondial closed down at the end of 1957 and this prototype 250 twin is the only one in existence. Estimated at £120,000 to £140,000 (US$170,000 to $200,000), the figures suggest that small engine capacities and bikes that are not V-twins are not much sought after by collectors, but this bike is nonetheless VERY special.
Just three prototype Ducati 250 single-cylinder Trialbero (triple overhead camshaft) GP racers were built, having the distinct misfortune to come up against Honda's new four-cylinder 250, the all-conquering RC162. Estimated at £90,000 to £100,000 (US$130,000 to $145,000), this Trialbero prototype was one of the last of the single cylinder 250 GP bikes.
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