STAFFORD SALE HIGHLIGHTS

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 collectors motorcycle market is behaving.  Coming 5 months after the worlds 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 years roster of top Stafford sales is an interesting list, with a few unexpected names popping over the $100k mark, but Ill take the big fish in order.

One for the Vintagents Top 20 auction sales, displacing...yet another SS100 for the #6 spot of Most Expensive Motorcycles in the World...

The top of the list is, as usual, a Brough Superior SS100, in this case a 1939 MX-engined model, which normally dont 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 engines 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 youre going to spend a wad on a Brough Superior, you might as well buy Georges!  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 theres room for more growth at the top, but it will take more than one arch-enthusiast to get there...

Surprise of the day; a low mileage MV Agusta 750S 

Second billing goes, surprisingly, to a 1972 MV Agusta 750S, in lovely low-mileage c ondition (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 theyre plenty common in peoples living rooms, but not so much on the road... thats my personal 30-year survey.  Theyre undeniably gorgeous, and Ive ridden a couple...but I think a Ducati 900SS is a better bike - faster and more nimble.  Ducati didnt win 63 World Championships with exotic 4-cylinder DOHC racers, though...so the MV wins as the stuff of dreams.

Original-p aint 1914 Henderson...and my, how 100 years gives a beating to a paint job

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.

Very nice Series C Vincent Black Shadow

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 Id found it there!

The ultra-rare Bimota HB-1, one of 9 kits sold

The first of my also rans in the I need to spend more than $100grand or I cant go home category is a surprise: the first Honda-Bimota teamup, the HB-1 of 1975, Bimotas very first model, and one of only ten built between the first protot ype Honda-based Bimota racer, and this machine in 1975.  Nine were sold as kits only, including this one, as Bimota werent 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 Im 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).

An all original 1939 Brough Superior SS80 with petrol tube sidecar

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.  Its believed this machine is all original, and is in lovely shape.  It sold for £55,200 ($92,783).

If you needed an Ugly, er, Egli-Vincent, this one with new crankcases could have been yours for a bid over $33,827...

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 dont 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).