Mecum

The collectible motorcycle marketplace has snapped back into action with Mecum belatedly wrapping up its annual January Las Vegas auctions on May 1, following a four-day-sale. The results are intriguing, particularly if you're a Harley Knucklehead fan.

Mecum Auctions finished the first big bricks-and-mortar car auction since the pandemic began in Indianapolis this week, ushering in a new era for the collector car industry and smashing the world record price for a Mustang for the second time this year.

An extraordinary unrestored 109-year-old motorcycle has sold at auction for US$225,500, setting a new world record price for a Pierce Arrow Four-cylinder and further confirming the trend toward complete authenticity in the motorcycle collector market.

The 1968 Espada grand tourer was a bit of a weird-looking Lamborghini. But as Danton Art Kustoms has proved with this build, it makes one heck of a Mad Max open-wheel hot rod, with its lovingly polished V12 engine swinging loud and proud in the wind.

Most of the children's cars listed here stand an excellent chance of appreciating significantly in value over the long run.

After four decades so well hidden that it was believed lost, the 1968 Mustang GT driven by Steve McQueen in the cult movie Bullitt reemerged last year in Detroit. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history is now scheduled to be auctioned next January.

​Elvis Presley's last motorcycle, a 1976 Harley Davidson 1200 Electra Glide, is going to auction later this month and could smash the world record price for a motorcycle at auction. The record price is held by a Vincent Black Lightning that sold for $929,000​.

Monterey Car Week is where the world's most monied automotive enthusiasts congregate once a year, and as usual, there are quite a few elite motorcycles on offer. We count 15, maybe 16 motorcycles that are expected to fetch six figures, headed by two Crockers likely to fetch $500,000 each.

The remarkable rise of "basketcase" prices continued at the British National Motorcycle Museum​ on Saturday March 2, when a new world auction record for a Brough Superior motorcycle​ was set at £425,500 ($561,556).

The motorcycle marketplace is recalibrated each year with the January Las Vegas sales, and this year saw new records and the changing tastes of the buying public. While vintage bikes performed well, the real movers were two-strokes, seventies classics and Japanese motorcycles.

This year we've assembled the 100 most interesting lots, regardless of whether they sold or not, and ordered them with the highest bid counted. It reflects the diversity of the automotive market this year more than ever.

Collectors can grab themselves a piece of motorcycle history this month at Mecum Auctions, as long-distance world record holder and cannonball run champion Carl Reese puts his record-setting BMW K1600GT under the hammer.