Top 150 sales from the 2017 Las Vegas Motorcycle auctions
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The top seller at Bonhams' Las Vegas auction this year could have gone to any number of motorcycles, but in the end none of the fancied bikes met reserve and this 1130cc 1914 Feilbach Limited Twin took the honours. The 1914 Feilbach sold for $195,000
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The top selling Vincent of many in Vegas was this 1955 Vincent Series D Black Knight which sold for $150,000
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This fully restored 1952 Vincent Series-C Black Shadow with an interesting history sold for $135,000.
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One of just 76 Series B Shadows produced, this 1949 Vincent Series B Black Shadow sold for $112,125
A completely original, unrestored 115-year-old motorcycle. This 57 cubic inch (934 cc) F-head four-cylinder Henderson sold with both the original paint and the original tires.
This 1969 Honda CB750 sold for $30,800. Early production Honda CB750 engines were sand-cast until such time as the company was sure that a market existed for the model. Quite obviously, the market did exist and soon engines were being produced with die casting. The rougher sand-cast finish on the air-cooled cylinders and crankcase set the very early CB750 apart from its successors. These bikes are clearly entering hallowed ground.
Action on the Mecum stage as a Henderson goes under the hammer
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This was not the original Ducati, but it was the start of something big. When Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari finished 1-2 in the Imola 200 in 19XX, the Ducati v-twin legend was born and has been growing ever since. This was the highest priced Ducati of the week, fetching $109,250
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Ron Christensen (center) now runs Mecum's motorcycle division with the same Mid-America Motorcycles team that has auctioned tens of thousands of motorcycles.
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This was the world's fastest motorcycle in 1973 according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Widowmaker 7 runs a Chevrolet 350 ci (5735cc) V8 with every go-fast mod imaginable and in the day, exactly as it stands here, it held the world record for a standing start quarter mile at 8.68 seconds with a terminal speed of 172 mph. $65,000 cash would let you take it home but no-one bid that high.
Yes, the name is correct. The 1949 Indian-Vincent prototype that might have changed the two-wheeled world was expected to sell between $250,000 and $300,000. Bidding started at $100,000 but only reached $180,000.
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The 1949 Indian-Vincent prototype that might have changed the two-wheeled world if history had run a slightly different course was expected to sell between $250,000 and $300,000. Bidding started at $100,000 but only reached $180,000.
Big things were expected of this restored 1912 Flying Merkel Belt Drive 1000cc v-twin with the official estimate being $ 135,000 to $150,000. Bidding reached $115,000 before the lot was passed in.
Somer Hooker
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The 1936 Crocker 'hemi head' was expected to fetch between $500,000 and $600,000. Bidding started at $150,000 and reached $360,000 before failing to advance any further.
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The 1936 Crocker 'hemi head' was expected to fetch between $500,000 and $600,000. Bidding started at $150,000 and reached $360,000 before failing to advance any further.
The top seller at Bonhams' Las Vegas auction this year could have gone to any number of motorcycles, but in the end none of the fancied bikes met reserve and this 1130cc 1914 Feilbach Limited Twin took the honours. The 1914 Feilbach sold for $195,000, emphasising the importance of originality in the current marketplace.
An unprecedented number of motorcycles sold in Las Vegas this year and although many of the more fancied lots didn't sell, the strength of the marketplace was clearly evident by a 50 percent increase in turnover. What's more, the market appears to be moving upwards for motorcycles manufactured in the seventies and eighties due to new blood in the collector ranks.
The 2017 Las Vegas motorcycle auctions combined Mecum's four-day auction (January 25 to 28) with Bonhams' one day event on January 26 for a major kickstart to the collectible motorcycle year. More than 1000 collectible motorcycles changed hands over four days, which is enough data to identify a few trends that portend what will happen over the rest of the year. See our trends report from Las Vegas on movement in the collector motorcycle marketplace.
The following sales constitute the top 150 sales in Las Vegas with images and links to the official auction pages.
Note that Mecum, which sold the majority of the bikes in Las Vegas, cites the hammer price of each bike on its website, while Bonhams quotes the total price (including commissions) to the buyer. We think the total price paid is the right number to be looking at, so we have converted the Mecum prices to the total price for the purposes of this listing.
A completely original, unrestored 115-year-old motorcycle. This 57 cubic inch (934 cc) F-head four-cylinder Henderson sold with both the original paint and the original tires.
$195,000 | 1914 Feilbach Limited 10HP V-twin
The top seller at Bonhams' Las Vegas auction this year could have gone to any number of motorcycles, but in the end none of the fancied bikes met reserve and this 1130cc 1914 Feilbach Limited Twin took the honours. The 1914 Feilbach sold for $195,000
The top seller at Bonhams' Las Vegas auction this year could have gone to any number of motorcycles, but in the end none of the fancied bikes met reserve and this 1130 cc 1914 Feilbach Limited Twin took the honors. One of just a handful of Feilbach Limited v-twins extant, this example came from the Larry Bowman Collection. This was the last Feilbach made before the company was shuttered and was the personal motorcycle of company founder Arthur Feilbach.
The Black Knight is the rarest of the Series D Vincent V-twins produced in 1954 and 1955, though as an enclosed Rapide (the enclosed Shadow is known as the Black Prince), it is generally less celebrated and sought-after than its slightly faster royal brethren. Just the same, this Black Knight set a new record price for the model with this sale by achieving the highest ever price at auction of the 101 original Black Knights produced.
It also went to Vegas via a rather circuitous route, having been originally sold new to Cuba, before taking up residence in Pennsylvania for many years. The subject of an extensive restoration five years ago it hasn't covered many miles since and presented in Vegas in concours condition. It has also been "sorted" with a Black Shadow specification engine, Lightning-specification brakes and Works Performance suspension at both ends.
A fully restored Black Shadow with an interesting history. The vendor won the bike in a raffle ten years ago at the 2007 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days weekend, with his ticket drawn by by Grand Marshal Jay Springsteen. The AMCA-award winning bike was sold with the same 3,669 miles it had on the clock when it was raffled.
The first and rarest of the three Shadow series, with 76 Series B Shadows produced, compared to 1507 Series C machines and 144 Series D bikes. This 1949 Black Shadow is an older full restoration with matching numbers for engine, upper frame member and rear frame section, likewise the center cases are numbers-matching, all per Vincent Owners Club paperwork.
This was not the original Ducati, but it was the start of something big. When Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari finished 1-2 in the Imola 200 in 19XX, the Ducati v-twin legend was born and has been growing ever since. This was the highest priced Ducati of the week, fetching $109,250
Somer Hooker
This was not the original Ducati, but it was the start of something big. When Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari finished 1-2 in the Imola 200 in 19XX, the Ducati v-twin legend was born and has been growing ever since. This was the highest priced Ducati of the week, fetching $109,250
This 1969 Honda CB750 sold for $30,800. Early production Honda CB750 engines were sand-cast until such time as the company was sure that a market existed for the model. Quite obviously, the market did exist and soon engines were being produced with die casting. The rougher sand-cast finish on the air-cooled cylinders and crankcase set the very early CB750 apart from its successors. These bikes are clearly entering hallowed ground.
As a photojournalist, Mike’s work was published in print in a dozen languages across 20+ countries. He has edited or managed over 75 different print publications, each with a different target audience: sports, automotive, advertising, marketing, design, ad infinitum. Mike has been working in the internet for more than 40 years and was the veteran of five internet start-ups before founding New Atlas in 2002.
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