It’s that time of the year, the first 2015 from Bonham’s, this time in Las Vegas 8th January 2015, which for any grown kid with a love for heritage motorcycles is the biggest candy store of all time. Often with prices so high it is an insight into what the multi-millionaries of the world like to do with their small petty cash.
image – cover auction catalogue Bonham’s Motorcycle Auction, Bally’s Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas 8 January 2015
As ever there is a wide range of quality Indians, Harley’s including Dirt trackers and other American makes but like always there is a very strong showing of quality British Classic hardware especially from Triumph but including Vincent, Brough, AJS and Matchless.
Bonham’s US Auctions never lack class and is often also a chance to see what the movie stars owned and buy a once cherished Hollywood toy. This year is no exception and apart from some items coming from Henry Fonda and Dennis Hopper two stars especially associated with motorcycles in the USA, there is not surprisingly a few ex Steve McQueen items thrown in to help ramp up the auction headline prices.
ISDT interest is limited but fairly well represented by a fairly immaculate original Jawa 250 ISDT replica of 1957. There are a number of interesting Jawa and CZ bikes up for sale too as the collection of ARMHA board member Fred Mork is broken up.
Photo – 1957 Jawa 250 ISDT replica to be auctioned at Bonham’s Las Vegas Sale 8 Jan 2015
For an US auction it goes without saying that with so many Triumph Trophies being exported to the US and very popular with US off-road, especially Desert, racers that a few good examples would be provided and we are not let down by this restored factory produced Triumph Trophy TR6C 650cc of 1966. This bike was produced at the Meridan factory by Triumph in order to meet the market they saw been created by the US racers who were butchering standard Trophies to meet the needs of flat-out high-speed desert racing and was specifically constructed to the designs of the modifications top racers were making.
Photo – 1966 Triumph Trophy TR6C 650cc Desert Racer to be auctioned at Bonham’s Las Vegas Sale 8 Jan 2015
The american passion of desert racing saw many production Trophies being modified that by recent times there are very few original untouched TR6B, which most often were adapted and so this full restoration of an original and complete Triumph Trophy TR6B of 1957 is a very unique opportunity to buy an example from the pinnacle period of Triumph engineering prowess.
Photo – 1957 Triumph Trophy TR6B to be auctioned at Bonham’s Las Vegas Sale 8 Jan 2015
One bike in the Auction is an original Triumph Trophy TR6 of 1965. The love of this bike by american motorcyclists, for its prowess on both paved street and dirt roads saw it being sold in significant numbers and this 1965 model is being sold having been kept by the same keeper since it was first purchased new.
Photo – 1965 Triumph Trophy TR6 to be auctioned at Bonham’s Las Vegas Sale 8 Jan 2015
As the ageing British iron started to loose its dominant competitive edge in the late 1960’s the US became a valuable market to the European off-road brands of KTM (Penton) and Husqvarna who like Triumph shipped a lot of units across the atlantic in the absence of any significant competition from American motorcycle manufacturers. Of the Huskies on auction there is a particularly nicely restored Husqvarna 360cc Enduro Cross of 1971 with its unique 8 speed gearbox.
Photo – 1971 Husqvarna 360cc EnduroCross to be auctioned at Bonham’s Las Vegas Sale 8 Jan 2015
One of the headline bikes for this auction will be this Husqvarna 250cc Motocross bike from 1971. Not only a very desirable bike in its own right but this bike is part of the fleet of Huskies personally owned by Steve McQueen, which when coming up for auction command a particularly significant premium over similar condition bikes of the same period.
Photo – 1971 Husqvarna 250cc MotoCross that previously was owned by Steve McQueen to be auctioned at Bonham’s Las Vegas Sale 8 Jan 2015
a copy of the catalogue as a pdf can be downloaded here
