This 1977 Norton 850 MkIII Commando Interstate, the very last one built, no. 336539, sold at Bonhams' April auction in Stafford, England, for $30,748. 

The very last Norton Commando built, a 1977 850 MkIII Interstate, was sold at Bonhams’ April 24 auction in Stafford, England, for an eye-popping $30,748, with buyer’s premium. That’s 15 times the cost when new and easily double what any Norton Interstate has brought at auction to date.

Given this bike’s unique provenance – it is verifiably the absolutely last Norton Commando to leave Norton’s Wolverhampton factory before the doors were shut for good in 1977 – the high price is hardly surprising. The story goes that Norton’s general manager, John Pedley, built the bike after he and a skeleton crew had assembled a final batch of 25 Interstates for distribution to Norton’s Andover sales outlet. With those bikes complete, Pedley decided they should make one more, that wouldn’t pass on for customer sale.

The bike carries frame, engine and transmission number 336539, and has never been registered. The seven miles showing on its odometer have been accrued simply from being moved around over the years. Bonhams’ says the bike hasn’t been started since it was given its factory test upon completion in 1977. Some 50,000 Commando were built between the model’s 1968 introduction and Norton’s final closure only nine years later. It has since become one of the most iconic British motorcycles of all time, along with larger and more prolific Triumph and smaller and more regarded Vincent. – Richard Backus 

 
1954 AJS E95 will be sold by Bonhams: Estimated sale price? A stunning $750,000. 

Only four 1954 AJS E95 race bikes were built, and one of them is going up for sale. International auction house Bonhams has announced it will auction off the 1954 AJS E95 currently in the possession of England’s National Motorcycle Museum during its two-day auction at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif., August 18-19.

“As far as motorcycles go, the Porcupine is at the very top,” says Bonhams CEO Malcolm Barber. “It is arguably the most beautiful, graceful and innovative racing motorcycle ever built, the perfect blend of technology and art. Comparisons are impossible but bikes of a similar caliber – rarity, significance and worth – could include a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer, 1955 Moto Guzzi V8 or a mid-1960s RC Honda Grand Prix. This AJS is an utterly important machine whose appearance at auction cannot be underscored enough.”

Because the number of AJS “Porcupines” is so scarce (the term Porcupine was originally coined for the earlier E90 version, which had a distinctive spiked cylinder head that was substantially revised for the E95, but the name stuck), each machine is well known with all 1954 models being accounted for (most earlier Porcupines were scrapped by the factory). Until recently, this particular example had been on display for more than two decades, occupying pride of place at the world-famous National Motorcycle Museum in England, its engine having been overhauled by Team Obsolete Equippe. It is estimated to bring upwards of $750,000 at auction.

 
One of the two 1954 AJS E95s currently in the collection of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Ala.Click here to read our article about this bike and to learn more about the E95's developement. 

The last Porcupine to sell at auction was under the hammer of Bonhams’ current CEO, Malcolm Barber. It was the non-works, privateer-raced Tom Arter E95 Porcupine and it sold, 11 years ago in 2000, for approximately $258,500 – a then British motorcycle world record. That bike and a companion E95 that we featured in the September/October 2010 issue are in the collection of the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. With the significant increase in demand for historical and rare machines at the top of the market, the estimate of $750,000 for this particular Porcupine offered in August’s sale is, in most experts’ opinion, quite reasonable. – Richard Backus 

The 12th Annual Riding Into History returns to the World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Fla., May 20-21, 2011. 1993 World GP Motorcycle Champion and Motorcycle Hall of Famer Kevin Schwantz will be this year’s grand marshal, following in the footsteps of a string of motorcycling luminaries such as Kel Carruthers, Mert Lawwill, Peter Egan, Dennis Gage and Clement Salvadori.

Friday’s schedule includes a lunch ride with Schwantz, followed by the annual black tie Grand Marshal’s Dinner later that night, with Schwantz entertaining the crowd. Group rides on Saturday will raise money for RIH’s charity, the Wounded Warrior Project. The annual Concours d’Elegance will be held on Saturday, and acclaimed designer and Motorcycle Hall of Famer Craig Vetter will also be on hand, holding two Saturday seminars at the “Vetter Theater.”

Expect 300 to 400 first-rate classic motorcycles from across the country at the show, which this year spotlights European motorcycles. You can also expect the usual throng of thousands at RIH, which by all accounts gets better and better every year. Admission is only $10, a bargain for the variety and quality of motorcycles sure to be on hand.

After listening to everybody else brag about it for years, I’m finally going to make my first visit to this now legendary show. I’ve bought my plane ticket and booked my motel room, now I’m just waiting for May 20 when I’ll wing my way to Florida and the 12th Annual RIH. Most excellent, as my friend Ralph would say. More info: www.ridingintohistory.org, or e-mail info@ridingintohistory.org – Richard Backus

If you’re anywhere close to Kansas City, there’s no excuse for missing the 20th Vintage Motorcycle Rally hosted by the Heart of America Motorcycle Enthusiasts (HoAME), 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, at the Airline History Museum at Kansas City’s historic Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. This will be the third year the show’s been held at Wheeler Airport, one of the coolest venues for a classic bike gathering anywhere.

As home to a spectacular 1958 Lockheed Super Constellation and other vintage airliners, the museum is already a great destination. Throw open the hangar doors and throw in a few hundred classic motorcycles and it becomes without doubt the place to be in Kansas City. Wandering around the cavernous hangar looking at Vincents, Hondas, Harleys and Ducatis with the downtown skyline in full view from the hangar doors is uniquely cool, and not to be missed.

So don’t miss it — even if you join Motorcycle Classics’ Richard Backus at the National Motorcycle Museum’s grand opening in Anamosa, Iowa, that same weekend, you could still make Kansas City in six hours! Motorcycle Classics’ Landon Hall will be manning our booth at the Kansas City show, so look for him and the Motorcycle Classics banner in the Airline History Museum hangar. This show just keeps getting better and better every year, and admission is a bargain at only $5. Be there. – Richard Backus