Vincent motorcycles on the auction block
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November/December 2008
By Motorcycle Classics staff
Marty Dickerson’s “Blue Bike” is the machine Dickerson regularly campaigned for almost 40 years. A presence in the Southern California speed scene, Dickerson traded a Triumph for the Vincent in 1948. Soon, he was working for the West Coast Vincent dealer, Mickey Martin, who paid Dickerson to visit potential dealerships on his Rapide to help bolster sales. Although the hoped-for sales never materialized for Martin, Dickerson’s reputation as a rip-snorting racer was sealed, as Dickerson ran the Blue Bike in speed trials across Southern California and then through the traps at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats.
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Dickerson continually improved his Rapide. With a claimed weight of only 400 pounds, he posted a top speed of 129mph at Bonneville in 1951 before finally taking the Class C record in 1953 with a posted speed of 147.85mph. Dickerson’s record stood for an incredible 20 years, until 1973 — and he’s still going strong. In 2007, at the age of 81, he set an AMA record in the Vintage Gasoline class of 151.685mph. The bike? A Vincent, of course. Dickerson sold the Blue Bike to Herb Harris, who also owns the famous Rollie Free Vincent, in 2000.
Pre-sale estimates for the supercharged bike, which hits the block Oct. 19 at the Bonham’s sale in Stafford, England, are in the $500,000 range. No pre-sale estimates have been made on the Blue Bike, but we’ll be surprised if it doesn’t break $250,000 when it crosses the stage at Bonham’s auction at the Peterson Auto Museum in Los Angeles, Oct. 25. MC
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