This Seventies Moto Guzzi looks intact and could be the basis of a nice restoration.
J. Wood & Co. just announced their next motorcycle auction, and perusing the auction bill for the May 7-8, 2015, sale in Cuba, Missouri, suggests this may be the motorcycle auction of the year, with complete and project bikes dating from 1905 to 1975, including H-D, Indian, Panther, Pope, BSA, Triumph, Greeves, NSU, Adler, CZ, Moto Morini, Ducati, Ossa, Bultaco, Yamaha and more. There are also over 100 vintage outboard boat motors, plus vintage cars, vintage farm engines … the list goes on.
On the J. Wood & Co. website, Jerry Wood notes of the auction: “We have been contracted to sell the contents of five buildings chock full of motorcycles and parts, as well as lots of other treasure, all without reserve to the highest bidder. The buildings are so full that we can’t even see all of what is there yet. We will be adding photos and listings to our website as we uncover the items. This is a major hoard that was packed away by a man who was a Triumph dealer at one time. He started collecting long ago as we have found a fairly large amount of very rare early American motorcycles and parts. Many of these early bikes are projects as we find frames and bodywork for the engines. I don’t know how many engines that we have yet, but I would guess that it is near a thousand.”
We’ve trolled through the images posted on the J. Wood website, and the collection is incredible. Many of the bikes look rough, but there are clearly some reasonably well kept machines, and the sheer volume is astonishing. The engine collection is extensive, ranging from early American singles (including at least one Excelsior) to Norton (including one Manx engine that looked like it’d been in a fire) and Triumph engines, and a vertical Indian twin from the late Forties. The bikes and parts in the photos are packed in so tight it’s incredible. Whoever the collector was, he was a hoarder on a major scale. We plan on making the auction; if you miss it, we’ll post our impressions when it’s over. — Richard Backus
A Norton Manx OHC engine looks like it’s been in a fire.
This Matchless is just one of the many British bikes in the hoard.
