Lot 346: Moto Morini Grand Prix 250 racer sold for $135,266.
Bonhams annual sale of collectors’ motorcycles at Stafford on Sunday 20th October made a total of $2,172,990, with 80 percent of the 436 lots sold – and created a brand new world record.
Top performer among the competition machines offered, the circa 1966 Norton Manx 350, prepared by legendary tuner Francis Beart and raced by Joe Dunphy and Keith Heckles, found a new home for $100,698 more than doubling the top estimate and setting a new world record for a Manx sold at auction.
Hot on its heels came the modern Molnar Norton Manx, prepared and entered by Fred Walmsley for the late World Champion Barry Sheene, which sold for $89,683.
But it was a technological marvel from an earlier era that produced the sale’s best result when the 250cc Moto Morini Grand Prix racer from the 1960s fetched $135,266.
The Michael Buttinger collection of Japanese motorcycles provided one of the star lots of Bonhams’ autumn Stafford sale when the limited edition circa 1992 Honda NR750 superbike – an oval piston, 32-valve, V4-engined technological tour de force, the like of which has not been seen since – sold for $93,416.
Ben Walker, head of Bonhams Motorcycle Department, comments: “In strictly performance terms the Honda NR750 wasn’t any faster than many of its more mundane contemporaries. What really blew everybody away was the bike’s sex appeal when it came to style: never before had a production motorcycle looked more like a two-wheeled Ferrari.”
Two of Britain’s premier marques – Brough Superior and Vincent – again put in their customary strong showing, the 1950 Vincent 998 Black Shadow Series C selling for $93,416 while the 1940 Brough Superior 990 SS80 – the last to leave the factory with a Works Record Card – made $87,804. ‘Barn find’ examples from both marques again demonstrated the healthy demand for such projects, the 1938 Vincent-HRD 500 Meteor, owned by the same enthusiast for 60 years, selling for $41,099 while the seriously distressed and incomplete 1939 Brough Superior SS80 made an above-estimate $31,757.
For more press information please contact Julian Roup at 0207 468 8259 or julian.roup@bonhams.com or press@bonhams.com
Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge; and a further three in the UK regions and Scotland. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, Calif., New York and Greenwich, Conn., in the USA; and Germany, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to www.bonhams.com.