On October 12th, H&H Auctioneers is selling off some cars, bikes, and memorabilia. There’s 61 motorcycle lots in total…here are my five favorites:
Here’s the full list for your perusal.
1. 1981 Hesketh V1000 estimated to sell between $13,500-$16,115. Lord Thomas Alexander Fermor-Hesketh decided he would extend the resources of his racing team (ever see the movie Rush?) to try and make England relevant in the world of motorcycles again. The V1000 featured a 992cc V-Twin produced by Weslake – it was claimed to be the first Brit bike with DOHC and 4 valves per cylinder. The engine produced 82 horsepower and 78 pound-feet of torque, but the bike weighed 540 pounds. Teething problems put Hesketh out of business almost immediately after just 139 bikes were built. But the company was brought back to life multiple times, the most recent of which was in 2010 by someone who started selling an updated version of the V1000 (it looks almost the same, but with necessary fixes). For more information on the Hesketh, check out this excellent write-up from OddBike. Note that Hesketh is still alive and kicking, and they’re in the process of releasing a limited edition of a new bike called the 24. This example is said to be a one owner bike with 2,000 miles. It’s been in storage for “the last few years” and claimed to be in very good condition.
2. 1980 Egli-Vincent by Godet – estimated to sell between $67,145-$80,500. Fritz Egli is a former Swiss motorcycle racer who made a tremendous name for himself by building custom frames out of his speed shop, like a Vincent Black Shadow that won a hill climbing championship. He also made plenty of frames for Kawasaki and Honda bikes of the 70s, and he’s still cranking out frames for bikes like the Yamaha V-Max. So where does Patrick Godet come into play? A french ex-moto racer, Patrick got into the restoration of bikes and eventually got permission from Fritz Egli to be the sole manufacturer of new Egli bikes. He currently operates a dealership that will repair or restore your older Vincent, or sell you a ‘new’ bike in the spirit of 60s Egli-Vincent racers. Today, he offers two variants, a “Cafe Racer” and a “Sport GT”, both of which utilize an engine with Black Shadow specifications. This example was built by Patrick and was exhibited at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. The original Rapide enigne has apparently been bumped up to Shadow specifications.
3. 1968 Lynton 500cc – estimated to sell between $29,500-$32,200. The only one produced, this Lynton is restored and said to be running. It was built by Colin Lyster with two cylinders from a Hillman Imp engine and a 4 valve DOHC cylinder head. It’s been very difficult to find information on it, but according to this site, the project was abandoned due to a lack of funds. Colin Lyster was one of a handful of Brits that made a name for himself by building motorcycle frames for racing and quick street usage.
4. 1981 Suzuki GS1100E Turbo – estimated to sell between $10,991 and $12,284. For a few years, Honda ruled the market with their CBX. But in the early 80s, Suzuki introduced the GS1100E and overnight, it was the bike of choice for the power hungry. Journalists were impressed not just with the power, but also the surprising handling abilities for such a large bike. The shame for Suzuki was that this gem was introduced as the motorcycling market was plummeting, so sales were disappointing, at best. This example was stored for 31 years and it shows just 381 miles on the odometer. It was restored, given a turbo thanks to Jack O’Malley from Orient Express Racing, shared in a few mags, and then put back into storage. The owner was Steve Tong, a former European drag race champion. He passed away four years ago and it looks like this bike has bounced around to a couple of new owners since.
5. 1957 NSU Sportmax Replica – estimated to sell between $8,400-$9,700. NSU built a series of privateer racers called the Sportmax, an evolution of the Max/Super Max 250cc production bikes. The real racers could put down about 30 horsepower, and big names like John Surtees and Mike Hailwood had great success with the model. In addition, Hermann-Paul Muller won the 250cc world championship on a Sportmax – again, a privateer bike and not a factory works racer! This example apparently started with a production engine and was then upgraded with “correct Sportmax components,” and it was raced in the 1950s by an Austrian racer named Horst Zimmerman.
For the complete list of bikes, click here.
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Chris Cope!