auction
November 22nd, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
San Francisco – Bonhams is extremely pleased to announce that it has been entrusted to represent what is regarded as one of the most important collections of motorcycles to come to market in years. From the prominent American family Du Pont, a name synonymous with a chemical empire, a luxury automobile manufacturer, and Indian motorcycle – America’s first motorcycle company, is a private museum collection three generations in the making.
Offered for the very first time, the collection of nearly 50 vintage motorcycles spanning 70 years of history contains many important and impressive machines, a good number of them Indian.
As an investor of the Indian Motocycle (sic) Company since 1923, Eleuthere Paul du Pont took over the ailing company in 1929 and helped usher in one of the most successful eras – financially, competitively, technologically and stylistically – in Indian’s history. As a result of this, the Du Pont family collection contains numerous Indian models – many of which were restored at Indian’s Springfield, Mass. factory – such as Camelback, Singles, Twins, Board Track Racer, Prince, Scout, Chief and Four, not to mention the following noteworthy individuals:
- A completely untouched, original condition circa 1903 Indian Camelback
- 1908 Indian Camelback with an early restoration by the Indian factory
- 1908 Indian Twin restored by the factory and displayed at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia
- An extremely rare original paint 1909 Pope Single
- Circa 1915 Indian Twin Board Track Racer acquired in the 1950s
- What is believed to be the last Indian Chief supplied to a dealer
Additionally, some notable British motorcycles are included such as a 1951 Vincent Black Shadow with just 3,000-odd miles from new and a believed ex-Francis Beart 1959 Norton Manx, as well as numerous Triumph models. In all, the Du Pont family collection includes the following marques from America, Europe and Japan: BSA, Ducati, Gilera, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Indian, Merkel, Ner-A-Car, Norton, Peugeot, Pope, Scott, Simplex, Stephens, Suzuki, Triumph, Vincent and Yamaha.
The Du Pont Museum Collection will be offered at the second annual Bonhams Las Vegas Motorcycle Sale on January 12th, inside the famous Auto Collections museum at the Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino on The Strip.
With limited opportunity still available, owners interested in consigning an important motorcycle(s) to this sale may call 415-391-4000 or e-mail motors.us@bonhams.com. Alternatively, for the nearest international representative, please visit bonhams.com/usa/motorcycles.
October 11th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
A chase car used by London’s Metropolitan Police to curb the enthusiasm of “road hogs and ton-up hooligans” nearly 50 years ago, will come under the hammer at an upcoming auction by Historics at Brooklands on Saturday October 22nd.
Just as the world began to breathe again after the resolution to the Cuban missile crisis, on 1st November 1962 Scotland Yard took delivery of a powerful law enforcement weapon of its own, in the shape of 670 ELL, a jet black, right-hand drive, 130mph soft-top Daimler SP250.
Mindful of the deterrent effect, the car was first demonstrated to the public on the streets of London before starting its patrol duties – hood down with fully uniformed officers on board.
Recognising that their normal patrol cars weren’t a match for 100mph speeders and getaway cars of the day, police drivers relished the performance of their new, foot-down acquisition. The Daimler’s 2.5 litre V8 engine developed 140bhp, fed through an automatic gearbox, complete with a cable-operated device that enabled intermediate gears to be held longer whilst on the chase. Read the rest of this entry »
October 10th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Time to slick back your hear and track down your greaser leather jacket because the famous 1949 Triumph Trophy TR5 Scrambler motorcycle ridden by The Fonz in the television hit series Happy Days is up for sale.
The custom Triumph will be one of the highlights at the upcoming Los Angeles based Bonhams’ Classic California Sale.
Happy Days, the well known American sitcom aired for ten years from 1974 to 1984 and attracted millions of viewers each week, helped launched the career of such actors as Ron Howard, Scott Baio and Henry Winkler. Winkler’s character, Arthur Fonzarelli – known famously as The Fonz and Fonzie – was initially just a secondary character that became so popular with fans he was soon made the central figure of the show. As the epitome of cool, the motorcycle-loving Fonzie became an American cultural icon and Fonzie’s motorcycle, a customized Triumph, was owned off-screen by another cultural icon, Bud Ekins. Read the rest of this entry »
October 7th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Concept cars are often a big deal one minute and have disappeared the next, but what happens to these forward-focused machines. Sometimes they are pulled apart, mostly they are hidden away in the huge archive style garages of carmakers but very occasionally they are offered up for auction.
While not a recent concept by any means the BMW Spicup found its way into private ownership and has recently been auctioned by Bonhams at a German event. The Spicup concept was first unveiled by Bertone at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show and unlike many concepts was built to be driven. It was based on the chassis of a BMW 2000 CS and powered by a 2.5-litre inline six-cylinder engine. It’s unclear what happened to it directly after the show but some years later it was acquired by a Dutch owner who drove it around regularly, but then the concept car disappeared for a couple of decades. Read the rest of this entry »
October 6th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
For two-wheel enthusiasts, NZ auction house Webb’s is holding a Classic Motorcycle auction on 19th October with previewing starting this Friday (Oct 7th).
The auction is attracting local and international interest and follows a similar successful event held in March. Once again Webb’s Managing Director Neil Campbell has gathered some truly historic works of industrial design, spanning more than 100 years of New Zealand motorcycling history.
From the remarkably original 1905 Minerva, coming with its original purchase receipt and three generations of family history, to the Grand Prix raced Bultaco direct from the legendary New Zealand race pilot Ginger Molloy’s lifetime collection. Another extremely rare race bike is the 1975 RG500 XR14. The XR14 was made famous by Barry Sheene who won 3 World Championships. Read the rest of this entry »
September 20th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
The annual Renegade Rod and Custom Club SPCA Charity day is set to go down this Sunday September 25th.
The event is a great way to involve the whole family, as well as support the SPCA through various auctions that take place. Last years event saw many car owners taking home a new pet or two, and organisers have requested no dogs be taken to the event this year.
This year, any persons that donate a gold coin will receive a numbered ticket for spot prizes and a change to win $250 in cash.
There will be plenty of hot rods, dragsters and street machines on display, click here to see photos from last year’s event. Read the rest of this entry »
September 7th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Collectors of TV and movie cars have something to get excited about with news that both the original Pink Panther car and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang are going to auction.
The sale on October 14 will be the second time the striking Panthermobile has been to auction. The custom model was created by famous movie car designer Jay Ohrberg in 1969 for the Pink Panther TV show that ran till 1976. Ohrberg is the designer behind iconic screen cars like K.I.T.T., the Back to the Future DeLorean, the General Lee, the Ford Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch as well as Batmobiles from both 1966 and 1989.
The Panthermobile is in original condition and according to its seller requires some restoration. It’s not street legal but is still expected to fetch between £50,000 and £100,000. Read the rest of this entry »
August 31st, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Last month we brought you news of an American man who created the world’s only turbine-engined Batmobile replica (read news). It’s an amazing machine that’s entirely impractical and exists only to help play out the boyhood fantasies of its owner and creator Casey Putsch. But now, Putsch is done with his much-loved Batmobile and has put it up for sale on eBay Motors.
The Batmobile has a shape made famous by the earlier Keaton-era Batman movies and is powered by the same Boeing turboshaft engine found in the likes of a U.S Navy drone helicopter. The price tag is a very heavy $620,000 USD, that’s a lot of money to play dress ups.
For the huge outlay you get a hugely unpractical machine with power output of 287kW and a 1,270kg kerb weight. Will your neighbours hate you when you fire the beast up every morning before work? Yes, it will be obnoxiously loud. But it’s not always easy being the caped crusader. Read the rest of this entry »
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