Pebble Beach Week is a financial powerhouse for US collector car auctions, as 4 big sales tease the wallets of well-heeled visitors from around the globe, each racking up mega-millions of dollars. The inclusion of motorcycles is a recent phenomenon at this week-long party, where the very very rich mingle with impecunious gearheads, oohing and aahing over impossible arrays of glittering vehicles, on the grassy golf courses of the
Quail Motorsports Gathering (Friday) and Pebble Beach (Sunday), the tarmac of the
Monterey Jet Center (Wed night), or the race track at Laguna Seca (all week). Smaller shows crop up all over the Carmel area for Italian cars, Lemons, one-make clubs, etc...plus invite-only events at the sumptuous part-time homes of a few 'local' billionaires, which have aspirational climbers greasing elbows and cozying up to the
right people at cocktail parties, hoping for an invite.
Motorcycles have always been part of
Gordon McCall's Jet Center Party and
Quail Motorsports Gathering, and were accepted
on the lawn at Pebble Beach just 3 years ago. Bonhams began adding a few bikes to their car sale at Quail Lodge, while MidAmerica has pitched a tent of motorcycles at the Pebble automobilia garden since bikes have been allowed on 17-Mile Drive (for the week only, mind you; the rest of the year they're
verboten). Mecum had what looked like a disastrous sale of motorcycles last year, but are back at it with the 71-MV Agusta collection of Gary Kohs, being sold as a single lot.
This year Bonhams is laying out an incredible spread of machines at the
Quail Lodge on August 16th, worthy of, or even better than their top sale at Stafford, which has kept Bonhams at the #1 spot for many years. After recently announcing they'd secured the long-coveted 'Eddie Rickenbacker' collection of early machines, it became clear the Quail sale would be more than 'merely' a 3-Crocker affair.
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| How about a 1945 Kettenkrad? Using a 1500cc Opel engine, they're simple to drive, with a 50mph top speed, capacity to climb 25degree hills with ease... and with rubber tracks, they are street legal in the USA! The possibilities are intriguing. This example is in apparently original-paint condition, and in excellent mechanical shape. |
To the Crockers and
'Rickenbackers', Bonhams has added plenty of other significant motorcycles, like a genuine ex-Works 'Rob North' BSA triple racer, a '37 Brough Superior SS100, 1952 Vincent Black Shadow, a 1928 Windhoff 4-cylinder, an ex-Otis Chandler 1920 'White Mars' A20, a barn-find 1910 Pierce 4 in incredible condition, even a 1945 Kettenkrad...all of which are expected to drift into 6-figure territory. It will be an exciting sale to watch...
check out the catalog here. |
| The 1920 Mars A20 was a sophisticated and expensive big twin, with a 956cc flat-twin engine made by Maybach. |
10:17 PM
Posted in: Auctions, Bonhams, brough superior, BSA, Crocker, Motosacoche, Pebble Beach, Quail Motorcycle Gathering, Von Dutch, Windhoff
