Bonhams

Rare Suzuki at Bonhams Auction to fetch £35,000

by Rob Hull from https://www.dailymail.co.uk A 34-year-old motorcycle with just TWO ‘Push Miles’ on the clock: Rare Suzuki road bike that’s never been ridden is tipped to sell for £35,000 The Suzuki RG500 Gamma is an ultra-rare two-stroke road bike from the 1980s It’s based on the factory 500cc Grand Prix racers of the era that won two titles This example has never been ridden with its two recorded miles accrued while being manoeuvred during storage Bonhams will sell it at auction this weekend with an estimate of £30k to £35k A late eighties Suzuki RG500 motorcycle is set to go under the hammer this weekend with an astonishingly low number of miles clocked in its 34 years – and none of them came from it being driven. The two-stroke road-going replica of the factory Grand Prix race machines of the era is already a hugely collectible motorbike today – but this particular example stands out for having just two miles on the clock. Bonhams, which is offering the bike at its 9 October sale at the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show in Stafford, says these are ‘push miles’ only, accrued by owners moving the bike around by hand – meaning it’s never actually been ridden. The auction house has estimated that the motorcycle could sell for between £30,000 and £35,000 – though its like-new condition and lack of use could see it easily eclipse that valuation when bidding commences on Saturday. Bonhams says it represents ‘a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire an unused and unregistered example of this iconic Suzuki model’. The RG500 ‘Gamma’ was only produced by the Japanese motorcycle brand for two years between 1985 and 1987 and was heavily based on the racing machine used by its factory team. And it was a title-winning package, with Italians […]

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Bonhams digital auction platform Expands into Europe

from https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/32734/ The Market by Bonhams digital auction platform is set to launch across Europe in September, marking the latest expansion for one of the leading and fastest-growing online marketplaces for classic and collectible car and motorcycle auctions. The Market by Bonhams EU launches for bids on Wednesday 8 September 2021, with the first sales closing on Wednesday 15 September 2021. It marks the latest development in Bonhams Motoring’s ‘always on’ motoring strategy which has a growing focus on daily online auctions. Since its conception in 2016, The Market has become one of the most successful market offerings, combining traditional auction practices on an innovative, exciting digital platform. Delivering industry-leading expertise across the platform’s premier digital offering, The Market has a proven track record for delivering results, service and quality. By expanding the platform internationally, The Market is meeting growing appetite and demand from buyers and sellers across Europe to reach a wider, more global audience. Launching The Market by Bonhams internationally marks a natural progression following the success of the platform in the UK. In 2020, The Market sold £10.6m of hammer value over 640 auctions, while in this current year in the UK, it is working successfully towards a hammer value of £20m. The Market has also had a sale rate of more than 90% for the last four years. In July 2021 the platform sold an ultra-rare metallic blue 1989 Ferrari F40, which had become a worldwide social media star, for a record-breaking £1,000,500, the first seven-figure result for an online platform in the UK and Europe. Users worldwide will be able to benefit from using the same platform that has been successfully deployed in the UK, with the added enhancement of the platform being translated in to multiple languages. All of the established benefits of The

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Bonhams Motorcycles Offers Ultra-Rare AJS Porcupine

from https://www.bonhams.com The Summer Sale The International Classic MotorCycle Show (Three-Day Auction) 2 – 4 Jul 2021 Stafford, Staffordshire County Showground 1940S RACING MOTORCYCLE LEADS SUMMER STAFFORD SALE An ultra-rare example of arguably the ‘Holy Grail’ of classic racing motorcycles – a 1940s AJS 497cc E90 ‘Porcupine’ Grand Prix racing motorcycle, previously owned by post-war AJS works rider Ted Frend, is being offered for the first time at auction in the Bonhams Summer Stafford Sale on 2 July. It has an estimate of £250,000 – 300,000. The E90’s reputation was made as the first motorcycle to win the 500cc World Championship in the series’ debut year of 1949, carrying Frend’s fellow works rider Les Graham to his (and AJS’s) first and only world title. Dubbed the Porcupine by the era’s motorcycle press due to its distinctive spiked ‘head’ finning, the E90 remains the sole twin-cylinder machine to have won world motorcycling’s flagship series. Just a handful of E90s were built by the British firm, purely for its works team. Ted Frend who had tasted earlier success earning a gold star at Brooklands having lapped its outer circuit at over 100mph on his Vincent-HRD Rapide, was signed up by AJS in 1947, thanks to a 4th place finish in that year’s Isle of Man TT. He was the first rider to win on the Porcupine at the 1947 Hutchinson 100 race. Development on the E90 continued over the next couple of years, while the motorcycle picked up 18 world speed records and a number of podium finishes before reaching its 1949 zenith. Graham won two of the six championship races, the Swiss and Ulster Grand Prix, securing the rider’s trophy, while teammate Bill Doran rode to victory in Belgium to ensure AJS’ manufacturer’s title. Despite its successes, the E90 was plagued

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Bonhams has acquired online auction site The Market

from https://www.bonhams.com London – Bonhams announces it has acquired The Market, one of the leading and fastest growing online marketplaces for classic and collectible car and motorcycle auctions. Founded in Oxfordshire in 2017, The Market has taken the industry by storm. In the last year, the company sold vehicles with a total value of £13 million and grew its turnover by almost 300% compared to the previous year. Its success lies in its technology, transparency, and customer service, which led to exceptional auction results: the company now sells an impressive 94% of lots offered for sale. The acquisition adds another dimension to Bonhams. Founded in 1793, and one of the oldest and most venerable international auction houses, it has salerooms in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Hong Kong. Its Motoring Division, headed by Maarten ten Holder, is the premier auction house for motor cars and has sold many of the legends of road, including the world’s oldest surviving Rolls-Royce. Maarten ten Holder, Managing Director of Bonhams Motoring, said: “This acquisition is a perfect fit for Bonhams and is happening at an exciting time in the car auction world. For the first time a classic car auctioneer will now offer cars at all price points, around the clock, to collectors wherever they are in the world.” Bruno Vinciguerra, Bonhams CEO, added: “Bonhams is renowned globally for its heritage and entrepreneurial spirit, its expertise, transparency, and great client service, and these are all qualities also at the heart of The Market’s operations. This combination will play to both our strengths and allow us to become even more accessible to a wider range of clients. I am very excited about the future.” Tim Joslyn, Founder of The Market, said: “I am delighted that Bonhams will be taking The Market to the

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Bonhams Motorcycles Kick Start 2021 with Return to Stafford

by Ben Walker from https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/31686/ The Summer Sale The International Classic MotorCycle Show (The Postponed Spring Sale) 3 – 4 Jul 2021 Stafford, Staffordshire County Showground The Gentleman’s Collection A selection of wonderfully restored Vincent-HRD’s consigned to the Spring Sale Following a successful year of sales at its Bicester Heritage base – with a 93 per cent sale rate – Bonhams Motorcycles is returning to Stafford for the first auction of 2021. The Summer Stafford Sale will take place on 3 and 4 July, in line with the rescheduled International Classic MotorCycle Show. Consignments are now invited to the auction to join early confirmed lots including two important collections, one of Italian sports bikes and the other a selection of classic Vincent-HRDs, the world’s fastest motorcycles of their time. THE RON CODY COLLECTION A selection of motorcycles offered from the Ron Cody Collection Well-known in MV Agusta club circles, the late Ron Cody, a former sports car racer and engineer, turned to his passion for building up and restoring his collection of Italian machines as a retirement hobby. This collection offers 48 motorcycles, with many examples of MV Agustas as well as other Italian marques. Highlights include: 1964 MV AGUSTA 150CC RAPIDO SPORT, £3,000 – 4,000 Like their larger siblings, the small MVs were very expensive, costing as much as a British 500, which explains why so few of these exquisitely engineered little motorcycles were sold in the UK. This 150 Rapido Sport displays a total of only 125 kilometres on the odometer since restoration. 1953 MV AGUSTA 125CC TEL ‘SPORT COMPETIZIONE’, £4,000 – 6,000 With superb engineering compared with any British contemporary, the MV Agusta’s 125cc TEL ‘stroker’ of 1949 was powered by a neat unitary construction single-cylinder engine which, somewhat unusually for a post-war design, featured detachable transfer

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New Auction World Records Set at Successful Bonhams Motorcycles Winter Sale

from https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/31428/ The Winter Sale including The National Motorcycle Museum Reserve Collection – Bicester Heritage 11 – 12 Dec 2020 Bicester, Bicester Heritage Offered from the National Motorcycle Museum Collection,1936 Brough Superior 982cc SS100 Registration no. VD 6582 Frame no. M1/1661 Engine no. BS/X 1001 £3 MILLION TOTAL REALISED WITH 92 PER CENT SELL-THROUGH RATE 1936 Brough Superior 982C SS100 from the National Motorcycle Museum Reserve Collection, SOLD for £276,000 Two world auction records for a Sunbeam and Norton F1 motorcycle were set over the weekend at the successful Bonhams Motorcycles Winter Sale at Bicester Heritage, which realised more than £3 million and had an impressive sell-through rate of 92 per cent. A 1928 Sunbeam 493cc TT Model 90 Racing Motorcycle, which had raced at Pendine Sands, powered through its top estimate of £24,000 selling for £41,400, while a 21,188-mile 1990 Norton F1, the roadster inspired by the sporting partnership with John Player Special, made £40,250, both setting new world auction records. However, the name dominating the sale was Brough Superior, with no fewer than five examples featuring in the sale’s top ten, led by a highly original 1936 Brough Superior 982cc SS100, bearing the earliest engine number in a production model, which sold for £276,000. All three machines were offered direct from the National Motorcycle Museum’s Reserve Collection, an exclusive selection of 52 British motorcycles – and motorcycle-related cars – presented on the first day of the two-day sale. A brace of 1937 Brough Superiors offered from The Connoisseur Collection – comprising blue-chip examples from the estate of a late motorcycle enthusiast – also featured in the sale’s top ten, a 982cc SS80 and a 1,096cc 11-50hp which both exceeded their top pre-sale estimates selling for £73,600 and £71,300 respectively. The Connoisseur Collection also offered an example of one

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