Vintage Bike Blowout

VINTAGE BIKE BLOWOUT

ROUNDUP

THE AUTOKRAFT COLLECtion-101 bikes in all, including five KTT Velocettes, four Manx Nortons, four AJS 7Rs and 20 speedway machines-recently went under the gavel at the RAF Museum in Hendon, England.

Under the wings of Tiger Moths and Spitfires, 600 dealers, private collectors, museum owners and restorers gathered to bid against absentee buyers telephoning from the U.S. and Japan. Potential purchasers far exceeded the anticipated attendance, with latecomers hastily ushered to an “overflow” hall. Based in hangars at Brooklands during its 1980s peak, Autokraft (maker of the AC Cobra MkIV sports car) owned more than 200 mainly competition-oriented machines, which it proudly displayed for selective cognoscenti. Prior to the company’s financial demise, most of the bikes had been expensively-albeit not always authentically-refurbished. Thus, leftovers from the original inventory, now controlled by Price Waterhouse Coopers, were anxiously anticipated.

As expected, a trio of Vincents took top dollar. A modified Black Lightning sold for $42,600, and a pair of 500cc Grey Flash Singles, in both race and street trim, went for $39,800 and $37,950, respectively. The biggest surprise, however, was the supposed ex-works TT 1914 Royal Enfield 350cc V-Twin that fetched $29,600, nearly twice what was expected. The aforementioned KTT, Manx and 7R racers brought between $13,500-20,000 apiece.

At close of day, only five lots remained unsold. One famous ex-competitor, who popped for an off-road classic that he’d regrettably sold 17 years earlier, summed up the event as “the most interesting sale since Steve McQueen’s in Las Vegas.”

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