The Raz Report: 28th Annual Vintage and Antique Motorcycle Auction - Las Vegas

view full size image click here ... photograph by ... The first Las Vegas motorcycle auction was held 27 years ago with only 177 motorcycles all from U.S. sellers. I first heard of this event in 2007 and attended the 17th Annual Mid-America Antique Motorcycle Auction in January 2008 as a spectator, and what a great SHOW it was! In fact I was so impressed that I returned for the 18th Annual Mid-America Antique Motorcycle Auction in January 2009 as a bidder, however, I did not bring a motorcycle home, the motorcycles I was interested in buying, a 1965 Bonneville T120R, were selling for 12 to 15 thousand dollars - more than I was willing to pay, but, the auction was a great SHOW again. Fast forward - in 2013 Mecum Auctions bought Mid-America Auctions. Fast forward - Sharon's cousin from Indiana visited us for a few weeks during the summer of 2017 and the subject of the annual auction in Las Vegas came up and he said the motorcycles I was interested in were selling for 2, 3 and 4 thousand dollars... golly... I could afford to buy at that price, might buy two, and so I made plans to attend the 2018 auction: hotel reservations, SUV rental reservation, and review and compile of a list of the consigned motorcycles on Mecum's website (mecum.com) which contained multiple photos and verbage for the consignments. The 28th Annual Vintage and Antique Motorcycle Auction, the WORLD's largest and best vintage motorcycle auction, was held over five days, from Tuesday, January 23rd through Saturday, January 27th. Sharon and I drove to Las Vegas on Sunday, the 20th and checked in to South Point Resort (SouthPointCasino.com) where it all happens, and which, by the way, has a well equipped fitness center in case you want to work out, and I do. The plan was to spend Monday previewing all the consignments, however, "bidders" were not allowed admittance until Tuesday, so, we spent the day going to Hover Dam, usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam, and taking the WHOLE dam tour including inside the dam where the generators are and walking the tunnels that provide air circulation for the workers (and visitors) where we occasionally observed "seepage" - not "leakage" - in fact we were told to not use the "L" word. Tuesday morning we signed in at the auction registration in the conference center and got our reserved seats (FRONT ROW!). There were no Trumpets in the lot numbers for Tuesday so I began previewing and photographing the almost 2,000 motorcycles which were organized sequentially by lot numbers and by days and talking to other attendees - some were not so happy with the auction since Mecum took over as there was a lot of junk now (basket cases, wrecks, Japanese motorcycles), however, the Mecum auctioneers made a valid point: "there is something here for everyone regardless of how much you have to spend." I only got through Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday's consignments before the convention center closed. Bonhams, Bonhams.com/Vegas, was having an auction open to the public at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, viewing on Wednesday, bidding on Thursday, so, Wednesday morning we jet over to the Rio - no "junk" here - everything here was better than concourse, and I suspect bidders would have to have deep deep deeeeep pockets, never the less, a really nice "show." Then back to South Point to look over the rest of Friday and Saturday's consignments, and then... on to the auction. The two auctions that I previously attended in 2007 and 2008 were Thursday, Friday, Saturday events and Sharon found them boring and spent time gambling; however, Mecum's event was not boring at all, rather, it was interesting and entertaining, for example, in the middle of bidding on a motorcycle there was a long downtime as staff worked on a communication problem with the phones (bids also come in over phone lines and over the internet) and the auctioneer says "sooooo, this bear goes into a bar and tells the barkeep he wants a gin... ... ... ... ... ... and tonic, and the barkeep asks the bear 'why the big pause?' and the bear replies 'I got them from my dad.'" A 3 cylinder Suzuki with shiny blue and white paint and very shiny chrome exhaust pipes was up for auction and this kid about 8 to 10 years old walks right up to the stage and is checking the bike out... the auctioneer leans over the podium and says "Hey kid! Do you like that bike?" Kid nods yes... Auctioneer says "tell your dad." Later when the bidding slows and the kid is up with his dad, the auctioneer says "Hey Kid!... you might want to throw a fit or something." How about a little auction verbage on a slow sell: "Lot S3.1 is a 1991 Harley-Davidson XL883 Road Racer asking 5 thousand 5 5 5 THOUSAND 1 bid 2 2 2 THOUSAND ... how many of you have never been to a live Mecum Auction? - raise your hand - have 2 3 4 30 thousand ... it just never gets old ... 1 thousand bid NOW 2 NOW 2 NOW 2 NOW 3 NOW 3 NOW 3 ... LAST AND FINAL CALL, ANYBODY ELSE?... [BANG] SOLD 2 THOUSAND" Well, over the remainder of the time there were a lot of 60's and 70's Trumpets that were "sprinkled" through out the lots, and, many other motorcycles I find interesting, Harley, Indian, Vincent, Ducati, BMW, Buell, Velocette, Matchless, BSA, Royal Enfield, Ariel, Moto Guzzi, Norton, Excelsior Henderson, Pope, Thor, and some I am not interested in Bultaco, Penton, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, and many types of motorcycles, basket case, wrecked ("with significant damage"), not restored with "nice patina," restored and better than concourse, board track, dirt track, sport bikes, cruisers, full dressers, trikes and side hacks. Bikes from shows (the 1946 knuck from Sons of Anarchy, a replica "Captain America" from Easy Rider, the wrecked police bike from Terminator 3), and famous people like Steve McQueen, and from famous racers. Perhaps there has been an upswing in the economy since last year's auction, but, the bikes I was most interested in were mostly in the 12 to 15 thousand range in 2008 (more than I wanted to pay), and now, mostly in the 12 to 15 thousand range (still more than I want to pay), which doesn't seem to me to be a great investment, so still more than I want to pay, although there was one that sold for $2,500, black with flames. a lot of Harleys and Indians sold for as much as $50,000 to $100,000, to $150,000 and highest bid at the auction was $1,900,000 for the Henderson brand but did not reach the $3,000,000 reserve. More auction verbage during a slow sell: "... how many of you have a bidder number and have not bought a bike yet? - raise your hand - 3 thousand ... it just never gets old..." There was a panel discussion after the Tuesday auction. One topic was tax consequences of collector motorcycles and why it was better to let your kid inherit a collector motorcycle rather than give it to him while you're still sucking air and have him be liable for capital gains later when he sells it. Another topic was about the influx of Japanese motorcycles in the set of collector motorcycles because a lot of the people bidding now had them when they were young and still have an affinity for them, an affinity for them indeed - many Hondas and even some 2-stroke Japanese bikes were selling for as much as 30 thousand dollars, surprisingly to me, about twice what the Trumpets were selling for! Some more auction verbage with 5 people bidding: "Lot S143 is a 1949 Harley-Davidson FL Panhead - lets start at 10 thousand - 10 thousand - do I have 10 thousand? - how about 5 thousand? - 5 thousand - 3 thousand? - 2 thousand? - 1 thousand? - 2 - now 3 - now 4 - now 5 - now 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 15 5 - 16 - 16 5 - 17 - 17 5 - 18 - 18 5 - 18 7 50 - HANDS IN THE AIR! - bid is 18 7 50 - 19 19 19 - 19 2 50 - asking 19 2 50 - LETS GO! LETS GO! LETS GO! - 19 2 50 bid 19 5 19 5 19 5 GOTTA GO! GOTTA GO! GOTTA GO! - bid is 19 5 19 5 19 5 asking 20 20 thousand TWENTY TWENTY TWENTY... (looking at a bidder) YOU'RE OUT (looking at another bidder) YOU'RE OUT (looking at another bidder) YOU'RE OUT (looking at another bidder) YOU'RE ALL OUT (looking at high bidder) MECUM RULE - you bid 19 5 - the reserve is on and no one else is willing to bid - the reserve is 20 thousand - if you will raise your bid to 20 thousand then I will bang the gavel, close the bidding and you win the bid, will you raise your bid? [affirmative sign-BANG!] SOLD TWENTY THOUSAND." Auction results are on Mecum's website. The next Mecum motorcycle auction in Las Vegas is June 1st and 2nd (only expected to have 600 consignments), or, just wait for the big one next January! The era is gone forever, fortunately the motorcycles remain. KNUCKLEHEADS FOREVER! Article and photos contributed by Russell "Raz" Holder view full size image click here ... Largest of 3 consignment corrals, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot T205 1974 Triumph Trident, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F277 1966 Pannonia T250 with Sidecar, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F69 1961 Victoria Model 115, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F161 1946 Harley-Davidson EL Knucklehead - clubhouse bike from Sons of Anarchy, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Bonham auction in the Amazon Ballroom at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Bonham auction in the Amazon Ballroom at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino DSC_8993_02, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot T123 Islo Motocarro Three-Wheeler, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot T211 1969 Indian MM5A 50 Auto, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F92.1 1913 Excelsior Twin with Sidecar, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F126 1985 Kawasaki SR250 Jeff Ward, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F132 Captain America Chopper, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot S55 1945 Harley-Davidson EL, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot F264 1966 Triumph Bonneville, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot S100 1969 Honda CB750, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot S173 Excelsior-Henderson Brand, photograph by Russell Holder view full size image click here ... Lot S203 1917 Harley-Davidson J, photograph by Russell Holder