[Engine roars]
So here we are in the main exhibition hall at the show where you'll find a fabulous collection of
club stands and individual entries into the concourse. Some beautiful machines.
Myself, I was very lucky to be invited to bring a couple of machines from our
collection here including this Series B HRD Meteor that is part of the Classic Motorcycle
Magazine stand which is celebrating 40 years of the publication 1981-2021.
One of my highlights of the show, 1938 speed twin. 5T it's actually come first in its class.
A lovely bike. Here we see on the board, we see what the bike was like and the full restoration.
Well done Brian, a fantastic evocative smell and sound.
So making this show even more special to me
being as that's our 40th anniversary is that I've brought along one of my own bikes
1928 Rex Acme TTA. Now this is the main reason that I became editor of the magazine and so
enthusiastic about old bikes. I saw this in the magazine when I was 11.
It was in 1990. I absolutely loved the bike. Over the years I got to know Pete
the owner, and then I was able to buy it from him in 2009 and I still own it today.
So here we have a truly fabulous example of a classic racing machine. It's a 1969 Rickman Metisse
framed bike with a Norton Commando 750 engine. It was raced back in 1969 by the legend that's Tony
Jefferies, and has been in family ownership for over 40 years. Recently restored to this incredible
condition that it's in now, regularly used for track days throughout the country.
It was actually built up on a whim really. Me and Neil had
seen a couple of sidecars so we decided that we hadn't seen any Manx Norton racing sidecars.
[Interviewer] So you built this from scratch? -We built this from scratch.
[Interviewer] So I guess you're the driver?
Definitely I'm the driver. This is Neil the passenger. [Interviewer] Neil, like to explain
how it felt to be a passenger? -Well I just fell asleep in the chair and enjoyed myself.
So here we are in one of three rooms dedicated to the Bonham's Auction this weekend. This is a
fabulous range of bikes on display. Everything from Pioneer machines from the early 1900s
right through to a Honda RC30 from 1989. So there's something for everyone in
here. In fact there are nearly 700 bikes going through the auction this weekend,
many of them with no reserve so there's some bargains in there if you want one.
[Engine roars]
[Interviewer] Okay Chuck so this is the latest version of the Rocket 3? -Yeah it's a 1006cc.
It's got the ceriani forks, the light and fairing, stroud crank, steel rods, cassette gear box.
The catch tanks built into the seat there to to vent onto the chain.
One of the real stars of the show at this auction has been the AJS Porcupine, a racing
machine from 1946. A twin cylinder 500cc Grand Prix machine
that is rarer than rare, and that fetched a phenomenal sum but it is a beautiful bike. Really famous and called the Porcupine
or nicknamed Porcupine because of its spiked fins either side of its double overhead cams
So here we have three superb examples of Brough Superiors on sale and offered by the National
Motorcycle Museum. They were part of their reserve collection and they're presented here today at
Bonhams. If Vincents are your favorite bike well you're going to be spoilt for choice here because
there's a large selection for sale including pre-war singles right through to Series C Black
Shadows. There's something for everyone.
So not to be confused with one of the Brough Superiors, this is a Brough, but was manufactured by George Brough's father
and it's a 1914 Model H flat fore and aft twin, again on offer from the National Motorcycle Museum.
There's always plenty of barn finds on offer as well and these two Bantam D1s are just perfect
examples of that. Great little projects right for restoration.
You don't find these very often.
BSA Gold Star DB34 500. Scrambler, called the Catalina. It's as it is, a lot of work but it's one that's
not been messed around with. Quite a find. Here's a challenge for you guys it's a 1950 Ambassador,
it's got Villiers engine it's probably something like a 197 but the other end
to the market from the Gold Star we looked at just now. You could restore this quite cheaply.
I'm here at Stafford, I've brought my own handmade pottery here and what I've done
is I've made some biker mugs with biker logos on them. [Interviewer] Josh I can't see a BSA mug.
-I do have one but the problem with the BSA ones is they all leak!
This has been our lockdown project for me and my dad. We've just about finished. We didn't
quite get it done in time for the show. I'm still missing a filler cap, speedo, one or two
other bits and pieces, but we're really nearly there. Hopefully in the next week or two
it'll be running and out and about and we'll be featuring it in the magazine.
The final part of the 15 will be us riding it.
So here we have a fabulous collection of BSA motorcycles that all belong to one exhibitor,
a guy called Angus. So Angus tell us about these. [Angus] Hello John so it all happened in 1977 when
I was at Salford University. I had a BSA Lightning at the time. I was a member of the BSA Owners Club
and one of the members had a grey framed 1971 BSA which I fell in love with, so I decided at
some point in my life I'd try and build a small collection of grey framers because I
just think that there are fascinating set of motorcycles from the 1971 BSA Power
Set that was called, hence the power.
So this is a particularly rare machine it's a large
thousand cc v-twin Hesketh Vampire, the fully faired version. Made by Lord Hesketh, he set up
this company in the late 70s early 80s made in very low volumes and yeah, very striking with
its two-tone copper and bronze paint, Reynolds 531 polished tube frame as well, it's a it's quite a unique machine.
Yes I've had a fantastic weekend. I bought a few things, I bid on the AJS Porcupine
for another client of mine, and I was the underbidder sadly, but that was very exciting.
[Engine roars]
Thank you! That was it using about seven or eight thousand of the twelve thousand that's available to it.
Well I'd like to say after eighteen months of lockdown to be able
to meet the public again and see some cheerful faces, happy faces. Mortons have put on this lovely
atmosphere with the band and the group and people have just picked up their spirits.
It's chatting face to face again with the public and getting [Interviewer] It's the interaction with people isn't it! -Oh yes interaction means a lot.
It's lovely to have so many people here it's been a real great result to see people,
and yeah, we're looking forward to the next show which is the 9th and 10th of October, this year,
and hopefully we'll back to full capacity.
[Dave] Yeah we've had a great day today at the bike show and some fantastic bikes. [John] Yeah we would like to say thank you to Bonhams
for allowing us to look around the auction rooms today and get up close to these fantastic machines
and to Mortons for inviting us to the show today. We can't wait to get back in October.