Let’s all thank reader David N, who went out to this year’s Mecum Harrisburg auction (I previewed it here) and took the time to share his experience, which includes the acquisition of the three bikes you see above!
Last year’s Mecum Harrisburg motorcycle auction may have been a success from a sales standpoint, but I left disappointed. It was more of a raucous event and less of a motorcycle auction. So I thought I would not return this year.
This photo typifies the offered variety. The Mustang Pony in the foreground brought $4500. That’s a GPZ750 in the middle. There is an original Katana in there somewhere and of course the usual number of classic Harleys were offered.
But I could not stay away. Yes, I came back. This year’s auction offered so much more variety. The gaggles of original paint Harleys and special edition Sportsters were replaced with modern sporting classics from Japan and Europe. I hoped to score this first year Water Buffalo complete with its four shoe front drum brake. It would have looked great next to my 1975 RE5 Rotary.
This 1972 Suzuki GT750 Water Buffalo (restored) sold for a whopping $7500 + a 10% buyer’s premium. That’s roughly twice the price of any nice 73-75 front disc brake model, quite the premium for the twin leading shoe brake, but it was darn nice!
I was smarter this year. I arrived later, not in time for the 8:30am opening and I remembered to bring cash for the $8.00 parking. It burns me that my $100 bidder’s fee does not include parking, but the parking lot was emptier. I drove right up and parked by the door. That’s cool.
The organizers were smarter too! They moved the auction’s starting time back and they started on time. They did not blast us away with their loud music. I like time to ruminate with the bikes, just me and the bikes. It was all good.
The auction started with a few little pieces of junk, neon lights and signs, perhaps made in China. Boring, but they needed to warm up the crowd. I understood.
The crowd warmed up slowly. The first few lots were reasonably, if not under, bid. A like new 2006 Whizzer brought $600. A nice NC50 Honda Express brought $800. An unrestored early Goldwing brought $500. Those are Kymco scooter prices! Toss in a $500 minimum buyer’s premium though, and any bargain disappears.
However, one lot can change an auction’s demeanor. And here, that lot was this supercharged 73 Norton Commando. It opened all wallets. The hammer fell at $18,000 plus an $1800 buyer’s premium. That’s nearly $20K! From that point, the money kept flowing.
A Drouin supercharger adds a lot of ponies to an old Norton. If I owned it, I’d be afraid to start it. It might blow up!
Editor’s note: For those of you looking for more information on the Drouin supercharger, check out this site or peruse this scanned article from the December 1976 issue of Street Chopper that shows installation of the kit.
Nicely restored unit-engine Bonnevilles were bringing $13K-16K. Pre-unit Triumph twins were bringing low to mid-20s. Most were unsold.
This 41 Knucklehead EL went unsold for $65,000. The 41 Indian Four (below) went unsold for $75K. I dreamed!
A lot of bikes were missing. I did not see the 1982 Honda CB1100R, (lot U37) – Abhi’s number 5 preview. I did not see the 1980 Z1 (lot U55), 1979 CB750F (lot U56), the 79 HD FLH with matching sidecar (lot U52), the 84 Honda NS250R (lot U74). Many advertised bikes were simply not there, which limited my expected variety, but there were plenty other bikes there to keep me interested.
The remainder of Abhi’s top five picks were there. Abhi’s top pick, this 52 Triumph Thunderbird (below) drag bike sold for $19,000. The Rupp Black Widow went for $3100. The 1992 Harley so-called Street Tracker went unsold for $7,000. Gosh it was ugly! Gary Lanyon’s 17th place Daytona factory BSA road racer was no-saled at $28,000.
This 10.50 second record setting 1/4 miler run by then 14 year old Bobby Sirkegian begs to have a street replica!
This 2002 Bourget Chopper brought only a $5500 high bid. Weren’t these 60K bikes when new? There is a lesson there!
This 1971 original paint FLH sold for $13,000. The 65 Cushman Eagle Senior Grand National Winner in front of it brought $8750. The Bimota will be sold at Monterey.
This 1990 ZX7 brought $5750, which may foreshadow the upcoming market for classic sport bikes.
The great variety this year meant there was something for everyone, and not everything was over-priced. I scored this 2001 Moto Guzzi California North Carolina Cop bike. It sold for near the price of a base California. I don’t know what I might do with it, but I couldn’t pass it up.
There was no premium for the working police package on this 2001 Moto Guzzi. While it had been offered elsewhere on the Internet for crazy money, it sold here with no reserve.
The American Pickers like to say, they broke the ice. Maybe that works in reverse, because along with the Guzzi, I bought this self-exploding Ducati 500. Well, the regular 500 Ducati twins tend to fail but I don’t know about the Desmo powered Sport. It’s a different motor. I just thought it would look cool next to my Moto Morini 3 ½, a pint size Italian theme. And yes, the MZ Silver Star went home with me too. Then I had to stop!
The author shows off his new Bike-urious t-shirt.
I learned a few things as a new Mecum buyer. I was always aware of the 10% buyer’s premium but I missed the fine print. There was $500 minimum premium. The difference in my case was not a big deal, but had I bought a $600 Whizzer, I would have been pissed at a $500 premium. Add to that an $85 per unit “processing fee” and the $100 registration; there are reasons not to bid high. It chills the bidding, especially for the proletarian bikes.
This 1975 RD250 could not meet the reserve at $1700. The high bid was $1600. While the difference was only $100, I’ll blame the $500 minimum buyer’s premium and $85 processing fee. Your $1700 bike will cost you $2285, a 35% premium over bid price. (Add sales tax, tags and title fees, and the hole deepens!)
In sum, this was a very different bike auction from last year, which might mean that each auction is unique, but I’m not certain. I have not attended enough of these media-driven auctions to know. It was heartening to see modern classics included with the old time milestone bikes, which I hope may be a signal of the hobby to come. That said, the bidding was not as enthusiastic as it could have been, which might be in part because a 1975 Yamaha 200 is not a 1941 Indian 4. Their sale structure should not be the same. That’s something the organizers might work on.