Post Sale Update: This Ner-A-Car sold for $20,100.01 after 18 bids on eBay. Designed by Carl Neracher in 1918, the Ner-A-Car was sold as a cheap automobile alternative. Approximately 10,000 were built and sold in the US, and another 6,500 were built and sold in England under license. The step-through design and bodywork kept riders clean, allowing them to wear …
Unexpected Motor – 1986 Porsche 928S Powered Trike
Porsche has gotten involved in motorcycle engine design before – they were brought on to help develop the Revolution motor for Harley-Davidson’s V-Rod back in 2002. That liquid-cooled motor developed a very non-Harley number of 120 horsepower, and that might be what inspired the creator of this crazy build to build a trike around a different Porsche motor – the …
Impressive Clone – 1971 Rupp Black Widow
Rupp Industries was based in Mansfield, Ohio, and for nearly 20 years they were able to compete with Honda and other Japanese manufacturers for a share of the lucrative mini bike market. Their top-of-the-line competition bike was the Black Widow, which was based on the Roadster/2. This example is also based on the Roadster, because it’s unfortunately only a replica.
Harley Trunk – 1939 GouldCar
Post Listing Update: This GouldCar did not meet reserve with 14 bids up to $1,025. James Goulding founded the Goulding Sidecar Manufacturing Company in Australia but he debuted his offerings in the US in the year 1920 with a 12,000-mile journey around America with one of his sidecars attached to a 1917 Harley-Davidson Model J. He made a lot of …
Unexpected Flat Tracker – 1956 Indian Woodsman/Tomahawk
Between 1955 and 1960, Indians sold in the US were actually re-branded Royal Enfields. It was the idea of an English company called Brockhouse Engineering (you may remember that they created the adorable Corgi) who owned the Indian trademark at the time. They thought they could capitalize on the goodwill of the Indian brand by selling some Brit bikes, and …
Hooligan Tracker – 1993 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200
Racing components aren’t cheap, nor is race tuning, track fees, or any of the other myriad expenses involved in amateur competition. Buying a used pre-built race machine can be a great way to save a lot of money when getting into racing, so long as it’s in good shape and has been well cared for. Here we have a 1993 …
Modern Board Tracker – Derringer Cycle
Back in 2011, Adrian Van Anz introduced the world to the Derringer Cycle, a hip, 49cc, board-track style scoot capable of reaching 35mph and traversing up to 300 miles on a 1.8 gallon tank. Van Anz says the DC was a product born out of him “trying to come up with something that filled the gap between my Schwinn and …
Mono-Body “Midi-Bike” – 1970 Muskin El Gato
The Muskin El Gato is one funky little scoot. Muskin Corp was aiming to nab a piece of the then-increasingly lucrative small-displacement trail bike market. The company’s strategy was to create a truly unique machine that would stand out from the crowd of other mini offerings and regardless of Muskin’s success, it’s hard to deny the efficacy of said strategy. …
Ride for Kids Raffle – Honda CB1100 Custom
12-25-2017 Update: Merry Christmas. The seller has withdrawn this bike from sale as “the builder says he is bummed that I am selling it so cheap.” 12-24-2017 Update: Back in July I told you about this CB1100 that was being raffled off to benefit the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The 75-year old winner of the raffle says he’s happier on …
Alternate Laverda Project – 1971 American Eagle Renegade 150
Post Listing Update: The BIN was lowered to $999 but that still wasn’t enough to entice anyone to pick up this rare Laverda project. As you’ll note in the comments, however, afterwards one of John McCormack’s sons bought this American Eagle! I’ve featured a few American Eagle models in the past – the brand was John McCormack’s attempt at importing …
Rare Project – 1973 Alouette AX125
Post Sale Update: This AX125 sold for $1,026 after 5 bids on eBay. Marketed as “The Multi-Purpose Motorcycle”, the AX125 was an idea that made sense on paper – Alouette was a Canadian snowmobile manufacturer that decided they should also sell dirt bikes so that there dealerships would have products to sell and maintain when there wasn’t snow on the …
1 of 50 – 2017 Indian Scout FTR750
After over 6 decades away from professional flat track racing, Indian Motorcycle Racing dominated everyone in the 2017 American Flat Track (AFT) Championship, securing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the overall standings. AFT rules stipulate that the motors used in competition have to be based on production designs, so Indian created a limited run of 50 Scout FTR750s for homolgation …
Restomod Italimerican – 1970 Harley-Davidson Sprint SS350
In response to the sales success of smaller Japanese bikes in the 1960’s, Harley-Davidson formed a plan to offer a new small-displacement machine to compete as its own small-engined Hummer model left a lot to be desired. Around this same time Aermacchi was interested in focusing more resources on its aeronautical division and allowed Harley to grab a 50 percent …
1972 Penton Berkshire 100
Post Sale Update: This Penton sold for $4,200 after 43 bids on eBay. John Penton and KTM started their partnership with the 125 ISDT Six Days, and once it became obvious that the two companies had some financial potential, they expanded the lineup to offer multiple displacements. The smallest of the offerings was the 100cc Berkshire.
Rare Trike Project – Muskin Tri-Cat
Based out of Colton, California, the HPE Muskin Cement Corporation specialized in pool construction but when the minibike craze took off in the US they decided they could also make some money with small vehicles. I’ve featured a few examples of their most common product, El Gato