If the R6 I featured last week wasn’t expensive enough for you, here’s an even older BMW with a bigger asking price: a cool quarter of a million! Here’s a rare opportunity to acquire a R32 – the first motorcycle model built by BMW.
The R32 was built between 1923 and 1926, and the 494cc twin was good for 8.5 horsepower. 3,090 were built and Bonhams estimates that approximately 60 R32s are still known to exist. Speedometers were optional but you didn’t even get a choice with the front brake, at least in the first year of production.
Years ago I featured the collection of Peter Nettersheim, who happens to own EIGHT of these bikes, including the lowest-production number of them all, #22. Check out this Picture Intermission to see the oldest BMW in existence (and some other incredible stuff) if you’re so inclined.
This example is #3588 and it’s well presented – you can even see a video of it getting fired up and ridden in Europe here:
The seller states that it’s been ridden and evaluated by both MAX BMW as well as Yesterday’s Motorcycles in Holland (a place I’m hoping to check out in February so I’ll be asking for recommendations in the Netherlands soon!) It has 4,299 kilometers (2,671 miles) and it’s pretty impressive that it is still fully operational. If it doesn’t sell on eBay soon, the seller is taking it to Mecum Las Vegas at the end of the month.
Find this R32 for sale in New Milford, Connecticut at MAX BMW for $258,000 or best offer here on eBay.