The beginning of the year is when the big motorcycle auctions take place in Vegas. This year there were only a few scooters among the choice bikes up for sale at the Bonhams auction. You can check out all of the bikes that were for sale on their site. Be amazed at the eye-popping insane $480,000 paid for a 1939 BMW race motorcycle. I'm sorry, I do love me some motorcycles, but the fact that someone paid almost half a million dollars for a single bike is a sign of the horrible skewing of wealth in this country. If you were the buyer, would you not be ashamed to show your face after such ridiculous "let them eat cake" excess? I would...
Anyhow, there were a few scooters for sale.
First up is this handsome 1969 Lambretta 125 DL. This one is painted in one of the original colors, but no mention if it is original paint. The auction listing indicated that the motor was punched out to 175, and clearly the original forks have been changed or modified for use with front dampers. Does this affect value? I would say that those are attractive modifications if this is for someone who wants to ride it. Are those people at a Bonhams auction in Las Vegas? Clearly not, since this scooter did not sell. Either the punters wanted something more stock and original, or the reserve was un-realistic. Auction estimate was $5,000-$7000, which I think was pretty ambitious for a 125. I've seen several sell in the $4000 range about 5 years ago, though none have come up for sale recently, that I know of. This one looks tidy, but I think that originality is king when it comes to high dollar scooters these days.
Next is this very cool 1957 Victoria R200. It looks very German, no doubt about it. I have to say that I've never seen one of these, and I doubt any made it to American shores. This one just oozes patina. You can just see a hint of the touring stickers on the front mudguard in this photo. The paint appears to be original. You can be sure that nobody else will be rolling one at your local scooter rally. This scoot sold for a very reasonable $1495. Quite well bought for a rare scooter. I would have certainly bid on it if I were in Vegas.
There were surprisingly many mopeds up for auction this year. This Flandria Kingline Deluxe was the coolest of the lot. Just look at it! It has the styling excess of a late-50's Detroit behemoth, but all packed into a 50cc moped. I love it. Sold for $2185, and most certainly worth it.