We recently brought you news of the July 12th H&H Classics auction at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull which boasted a huge variety of motorbikes and scooters, each with its own value and unique story to tell. H&H Classics has been running these auctions for the past 30 years and has achieved world record prices for various classic motorcycles, cars and competition cars and this auction proved another roaring success, with over £1.2 million worth of sales from a total of 248 items available for sale.

Stealing the show was a 1949 Vincent HRD Black Shadow, which fetched the highest price of the day, selling for £62,375. Another large price was obtained with the sale of an extremely rare c.1936/7 Excelsior Manxman 4-valve which clinched £39,100 at auction having received a lot of attention throughout the day.

One of the most hotly anticipated items was the 1968 Lambretta SX200 which was once owned by Paul Weller. Understood to be the only scooter that Weller bought with his own money as a famous musician in 1991 and having appeared in the music video for ‘Friday Street’, the scooter came with a high level of provenance. It sparked a tense bidding war and resulted in a sale price of £32,200, over £10,000 higher than its original estimate. The demand for scooters was high during the auction with Lambrettas responsible for half of the 10 most valuable lots selling during the day. Two other stand out Lambretta sales were the 1971 DL200 Electronic which fetched £18,975 and the ultra rare 1966 SX225 ‘BelAir 2’ which gathered a £20,000 sales price. Of course, for many buyers, these scooters work just as well as art pieces as they do on the road.

“Our auction at the National Motorcycle Museum was once again another great success," remarked Mike Davis, senior motorcycle specialist at H&H Classics. "These vehicles, each with its own slice of history, have found new homes and are set to embark on their next journeys. It's great to see such continued enthusiasm for classic motorcycles and scooters, and we're grateful to all of our vendors and bidders for their unwavering support.”

H&H opens its doors next for the upcoming classic, collector and performance car auction taking place at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford on September 20th.

Words: Mike Booth
Pictures: H&H Classics Ltd