Motorcycle Events Look
Toward the Future
Part I

Story by Michael T. Lynch

From their inception, cars and motorcycles have existed as somewhat odd bedfellows. Both are a means of transport and amusement, each providing its operator distinct pleasures. Class has sometimes interfered, but there’s a rapidly growing car/bike collecting crossover enticing enthusiasts in both camps. Piquing many's interest is many-time MotoGP Champion Valentino Rossi’s recent testing of Ferrari and Maserati race cars. As more four-wheel collectors add two-wheelers to their garages, it’s appropriate to look closely at this auto-moto convergence, at both exhibit and value levels, and make some assumptions as to where this phenomenon is going.

Frank Gehry's installation of the Art of the Motorcycle at the now-closed Guggenheim Las Vegas will not soon be forgotten. Credit: Soloman R. Guggenheim Foundation Press Office

Success at the Guggenheim
In June 1998, New York's Guggenheim Museum opened a show called The Art of the Motorcycle. It displayed the design element of motorcycles in the metal, in an historic context from the beginnings of the industry into the 1970s. It was a huge success, generating crowds beyond any seen before at the venerable Guggenheim with its legendary rising, circular display hall. From New York, the exhibition moved on to the Field Museum in Chicago and the Guggenheims in Las Vegas and Bilbao Spain. In Las Vegas, architect Frank Gehry mounted the exhibition, which was the most spectacular of any of the installations. At each stop, the result was the same, attendance records broken, accompanied by both critical acclaim and suggestions that curatorial standards were going to hell in a hand basket. The show was revived in late January this year at the Orlando Art Museum, and irrespective of some critical carping from a small cadre of art purists, the crowds keep on coming. The Art of the Motorcycle has been the largest grossing exhibition at any museum in each year that it has appeared.

Big Buck Bikes
Many thought that alone would herald a movement toward recognizing the intrinsic design elements of some motorcycles as art, as has been achieved with automobiles. This proved to be premature. Money talks and many cars are worth over ten million dollars, but the collector bike market, except for a few exceptions, presently tops out at about $125,000. Brass age race bikes and those with Agostini or Hailwood histories go for far more, but not many of them exist. The popular media are obsessed with money, so mention of mechanical big buck memorabilia almost always centers on automobiles. They may be in for a surprise in the coming months.

Car prices were driven to the stratosphere by a confluence of events, none of which has happened for collector motorcycles…yet. In the early 1970s, America’s greatest Concours d’Elegance, Pebble Beach, was on the ropes, riven with politics, mediocre attendance and unimaginative car selection. Just as new management came in to revive Pebble, Steve Earle started his Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca on the same weekend. The synergy of the two events together on the Monterey Peninsula, one of the most scenic areas of the world, brought us to where we are today – a ten day festival each August, with dozens of events celebrating the finest in automotive design and performance, often highlighted by local cuisine and wine that rivals the Napa Valley. Other concours like Amelia Island have flourished as have other vintage races, but nothing comes close to the Monterey week.

MV Agustas are among the most collectible of motorcycles and if this one were for sale it would be near the top of the heap. Mike Hailwood rode this 4-cylinder to the 500cc World Championship in 1965, his last year at MV before moving on to Honda. It now resides in the MV Museum at Cascina Costa, less than five miles from Malpensa Airport in Milan. Credit: MV Agusta.

As the two Monterey Peninsula events grew, other shows and auctions joined them in the area. Meanwhile, Italy’s great racing holiday, the Mille Miglia, was revived as a touring event in 1982 and was soon copied in America, first by the late Robert Sutherland at the Colorado Grand. Other tours followed, with a model of luxury hotels, fine meals and exceptional scenery.

Following the Cars
An atmosphere now existed where owners of vintage cars could choose among a variety of uses for their vehicles – concours, vintage races and tours. The opportunities to use and share these special cars with the public have driven collector automobile prices to where they are today. While these types of events also exist for motorcycles, they have achieved neither the permanence (2006 will be Pebble Beach’s 57th Anniversary), nor the lavish presentation (Monterey Historics, Goodwood Festival of Speed and Circuit Revival) of those involving cars. A motorcycle concours was held for a time in the grand setting of the Del Mar horse racing track paddock on the coast north of San Diego, but it is no more.

As with cars, there is vintage racing for motorcycles. Seen at a recent Historic Motor Sports Association/Vintage Motorcycle Racing Association combined car/bike meet at Laguna Seca is John Stein's Ducati 750 Imola. This was one of seven of these prototypes prepared for the 1972 Imola 200. The production-based Ducatis were not favored, but Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari finished first and second, spawning the performance legend of the V-Twin Ducati that continues today. Vmoto is a small sanctioning body that encourages the preservation of period-correct racing motorcycles. Stein posted a second and third over the weekend. Credit: Michael T. Lynch

Motorcycle vintage racing under the American Historic Motorcycle Racing Association has many classes that are defined only by displacement, thus your 1950s 125cc Parilla could be competing against a vintage-looking bike with a modern Honda engine making triple or quadruple the Parilla’s horsepower. There’s not a lot of fun in that. There is an effort to establish a vintage motorcycle race the week before or the week after the MotoGP at Laguna Seca, as soon as July 2007, and if it happens, a week like the Pebble Beach/Monterey Historics festival could evolve. If so, the racing classes will have to be structured with both equality of performance and period correctness in mind, to achieve an aesthetic standard that will attract the public and encourage accurate restoration. The vintage motorcycle racing community will come to realize that modification of significant historic motorcycles for advantage on the race track does not create value in the collector universe. Some vintage clubs are trying to encourage restoration of racing bikes to their original specification and appearance.

The Quail Motorcycle Tour
Another step in the right direction is the Quail Motorcycle Tour, running from May 3-7, 2006. This will be a ride for modern motorcycles with luxury accommodations and fine wine and cuisine. It will originate with an overnight at the Peninsula Beverly Hills and continue on to the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito. Since the latter was good enough for Jack Kennedy's honeymoon, it should suffice for some road-weary motorcyclists. The final nights of the tour will be spent at the Quail Lodge in Carmel. Hopefully, this is a precursor of vintage motorcycle tours on the level of the Colorado Grand and the California Mille auto events.

In the next issue of Veloce Today, we will bring you up to date on a new motorcycle event coming in May of this year, which may be a breakthrough when it comes to the public's perception of motorcycle collecting.

For information on the Quail Motorcycle Tour, inquire at thequail@quaillodge.com , or call Mathias Doutreleau at 831 626-2478