HISTORY FOR SALE
One of the oldest, if not the oldest, motorcycles in the world will be up for auction April 25, 2010 at The International Classic Motorcycle Show in Stafford, England.
The twin-cylinder, four-valve, water-cooled, 1488cc Hildebrand & Wolfmüller was built in Munich, Germany in1895 and is an example of the first powered two-wheeler to enter series production. It is also the first such vehicle to be described by the name “motorcycle”--motorrad in German. This bike is in all-original, unrestored condition.
The hugely important piece of motorcycle history is expected to bring around $100,000 at auction. If the new owner is foolish enough to want to restore this precious machine, restoration experts say a substantial amount of money will have to be spent to restore the machine to its original condition. There are already replicas of the out there, so restoration of something like this would be tragic. This particular machine is of the utmost historical significance.
There are no hard figures as to how many machines were produced from the factory: some experts say over 2,000 were built, while others suggest the number is as low as 800. Original H & Ws surviving today are extremely rare.
This bike, which hasn't been started in at least 80 years, has been owned by the sellers’ family of the vendor's family in the United States, and was last used on the road in the early 1930s.
The Hildebrand brothers, Henry and Wilhelm, developed their motorcycle in partnership with Alois Wolfmüller and his mechanic, Hans Geisenhof. Their design was powered by a twin-cylinder, water-cooled, four-stroke engine displacing 1,488cc, which until relatively recent times was the largest power unit ever fitted to a motorcycle. Despite a maximum power output of only 2.5bhp at 240rpm, the H&W was capable of speeds approaching 30mph, an exciting prospect at a time when powered road transport of any sort was still a novelty.
Patented in January 1894, H&W’s motorcycle was greeted with considerable enthusiasm and plans were drawn up to build a factory in Munich to produce it. It was also licensed to a firm in France and marketed there as “La Petrolette”. Despite some impressive demonstration performances by factory riders, the H&W’s shortcomings became all too apparent once deliveries to paying customers commenced, and early in 1897 both the German and French ventures collapsed.
“This is one of the forerunners in motorcycle design,” said James Stensel, motorcycle specialist at Bonhams auction house, which will sell the bike. “To see one in the metal is unbelievable. They are so, so rare.”
