From the Shop with Glenn Bator Welcome to the second edition of “Motorcycle Investor Newsletter”. After the unexpected success and positive response that we received from our inaugural issue which we released a few months back, it looks like Bator Interna-tional, inc. is now embarking on a new path as publishers! This on line magazine got its start as a Skype conver-sation between me and my associate, John Thow, while working on the batorinternational.com website. We both agreed that we have so many cool and interesting things going on at Bator International, Inc. that why not put it in print and share it with our friends. To put together an on line magazine that is news worthy and well received is not an easy task as it takes a multi-tude of talents, some of which we never knew we pos-sessed, working hard to bring everything together. The “brain trust” of our company is without a doubt my wife, Deni. She is the unsung hero and the power behind the thrown. Her editing skills and common sense are con-stantly put to the test while trying to make a sensible read out of my ramblings. John Thow, on the other hand, is the man in charge of everything graphic and is quite a talent behind the camera as well as in front of the computer. For this issue, we have also brought in the talents of research-er/writer Margie Siegal as well as Marilyn Stemp, the former editor of the now defunct Iron Works magazine.

I want to personally welcome Mr. John Lawless to our Bator International family. John will be bringing his mul-titude of talents in to assist with the east coast division of Bator International, Inc. John brings to the table a lifelong passion for all things vintage racing as well as his orga-nizing skills for a number of events he is involved with and his extensive knowledge of the market for the British, Euro and Japanese motorcycles. Be sure to check out his bio and press release in this issue.

In this second issue, we have several very interesting stories that we hope you will enjoy reading, one of which is about Jimmy “Dare Devil” Washburn’s 1932 Harley David-son VL. I sincerely hope you enjoy our second issue of “Motorcycle Investor Newsletter”, and I want to personally thank you for your interest and support! Enjoy the Ride…. Glenn

Publisher / Writer: Editor: Art Director / Content Editor: Glenn Bator Deni Bator John ThowIssue Contributors: Marilyn Stemp, Margie Siegal, John Lawless© Bator International, Inc. 2014

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If the thought of a vintage motorcycle auction brings to mind bow-tied, cigar-smoking gentlemen whispering in hushed tones as a hawk-eyed, buttoned-down auctioneer scans the room, think again. Because two auctions held in Las Vegas on the same weekend in January—Bonhams one-day event and the Mecum/Mid-America three-day happening—were nothing of the sort. Far from it, in fact. Be-cause for the most part, vintage bike enthusiasts are also zealous motorcycle riders, and when bike riders gather just about anytime or anywhere there’s spirited, raucous fun to be had.

My Vegas vacation started on January 9th at Bally’s Hotel and Casino where Bonhams presented their fourth Vegas auction, the second one at this venue. Hats off to them, too, for garnering several high-profile collections this year as well as bringing in a host of intriguing and interesting machines. There was plenty of ground to cover and just one day to do it in, so time was at a premium. Memora-bilia items came first to the block, then at noon the motorcycle auction began.

Centerpieces of the Bonhams event were the Pierce Museum collection of Harley-Davidsons and the Silverman Museum’s Ducati racers. Bonhams had also announced beforehand that several bikes owned by Steve McQueen would be on offer, most notably a 1923 Indian Chief with Princess sidecar that had been restored and painted by Von Dutch. It sold for $126,000. A second McQueen bike, a 1935 Chief, sold for $80,500 to the same collector who bought the first.

From the Silverman collection, a 1978 Ducati NCR in untouched condition sold for $175,500. A 1973 Ducati 750 Super Sport “Green Frame” brought $137,000, and a rare ’54 BMW Rennsport RS54 sold for $126,000.

But it was a bike from the Pierce family collection that held all eyes rapt when its turn on the block came. The 1940 Harley-Davidson EL was the subject of an intense bidding war among several clients, both present and via phone and email. When the hammer finally fell the result met with applause and murmurings among the crowd as a new world auction record was set: an astounding $159,000. While the selling prices of these specif-ic machines are impressive, not every motorcycle went for such high stakes. The earliest know example (10th built) of a 1957 H-D XL sold for $25,300 and a ’56 KHK went for $ 12,650. There was considerable variety among the 200 motorcycles on the floor, most of which impressed but some of which went home unsold.

Bonham’s final tally for the day was $3.3 million, a 30% increase over last year, they said. See Bonhams website for a detailed list of every item posted, sold or not. And speaking of Bonhams and motorcycles, plans call for the company to auction a 2013 H-D Super Glide owned by His Holiness Pope Francis. The mo-torcycle, which is being sold for charity, was given to Pope Francis in June 2013 as part of Harley-Davidson’s 110th Anni-versary celebration. The Pontiff’s sched-ule must not offer leisure time for two-wheeled touring.

As well run and professional as the Bon-hams event was, there was a different atmosphere altogether at South Point Hotel, Spa and Casino where the Mecum/Mid-America three-day event got under-way on Thursday. Starting with a preview during the day, the event officially kicked off with a Children’s Hospital benefit din-ner that evening and an appearance by Harley-Davidson family historians Jean Davidson and her son Jon Davidson Olefein. Then the initial round of about 600 rare, antique and classic motorcy-cles started rolling on stage for sale that evening.

1913 Jefferson Twin.

1949 Harley-Davidson EL Twin: $40,000

EK Enterprises shoed an assortment of authentic Evel Knievel items, not to be fiddled with…

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But before reporting on re-sults and logistics, this must be said: it’s the ambiance, the spirit and the enthusiasm that make this event a standout. In its 23rd iteration (though only the first since Mecum bought out Mid-America), the Mecum/Mid-America Las Vegas auction is as much an annual gathering of friends as anything else. The camara-derie was palpable as people greeted and jibed, got reac-quainted, inspected the ma-chines, and reminisced about similar motorcycles owned and days gone by. A small cadre of vendors offered art, collect-ibles, and good conversation, adding to the carnival climate and pervasive friendly feeling. Sure, we came for the auction but we also came to visit with friends, support the sport and do a bit of good in the process.

Painter George Sedlak’s work was on display in one of the vendor booths along with a portion of EK Enterprises’ growing collection of Evel Knievel items, compliments of EKE’s Lathan McKay. George was Evel’s painter for several decades, designing and exe-cuting the iconic look of Evel’s motorcycles and helmets that eventually came to identify and personify the daredevil. George was showing sev-eral fine art pieces, and for the second year in a row he donated a print to benefit the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa. This year George offered a print of his newest work titled ‘34 Indian Scout, which was officially un-veiled in Vegas. The donated print brought in a respectable $4,000 for the museum.

Mecum/Mid America top 10 sales list:1. 1911 Harley-Davidson 7D Twin (Lot 471) at $260,0002. 1925 BMW R37 (Lot 436) at $200,0003. 1936 Harley-Davidson EL (Lot 483) at $165,0004. 1955 Vincent Black Prince (Lot 499) at $125,0005. 1914 Harley-Davidson 10F Twin (Lot 474) at $105,0006. 1928 Harley-Davidson JDH Twin (Lot 480) at $100,0007. 1972 Triumph/BSA TRX 7502 (Lot 491) at $97,0008. 1909 Harley-Davidson 5 C Single (Lot 187) at $95,0009. 1938 Brough Superior SS80 (Lot 498) at $95,00010. 1915 Harley-Davidson 11F Twin (Lot 475) at $91,000

Also on site were the father/son duo of Dale and Matt Walksler of Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. In addition to manning a vendor space, Matt and Dale were also film-ing an episode of their highly rated Discovery Velocity Channel program, What’s in the Barn? One of the four motorcycles they put on the block was a 1928 Harley 2 Cam cut down belonging to 92-year-old Glen Harding. Glen’s intent was to give every penny the bike brought at auction to his church; by Sunday afternoon there were smiles all around and Glen’s church was $49,000 richer.

An old hand at such events, Dale has a studied perspective on them. “Being the first Mecum auction, this event set itself apart from previous Las Vegas auctions which had been the benchmark in vin-tage circles for the last 20 years,” he said. “While Mecum brought new buyers, Mid-America’s faithful buyers were there in force, too, showing that confidence continues in the market and enthusiasm is strong in the sport and hobby.”

Of course, there was plenty of serious business to tend to as well, as the auctioneers and staff kept the bidding lively and audience interest high, especially when particular motorcycles took center stage. For Mid-America’s Ron Christenson, several aspects of the weekend stood out. “Several world record prices were set, and Jean Davidson, granddaughter of Walter Davidson, first president of Harley-Davidson Motor Company, gave a great talk Thursday evening and related stories all week-end,” he said. Ron cited the George Pardos collection as another highlight of the event. Echoing Dale Walksler, Ron added, “With sales of over $7 million the old motorcycle hobby is alive and well!”

Speaking of the George Pardos Collection, it included 20 compelling Harley-Davidsons, from a 1911 Twin to a 1965 FL. Eighteen of the motorcycles hammer sold with five of them landing in the top 10 in sales. Pardos’ 1911 Harley-Davidson 7D Twin gaveled at $260,000 claiming its predicted spot as the highest dollar sale of the auction. A 1936 El Knucklehead came in at an unprecedented $165,000. Other significant sales from The Pardos Collection included the 1914 Harley-Davidson 10F Twin ($105,000), 1928 JDH Twin ($100,000) and 1915 11F Twin ($91,000).

The second highest selling machine of the event was a 1925 BMW R37 racer, one of the rarest BMW Production Racing bikes in existence, which garnered a $200,000 bid. The top 10 was further round-ed out with two significant sales of British makes, a 1955 Vincent Black Prince ($125,000) and a 1972 Triumph/BSA TRX 7502 ($97,000.) Impressive, yes, but again; dozens of bikes sold at far more approachable prices.

A print of George Sedlak’s latest fine art piece was auctioned to benefit the National Motorcycle Museum.

The Pardos Collection 1911 Harley-Davidson 7D Twin: $260,000.

Pope Francis with Harley-Davidson to be auctioned by Bonhams for charity.

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So even if your bank account tended toward the more modest range, there was fun to be had. One example, introduced from Mecum’s bag of tricks, was their On The Clock web-based system, which offered a low cost way to participate. It featured a group of internet-exclusive items on offer and ki-osks were available where anyone could log on and bid. The items were on display both online and at the event, with the clock ticking down until each was sold to the highest bidder. Of course interest-ed parties not present could continue bidding as well, so checking back often was important. If open bidding makes you nervous this was a low stress way to win a treasure.

After auction hours on Friday and Saturday the destination of choice for many was the Championship Indoor Short Track Series racing held in conjunction with the auction. Of course, there’s no end to the amusement on offer in Las Vegas, either, so finding something to do was only a gaming table away.

According to a Mecum/Mid-America press release, the auction drew bidders and spectators from 48 states and more than 30 different countries, making the 2014 event not only the largest in number of registered bidders and enthusiasts ever but also the highest grossing event in its 23 years. Total sales reached $7,475,155 as 537 motorcycles went under the gavel. So the next time you hear someone whining about the lukewarm economy, here’s a suggestion; re-mind them that nobody likes a complainer then send them off to the next vintage motorcycle auction. Whether buying, selling, riding or simply spectating, bike enthusiasts don’t have time to complain; we’re too busy having fun.________________________________________________________________________________

Be sure to read Glenn’s latest “Tips & Tricks” article on auction buying and selling in this issue to get the most out of your next auction visit.

All of us at Bator International, inc. are excited to an-nounce that John Lawless is the newest member of our team. John is a long time member of the motorcycling community and after being bitten by the racing bug at the age of 25 while attending a race with friends, he has never looked back.

He converted his father’s 1967 Ducati 250 Scrambler to a road racer and was hooked immediately on the thrill. Shortly thereafter he formed Team 20/20 Racing, winning numerous regional titles before moving up to the AMA Pro Racing 600 and 750 cc Supersport Series. Team 20/20 also sponsored the late Randy Renfrow during the season in which he won his final AMA Nation-al in the 125cc Class.

During this time, John began writing about and photo-graphing the races he attended and published these and other articles in Keystone Motorcycle Press, Winding Road Motorcycle Times and Motorcyclist magazines.

In 1998, John joined AHRMA and has been racing classic bikes ever since. He’s raced a wide variety of motorcycles from 125cc two strokes to 750cc four strokes, including machines by Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and classic bikes by Laverda, MV Agusta and his current ride, a 1961 500cc Norton Manx.

John has come on board with Bator International, Inc. to lend his extensive expertise as our Eastern U.S. representative and is helping us to provide more personal service to many of our clients located throughout the Eastern United States.

Look for John’s latest article “Georgia On My Mind” in this issue of Motorcycle Investor.

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Jimmy Washburn on his 1932 Harley Davidson VL.

“Daredevil” Washburn crashes through flaming tunnel of fire.

Jimmy Washburn pictured with just some of his many trophies.

Story by Glenn Bator

This1932 Harley Davidson VL was once the trusty steed belonging to Jimmy “Dare Devil” Washburn. Jimmy Wash-burn was a statuesque man with the looks of a 1930’s movie star. He was a true to life motorcycle barn stormer who made a living the old fashioned way, virtually, by the seat of his pants!! Jim-my, his wife and his other rough riders traveled the world performing at town fairs, race tracks and other events of the day defying death at every turn of the wheel. Jimmy and company performed over three decades until the 1950’s when they decided to hang up the show for good. Fast forward twenty years, Jimmy has taken his last ride to the big “show in the sky” and the old VL has been moth balled with the dirt from her last shows still clinging to her.

Almost thirty years ago, Jim Jr. was talk-ed into having his father’s original condi-tion racer converted and restored back to a street motorcycle. This action would be considered sacrilegious in today’s world, but, back then, these old racers were not coveted for their historical value and provenance like they are now. With this said, here we have the start of the res-toration and un-restoration of Dare Devil Jimmy’s Ride!

In approximately 1974, Jim Jr. first hand-ed his dad’s VL off to a classic car restor-er in northern California who had never worked on a motorcycle before. This guy, having no idea or concept of what it takes to put out a correct and concourse quality motorcycle restoration, did not bode well for the bike. I’m sure he proba-bly thought to himself, “heck a motorcycle is one fifth the size of a car so this resto-ration should be a snap”! Well, after ten years of prodding by Jim Jr and still get-ting no finished product, he finally had to physically show up at the shops doorstep and gather the bike up. Apparently, the VL was mostly finished, but the bad news was it now sported an incorrect gas tank and paint scheme for 1932 along with a plethora of other incorrect parts,10 11

With already having my plate pretty full, I enlisted the talents of Rick Cresse of Tri-C Engi-neering, Inc., an old time master fabricator, dirt track racer, stunt man and former Formula Atlantic crew chief, to help me with the process of bringing the old VL back to life.

Getting back to the story, Rick and I were perplexed on how to take a “poorly” restored 1932 Harley VL and bring it back to the bike that saw battle over a thirty year span with an insane rider at the helm. We had some very nice original parts along with the original paint and finish that were handed off with the bike by Jim, Jr. upon delivery. We also had a fully restored chassis with new paint and a V-twin engine and transmission that looked like new. We were facing a dilemma as to what we should do and how to pro-ceed forward. Do we hang all of the old rough and ready parts on the freshly restored shiny chassis or do we hand off the VL to Gary Davis, dressed in its Sunday best ,and

have him literally beat the living daylights out of it, then get it back and hang the old bits on it so all will blend together?

After much deliberation as well as consulting with Jim, Jr., we came to the con-clusion that the best thing to do for the bike was to bring it back to life as it was customized by Jimmy “Dare Dev-il” Washburn . As with all racers, even today, they are never the same as they were when they rolled out of the factory. Usually, even before these bikes hit the track, the rider and his crew dis-assemble, personalize, tweak, remove parts and transform the bike into a custom fitted machine tailored for that rider. In the case of

fit and finishes. As you can imagine, Jim Jr., with lighter pockets now, was not very happy and at this point attempted to seek out a real motorcycle restorer to correct all of the issues brought on by his first bad decision.

He made contact with a known name in the classic motorcycle restoration industry (which we won’t mention here) and contracted the guy to do the work. Well, unfortunately, Jim Jr. found himself jump-ing out of the frying pan and straight into the fire, as the new restorer took the bike and around $20k (1980’s money) of Jim’s money. After many years of waiting and prodding again, the bike was finally done. What Jim, Jr. got back from this “known classic motorcycle restorer” was basically a “shiny turd” with incorrect gas tanks and other abnormalities hanging all over the poor old VL. To throw salt on a long term gaping wound, Jim realized that the so called “bike restorer” apparently decided to liberate a number of original bits off the bike. The VL, once handed over to the “professional restor-ers” had a much rougher,more abusive life at their hands than she ever did in the hands of Dare Devil Washburn for all of those years!

Fast forward a half a decade or better, I get a phone call from Jim Jr., now in his 80’s. After relaying the saga of the VL to me, he asked if I would be interested in reversing the ill advised restorations that were done on the bike back in the mid 1970’s and 80’s and bring her back to the full cut down, wall crashing, fire burning, wife jumping racer that she was in her hay day. Well, of course, my answer was “hell yes”!!

Jimmy “Daredevil” Washburn flies through a ring of fire in front of a large crowd of anxious onlookers.

The Daredevil Washburn Mystery Squadron ad shown below was originally run in 1936.

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this VL, Jimmy Sr. had ridden the bike in a variety of configurations before settling on what you see here in the photographs.

To get things rolling, I had to give the executive order “while turning a blind eye” to have the rear fender with its original paint and patina repainted in the hand brushed black and white paint scheme to replicate Jimmy’s handy work. Since some original parts were lost or liberated throughout the years, Rick had to perform his magic and build out the necessary pieces like the original megaphone, to match what Jimmy had used back in the day. The original gas tanks were lost to time, so we found a dilapidated set of VL tanks and Rick disassembled them completely and rebuilt the set leaving all dents and dings intact. We then handed the sheet metal over to Nick Mrozinski of Killer Instinct in Saticoy, CA, to replicate Washburn’s hand brushed paint work to match. A little side note here, it is very difficult to get a professional painter like Nick, who builds and refinishes Porsches, Ferraris and the like, to do a paint job that is less than perfect and, heaven forbid, using nothing but a hand brush the qual-ity of which you would use to white wash the side of a barn!

After a year and a half, the bike has now gone through the transformation process back to the exact configuration that Jim-my Sr, if still alive today, would recognize as his old trusty steed of yesteryear. Yes, the motorcycle that rolled out of the work-shop a few weeks ago is the very motor-cycle that stunt man Jimmy Washburn would have felt right at home throwing his leg over and hurling it through a fiery wall of burning timbers. _________________________________

1. The 60 lb push ball gets revenge on stunt team member “Red” Corbin when he is knocked to the ground by the ball.

2. A blindfolded Washburn actually runs over his wife during a fairground stunt show, when the ramp broke and sent him off course. She sur-vived, but last time in the act.

3. Washburn is shown here posing in front of what will soon be a wall of flames waiting for him to come crashing through.

Luckily enough, Dare Devil’s son has full docu-mentation and a ton of images and memorabilia that he kept from his dad’s escapades. Hope-fully, the former glory and history of the bike will remain with it for eternity. The original black and white photos, old show contracts, ban-ners and posters that accompany the bike all add to the history of those free and reckless days gone by.

Finally, Jimmy Jr’s quest to bring his fa-ther’s bike back to its race condition is complete. Now all he needs is a new home for his father’s legacy. This mo-torcycle well deserves a place in history and would be a fantastic addition to anyone’s fine collection or museum. Be sure to check it out on our website at www.batorinternational.com .

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This stunt required Washburn to get up to speed and crash head on into a pile of wooden barrels.

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Twenty-Five years on, the Silver Jubilee season opening event for the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA), took place on March 1 & 2, 2014, at Roebling Road Raceway, just west of Savannah, Georgia. The quaint, low-key raceway stands in stark contrast to the more modern venues like Daytona Speedway, and we racers that race older bikes like it that way!

The bitter cold weather we’ve had in Philadelphia this winter faded into the rear-view mirror as we headed south to the event. Spirits were high with anticipation as it is a true joy to ride these classic old bikes

out on the track. Upon arrival, day time temps were in the mid-70’s and the sun shone brightly as my teammate/mentor, Dick Miles, and I quickly unloaded our two Norton Manx motorcycles and began

preparing for the day’s events. With these two trusty steeds, we were scheduled to compete in the Classic 60’s classes.

Dick has been racing, restoring and caring for old

Norton racing machines and other classic British bikes for decades. It was his dedication to the

Bracebridge Street Flyers that sparked my in-terest in the Norton production racers and

ultimately led to this weekend, where we would finally go head-to head after many failed attempts to get out and compete over the last four seasons

since his completing the build on my 1961 Manx 30M 500 cc racer. The

bike is a former west coast AFM series American racer raced by

Tony Murphy and others at venues like Willow Springs and Vacca Valley Race-ways. I bought it a few

years back after selling my 1949 Norton International

racer, which is a really great ride but pales in

comparison to the later year short stroke Manx. For me, the appeal of the famed McCandless broth-ers ‘featherbed’ frames

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better handling and double overhead cam bevel drive engine were just too much to be ignored when the proj-ect came up for sale. It is my good fortune that Mr. Miles, who runs Iron Oxide Racing, has a shop just miles from my house with a full working machine shop, plus the expertise and willingness to get the bike built, as it was completely apart when purchased. Dick’s been racing his own 1963 Manx for 25 years and knows a thing or two about making them perform as they were intended to. He’d bought his, minus an engine, at an auction in the UK years ago, and after installing the correct engine and sorting the bike out, has raced it ever since. Saturday, after a short practice session, the racing commenced as we watched and listened to the other mo-torcycles blast by our pit as we anxiously awaited our turn. My first race was marred by a “failure to launch” (I couldn’t get my bike in gear until the rest of the field was well on their way and fading fast into the distance). The good news is, the bike ran without a hitch once I got her on her way. As the race progressed, through luck and/or skill, I was able to catch up to Dick who ran under the checkered flag claiming second place, with me right on his exhaust in third.

Our crew for the weekend included the distinguished Dr. George Cohen, better known as “Norton George”. George received his nick name by due diligence. For years you could find him at all the big events the world over, riding the fabulous Norton specials he builds, as well as ultra rare and beautiful Bugatti race cars. He’s a world class guru of Norton’s who literally wrote the definitive book on them, “Flat Tank Nortons”, available at www.norton.uk.com . George’s encyclopedic knowledge and wickedly funny sense of humor made for good company. Dick also met up with his longtime friends George, aka “Nigel”, Phil and his son Jeffery who were there to lend their helping hands.

After an exhausting first day, a hardy meal in Historic Savannah at The Distillery on Liberty Street and a well deserved brag fest put us in the right frame of mind for the next day’s mission. Sunday morning we awoke to another beautiful, warm day with high hopes of a fair fight, our duel in the sun. I was determined to get things right this go round. Well, Lady Luck was smiling on us as both my teammate and I got away clean and were off without a hitch. We were in the groove and had a race long battle that saw us both drop our lap times

from the previous days competition. On the penultimate lap, I managed to get past Dick, only to be re-passed into turn one. I now trailed by half a dozen bike lengths as we wound our way through the back section of the track, but, by the last turn, I had narrowed the gap. Tucking in closely and giving it full throttle, the megaphone bellowed as the bike was being revved to 6,800 rpm in pursuit of my prey. The shorter gearing paid off as I pulled out of his draft and moved by, snatching second place as we flashed past the checkered flag. The boys on the team were whooping it up when we came in. It was a very gratifying race for me, and we all enjoyed a good laugh afterwards, especially since I’d given Dick the “Royal Wave” of the hand as I flew past him. That race was won by Alex McLean of the Bob McKeever Champagne Racing Team which was run by his son Rob this weekend since Bob was under the weather. Their ace mechanic, AMA Hall of Famer Nobby Clark, kept the teams three Nortons running full steam, although the team suffered a rare mechanical failure on the McIntosh replica Manx. They run the bikes in a number of class-es, i.e. Classic 60’s, 500 Premier and Class C Foot Shift where they mix it up with side shifter Harleys and Indi-ans. The team took home their usual haul of trophies. Other highlights of the weekend included watching British Ex-pat, Pat Mooney and Nate Kern do battle in the twins race. The Buell and BMW mounted riders put on an ex-cellent show, but poor Pat was caught up in a rare crash and was lucky to walk away while the bike looked decid-edly second hand now. Randy Hoffman, from New York brought out his new Vin-cent Comet racer and chased long time super-senior Tom Kerr on his Vinny, but to no avail. Old Tom has the track dialed in and many miles on his bike. Randy had better luck in the sidecar class, snatching a win on Sunday. Before we knew it, our weekend had come to a close and we loaded up and headed north. Seven hundred miles later we were navigating a late night snow storm that made it all seem like a distant dream….ahhh the perfect weekend!!

For more information and results, check out www.AHR-MA.org They offer classes for nearly every kind of ma-chine from Vintage trials to Motocross and Road Racing. Riders of all skill levels can get a chance to mix it up with their peers and enjoy the camaraderie that you’ll find at these events. Bator International, Inc. has a wide variety of road and racing machines available to help fill your need for speed.

NORTON, A BRIEF HISTORY If you’re not familiar with what makes a Manx Nor-ton so special, here’s a little background on the ma-chines. The ‘Featherbed’ Manx was offered in both 350 and 500cc from 1950 through 1963. About half of the original cost of the bike was in the double overhead cam box. The gear driven, bevel drive engines with exposed hairspring valves are a visual delight to watch and the smell of warm Castrol R oil can’t be overstated. The Manx also features ex-tensive use of magnesium in the engine and wheel hubs. Norton produced about 50 of each model per year to qualified racers through their dealers. The factory “Works” team competed until 1954 when the multi-cylinder Italian machines like MV Agusta and Gilera were finally starting to out shine the single cylinder British machines. Geoff Duke won the FIM 500cc World Championship on the “Works” Norton in 1951. When he moved on to Gilera, John Surtees, Ray Amm and Bob McIntyre kept the Manx on the podium. Virtually all the best riders of the period rode a Norton Manx, i.e. Derek Minter, Mike Hailwood, Jim Redman and the list goes on. It was the magic combination of superior handling of the twin loop tubular steel chassis, its light weight (300 pounds) and the reliable horsepower (40-46 hp) that was nearly unbeatable in its day that made it so popular. The early long stroke engines have their own fan base, but it is generally agreed that the ultimate version of the machines were the late period short stroke engines that were the final de-velopment of the Manx. Even today, sixty years on from its inception, a well-fettled Manx is a devastat-ingly effective “bit of kit” to ride. When 1993 World Champion Kevin Schwantz rode a Ken McKintosh built replica Manx at the Barber Motorsports AHR-MA races in 2011, he demonstrated to great effect just how hard these bikes can be pushed. There are now Manx replicas being built, which is great news to those of you who are concerned about taking your very valuable period built ma-chines out on the track. There are, in fact, only a handful of real Norton Manx’s being raced in the USA today. Prices have risen dramatically in the last five years and are projected to continue ap-preciating in the future. I bought my bike in 2008 for $17K, and today it would likely fetch $40-50K at auction or through a reputable dealer like Bator International, Inc. The most important aspects of value with a Manx are provenance and originality. Rarity and desirability will continue to drive the pric-es up as time moves on. For investment purposes, while the replica machines aren’t inexpensive, they were not built in period and won’t appreciate over the long-term at the same rate as an original Manx built back in the day. As satisfying as it may be to watch your stock portfolio grow incrementally over time, having the ability to own and ride or race your investment is so much more fun!! So, if you appre-ciate racing history and want a solid investment, the Norton Manx is a ‘Blue Chip’ choice.

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This “32 “Deuce” Sedan is a real survivor. While obviously not an all original car, it is however, an all original hot rod.

Hot rodding first appeared in Southern California in the late 1930s and its popularity increased greatly after the end of the second world war.

The coupes and sedans of the 30’s and 40’s were popular choices as they could be purchased for very little money and parts were available in abundance. Customizing these cars was all about going fast and of course, looking good. Modifications were often made to reduce weight, such as removing convertible tops, heavy stock bumpers, hoods, fenders and sometimes even the windshield. Don’t forget the horsepower, a stock engine simply wouldn’t do.

As more “hot rodders” took to the streets with their unique creations there had become an increasing need for safer places to run these cars as they had been built to perform. Small military airports dotted the American landscape after the conclusion of the war and many were being used much less for aviation or had even been abandoned all together. This left behind runways and taxiways that were perfect for racing. Many of the newly marked drag racing tracks were as long as a mile and included up to four lanes for simultaneous, side by side drag racing.

This fine example of 1950s era hot rodding was originally started in 1957 by Tiny Brown who later sold the unfinished car to Johnny Otis, as Brown had decided that marriage was in his immediate future. Otis completed the car and began hitting the Autorama Car Show circuit and his 1932 quickly became a crowd favorite and one of the legendary hot rods of the 50s and 60s, thanks to the many magazine features and trophies that had come to be associat-ed with the little blue deuce.22 23

Otis’s completed car sports a wide variety of custom features including its’ power plant, a 1955 Cor-vette 265 V-8 engine with ported and polished heads, fitted with an Offy manifold and three carbs. A 1948 rear end is carefully placed under the channeled body, and a 4 inch dropped axle pulls down the front end giving this rod a low, sleek look while showing off the chromed front end assembly. Otis also filled the front cowl vent and added a custom filler door from a ‘55 Chevrolet to the rear left quarter.

As you can see in any of the pictures of the car, fenders, hood and bumpers have all been removed to lighten the load and exterior paint is a vibrant blue metal flake finish that makes it a real show stop-per. The engine compartment and frame are bright red. Exhaust pipes are made from polished metal fence posts and hang at the back end from piston connector rods...very cool!

The interior is all custom as well, featuring metallic blue upholstery over Renault seats, highlighted with white pleated inserts. Of course the headliner is a perfect match. The dash instruments are Stewart-Warner and the white steering wheel is from a 1960 Pontiac.

30 years after Tiny Brown sold the car to John Otis, he bought it back, his bride was quoted as simply saying “Oh it’s back...”. Since Tiny, the car has been passed around a little, but retains almost all of it’s original features. Paint was touched up a bit in the 80s, the rebuilt rear end now has a modern gear set and the wheels are now from a 1950 Mercury. Other than that John & Tiny’s dream car is still all there, just as they left it.

Here are just a few of the many magazines the little blue ‘32 has been featured in including Car Craft, Popular Hot Rodding, Rodding & Re-styling and more.

Otis was a member of the Flywheel’s Auto Club of South Braintree, Massachusetts.

John Otis accepting his trophy at an Autorama Car Show in 1959Tiny Brown 1954

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Cowboy poetry and uncomplicated rhymes that evoke the outdoor way of life are an American tradition. The most famous cowboy poet was Robert W. Service who wrote numerous verses about the life in the Yukon during Gold Rush days. There have been many others who have found inspiration along the trail or around a campfire and one of those was Martin Jack Rosenblum, also known as the “Holy Ranger”.

Martin Jack was a multi-talented and creative character who not only wrote poems and songs in the cowboy poet-ry tradition that celebrated the Harley-Davidson way of life but also was an accomplished musician and archivist. He worked as the Harley-Davidson Motor Company’s histo-rian for over fifteen years and was instrumental in setting up the Harley-Davidson Museum and preserving many of the Motor Company’s treasures.

Martin Jack started studying music very early in life. He got his first guitar when he was in the third grade. His father was owed some money by a local music store and told Marty, as he was then known, to choose something in the store that would equal the amount of the debt. He grabbed a Harmony guitar. “Guitar music spoke to me in ways that classical music did not,” Martin said. He immediately started picking out the songs he heard on the radio. While studying classical music in school, he had an opportunity to hear, in person, Gene Vincent, who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly, and that’s all it took. Marty redirected his musical taste and then spent all his spare time listening to Rockabilly and Chicago Rhythm and Blues on a short wave radio. By the time he was a teenager, MJR was good enough to play in a rockabilly band that was hired to entertain the crowd between heats at the local flat track.

The sound was the reason Martin Jack was initially attracted to motorcycles. “I lived in a rural town and often heard motorcycles blasting along the dirt and gravel roads near my house. The Harley’s exhaust note was rather like the blues compared to teen-idol music.” Marty’s first ride on a motorcycle was when, as a child, he convinced the local police officer to give him a ride on his three-wheeler. He then started hanging out with some older guys who let him ride their bikes over fields and on back roads.

In the 1950’s, the hot bikes were Triumphs and K Model Harleys, and the riders were, as MJR said, “a rag-tag bunch of enthusiasts.” As time went on, the fast riders turned to Sportsters and Triumph Bonnevilles, but the racing continued to be a low key and low budget affair. When Marty started racing, he never prepped bikes- he just rode what was available. His friends would loan him their bikes, and they would sometimes do some set up, but mostly Marty would just ride the loaners the way they were. Marty stayed pretty busy on race days back then alternating between burning up the track on any ride he could get his hands on and rippin’ it up on his guitar in the half time band.

One of Martin’s favorite memories was when he and his buddies were racing off road in a nearby quarry and he (on a Triumph) didn’t notice that he was approaching an edge and found himself airborne. “I was about ten feet off the ground and landed safely, certainly shocked, yet totally under control.” “Fly by the seat of your pants”--that’s the kind of riding he loved!

While Marty was following his dreams of racing and playing rockabilly, he also found the time to write poetry. The poetry bug had bitten Marty in his early years, and he published his first collection of poems when he was fifteen and a junior in high school. “I started seeing meaning in poetry about this time,” he says.

By 1965, MJR was a full time musician, playing blues and country music. “I had worked up to a Gibson J-50.” He searched out the older generation of blues players such as Son House, Mississippi John Hurt and Lightning Hopkins. He learned from Mike Seeger and John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers as well as Dave Van Ronk, bluegrass legend Doc Watson and folk guitarist Elizabeth Cotten.

In the late 1970’s, he switched gears and took a job teaching in the Department of Educational Opportunities at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin, while continuing to ride motorcycles (gravitating toward Harley-Davidsons), play his guitar and write poetry. He co-founded the University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program shortly after he started teaching at the Univer-sity.

In the 1980’s, Martin started writing original songs and was signed to Flying Fish Records and later, Rounder Records, af-ter his album on Flying Fish became “pick of the week” for a year straight at Tower Records. About this time, MJR’s three interests- poetry, music and motorcycles- began to coalesce. He was active in the Milwaukee HOG chapter and compiled his motorcycle poems into a book that he thought the chapter members would enjoy. The poetry was organized around a mythical character “The Holy Ranger”, a rider who, as Martin explained, “was in the present but had distinct ties to the Old West.” The day the book was released, Willie G. Davidson was at the Milwaukee dealership and was astounded to see it sell out the first day. Willie G. reported back to Harley-Davidson and executive Tom Parsons encouraged MJR to expand the book and republish it as a licensed Harley-Davidson product. The book came out in 1989, titled, “THE HOLY RANG-ER: Harley Davidson Poems”. The Holy Ranger poems celebrated the biker as a worthy successor to the cowboy, the sourdough and the Mountain Man of an earlier America. This book was followed by an album of “sonic text,” “THE HOLY RANGER’S FREE HAND”, issued in 1991, and a second album of motorcycle-oriented songs, “DOWN ON THE SPIRIT FARM”, which was released in 1994.

The Holy Ranger certainly touched a nerve. The book was the best selling poetry book of 1989. Martin Jack was invited to guest on television talk shows and he did readings on college campuses. Warner Brothers even did a pilot for a TV se-ries based on the book. Harley-Davidson also invited MJR and his band to play at many of their special events and was the corporate sponsor for one of MJR’s concert tours.

At that time, Jeff Bluestein and Rich Teerlink were two of Harley’s top executives. They got to know Martin Jack, and decided, with Harley-Davidson’s 100th anniversary fast approaching, that a concerted effort ought to be made to preserve and archive Harley’s history. Jeff hired MJR to spearhead this effort and created the position of Harley-Davidson Historian for him. As the Harley-Davidson Historian, Martin Jack took on two objectives: first, to build a research archive that could be used for product development and, second, to create a collection for the projected Museum.

MJR took a leave of absence from the University and set about locating and cataloging Harley’s artifacts. Between Jeff, Rich and many others who had a say in the Harley-Davidson Motor Company management, Martin was trusted to locate and purchase missing items for Harley’s collections and, most importantly, to gather all that was “in house” into one, single location. At the time, decades worth of company documents, ads, photographs and memorabilia were kept in a room at Harley’s Juneau Avenue headquarters called “The Vault.” These invaluable documents were scattered all over totally unprotected from the elements of time. MJR told Harley staff that left in their current state, the documents would be gone within ten years. Harley responded by providing the resources to archive and protect this irreplaceable, historic material.

Hundreds of historical motorcycles in storage in York, Pennsylvania, were moved back to Milwaukee. Eventually, Harley purchased a full block long shopping center near Juneau Avenue for employee parking and made its huge basement available for the archiving project. In 1997, the archives were moved to a state of the art facility with a complete resto-ration shop and environmentally safe storage for documents and photographs at Juneau Avenue.

Martin found there was so much missing. Some items had been thrown out and others had walked off with the help of light fingered visitors. Glenn Bator of Bator International, Inc., helped locate and arrange the purchase of many important artifacts, including one of the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle catalogs and a 1923 race bike that had been campaigned by a well known racer. Glenn remembers driving the catalog from California to Milwaukee, not wanting to take a chance on the mails.

Martin Jack became known in the Motor Company as the “go-to” guy for questions about historical Harleys, no matter how obscure. Glenn remembers a guy that had a 1909 Forecar - a two wheeled box that replaced the motorcycle’s front wheel, used for in-town deliveries. Forecars are very rare, and this one had been in the owner’s family for generations. The owner wanted to produce a video about it and also promote it for sale. MJR was able to locate a lot of historical information about this artifact, but when asked how much it was worth, he referred him to Glenn. “The factory can’t answer questions about value, so Martin referred him to me,” Glenn said. “We had a good working relationship. It was a win/win situation.”

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While he was Historian, Martin Jack was often the public face of The Motor Company, giving interviews and helping with research for books and films. He was especially good at explaining the “why” of riding to people who had no conception of the motorcycle experience. “I probably meditate more in a 24-hour period than most holy men- I just do it on a Harley!” he once said. Very unlike the popular image of university professors, Martin Jack was always ready with a quip and good for a joke. A fun and friendly guy, he was also highly analytical and had a real depth of knowledge in all of his three fields.

The Harley-Davidson museum opened on the Milwaukee lakefront in the summer of 2008. MJR had started teaching nights in 2000 and retired from Harley in 2007 to return to the University, although he came back to Harley for a short while just before the Museum opened.

Back at the University, MJR took on other projects, including acting as historian for Les Paul’s House of Sound at Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and setting up a certificate program in Rock and Roll Studies, the first of its kind in the United States. The certificate program, which commenced in 2012, was intended to boost the status of popular music to something that is worthy of serious study. “We get students from all over the world,” he said.

Shockingly, Martin Jack died unexpectedly in his sleep on January 11, 2014. MJR was busy and productive up to the day of his death at the young age of 67. He led a very full life and is missed by his many friends in each of his three worlds: poetry, music and motorcycles. Martin Jack Rosenblum is survived by his wife of 43 years, Maureen Rosen-blum, his two daughters, Sarah Terez Rosenblum and Molly Dvora Rosenblum, more than twenty books of poetry, more than a dozen CD’s of original music and the good memories of dozens of friends.

Godspeed, Martin Jack.

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[Author’s note: Glenn Bator asked me to write a fea-ture story about his friend Martin Jack Rosenblum; he said that Martin Jack had enthusiastically agreed to cooperate with the project. I called MJR and he explained that he would do his best, but had a lot on his plate. We agreed that I would email him ques-tions and he would answer them. The last email I got from him- with a long and well written answer to my queries- was dated January 9. On January 11, he was gone. Thanks to Ed Youngblood for provid-ing the remainder of the information I needed for this appreciation of the life of Martin Jack Rosenblum]

1951 Chevrolet La Carrera Pan America Rally Race CarThis 1951 Chevy two door is set up and ready to go. Street legal and currently registered, this car sports a 261ci. OHV 6 cylinder motor with duel carbs, Offenhauser intake manifold, Fen-ton split exhaust manifold, rally speedo, roll cage and modern race seats. It was raced at the La Carrera Panamerica 1989-91, The Great Race 2004, 05, 06, 07, the Coker Classic 2009, 2010, and the Targa California 2012.

The car has been properly serviced and main-tained and is ready to go!

This car is currently being offered on our web

site at batorinternational.com28 29

Tips and Tricks 2 “Auction Buying , Selling , Pitfalls & Deceptions” by Glenn Bator

In our inaugural issue of “Motorcycle Investor Newsletter, I conjured up the “Tips and Tricks” section as an avenue to pay forward some of my hard earned/learned insight on my chosen passion and hobby of classic motorcycles and autos. The first article focused on selling and the different options sellers have when parting with one of their cherished vehicles. One of the options discussed was selling at auction and what one may expect to face, good and/or bad.

As promised in issue one, the following is my in depth analysis of the inner workings of the auction world along with some basic tips and guidelines for both buyers and sellers. For those who have chosen this path of selling or acquiring vehicles, I trust this will help you avoid some of the pitfalls and disappointments that can occur through the auction process.

Auctions in general can be a lot of fun, as they are basically a show production with all of the thrills, chills, smoke and mirrors wrapped up in one event. For the seller, it can be a very harried experience as the nerves fray with anticipation before their vehicle goes over the block and, worse yet, while on the block for those fateful two minutes, the fate of their beloved vehicle, as well as their pocket book, is now in the hands of the judge and jury (auctioneer and buyers). When they hear that hammer drop and the verdict is in, the seller is either liberated, sentenced with a no sale, or if sold without reserve, penalized and fined as they just lost their butt, as their car or bike just sold for much less than what they have invested. Now, with what I just said, it sounds very cut and dry and from a layman’s po-sition, everything is right with the world, as the judge and jury just told the complete story about the worth of the sellers vehicle. The buzz in the room will be something like “wow, that just sold for way more than it was worth, that guy just hit a home run” or “that seller is nuts not to have pulled the trig-ger for that seemingly high price, if that was mine, I would have let it go”!! Another scenario is, “wow, that poor guy just lost his shirt, he’s going to be licking his wounds for a long time”!! Now, if the seller was lucky, his prized possession just got in the middle of a bidding frenzy between two liquored up buyers itching to outdo each other, and that’s all it takes for the war to begin! If you are lucky enough to be that seller, you just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Taking into account the different outcomes mentioned above, let’s break down what is happening on the other side of the fence, i.e. the auction house’s role. As a disclaimer, I must mention here that there are a number of auction houses that run a legitimate operation, but there are MANY others with huge names and reputations that know how to work their “magic” to extract as much profit out of each show/auction. The main goal of every auction house and each of their employees is to make as much money as possible regardless of how it is extracted. There are numerous ways that auction houses attain their goal, but I will only hit on the points and pitfalls that can be monitored, detected and possi-bly avoided by the average auction customer, whether they are a buyer or seller.

The playing field is set up as follows, the hired hit man is the quick talking auctioneer. His or her talent of inaudible ranting is well honed and once you have been around auctions for a number of years, you become better able to grasp and follow their rambling. In doing so, you will gain a lot of insight on the validity of what is going on. Some auctioneers are so well skilled, it is even hard for a veter-an auction goer who knows what goes on to catch everything and not get snagged in the web while bidding.

There are also others involved with the show that are integral to its’ success and closing of the sale. These other players on the field are as follows: the grinder, ring man, the online agents and the owner of the auction house. To break it down, I will help you understand the deception of the main players. We already spoke about the roll of the auctioneer, but I did not touch on the intricacies of that roll. The auctioneer is most definitely the main character in every auction. He knows and sees all and holds the power to direct the show while being in the spot light. Even while sitting in the room closely watching, most of the audience will never be the wiser as to what is really going on. The auctioneer portrays that he is there just to get the last bid out of the room and that he does not have any control other than taking the bids and either hammering the lot sold or waving it off the block, when in fact, he is actually orchestrating what is going on behind the scenes.

At the start of the auction, all of the main players have the reserve list in hand. There is a silent com-mon language between the auctioneer, ring men and those handling the phone and online bids con-sisting of hand signals and other movements, that are mostly hidden from the general audience. If you are an astute observer, you may be able to catch some of these subtle gestures between the auction staffers but most in the audience have no clue that there is “shill” bidding going on (protect-ing the vehicle from a low sale price) or that fake bids are being taken from “Joe Wall” or “Betty Light Fixture” to try to drive the price up. The show begins when the vehicle is rolled on stage. The lot going over the block will either have a reserve dollar amount on it that will need to be met or exceeded for the vehicle to sell, or it is going over the block marked as a “No Reserve” meaning it will sell to the highest bidder. A little insight here is that if the auction house owns the vehicle (most auction houses will buy inventory from time to time to put through their auctions), it will most likely be marked as a “No Reserve” when, in fact, there is an actual dollar amount that the auctioneer has to get for the ve-hicle, in order to actually sell it over the block. If that dollar amount is not met by a legitimate bidder, then the “shill” (plant), whom the auction house will have in the audience, will bid on and win the lot to protect the house from losing the vehicle too cheaply.

Once the bidding starts, it is up to the auctioneer and ring men to put on the show. The peripheral activity in the room, i.e. loud speakers, flashing or rotating lights and big screens are not just there for your entertainment, but are actually there to pull your focus away from the main trick of the magician. Another tactic commonly used to cloud the audiences perception is to hand out free drink tickets, which are usually reserved for the “big fish” and others who might be swayed to throw their hand up in a buzzed stupor.

On reserve vehicles, the auctioneer has a dollar amount that he must get and the ring men are there to help this along. If there is “real money” (legitimate bids) on the lot being sold, then the auctioneer and ring men have an easy job as they don’t have to pull any “rabbits out of their hat”. Once the real bidding exceeds the reserve and the item is definitely going to sell to the highest bidder, now it be-comes fun for all and the staffers just have to extract as many bids as possible and hammer it home. On the other hand, if the seller’s reserve is too high from the start and there aren’t any bids what so ever, the auctioneer has to grab false bids from the air and hammer the auction as a no sale. This usually goes quickly if there is no possibility of “hooking a fish”, because the auction house wants that item off the block as soon as possible, as time is money and they need to focus on items that will sell. If the item with reserve has a chance of hitting the number, then the auctioneer and ring men now have to go to work and really earn their keep. If an item is a slow starter, the auctioneer and ring men will work in total sync. First, the auctioneer will grab a few real bids on the item and if those starting bids are way lower than the reserve, the ring men will start to jump in to help kick the momentum up a notch or two. They will raise a fist and shout like they just won the million dollar lottery, at which point the auctioneer will grab the fake bid, then another ring man, or even at times the auctioneer, will call out another fake bid either in the room or from the staff member manning the phone bidding. The unsuspecting audience believes that the bidding is fast and furious, which tends to send electricity through the room. The bidders, thinking that they might be missing out on something, get all nervous and excited and caught up in the frenzy generated by the auctioneer, ring men and audience. Low 30 31

and behold, all of the sudden, a “real” bid comes in and the auctioneer just “hooked a fish”. If the price is still not hitting the reserve, the false bidding continues with the hopes that “the fish” will contin-ue swimming upstream until his/her bid is over the reserve, at which time the auctioneer hammers the sale and “the fish” has no idea what just happened.

While the bidding is underway, on the sideline, enters the grinder. The grinder’s duty is to find the seller and stay with him while the auction is going on. The grinder turns to the owner/seller and asks questions like, what is it really going to take to sell the bike today? If the seller is smart, they will give the grinder the absolute bottom line number that they have to get for their item. Once the grinder has this information and it is less than what the seller wrote down on the paperwork that they signed when entering their item in to the auction, the grinder signals to the auctioneer with this new found informa-tion. This is now the number that the auctioneer has to hit to hammer a sale. If the seller is trying to be sly, he/she won’t confide in the grinder, and so starts another game the grinder has to deal with. As the auction is continuing, if there are real bids in the room, the grinder will continue to work “or grind” the seller to see if he can get him/her to drop their reserve number. If the seller agrees, then the reserve goes off, the “No Reserve” sign goes up and the auction actors erupt into a frenzy which contaminates the entire room. That item is now definitely going to sell to the highest bidder!! On the other hand, if there are no real bids in the room and the auctioneer is getting close by raising false bids, but making sure to keep it just under the reserve while trying to hook a “fish” and the seller of the vehicle turns to the grinder and says “lift the reserve”, not realizing there are no actual bids, the vehicle gets hammered as a no sale. In this scenario, the seller is now pissed, because he dropped the reserve to sell the vehicle, but it was hammered as a no sale. So he charges over to the auction house owner and reams him out for his employees not hearing his “drop the reserve”, or acting on it. In reality, there is no money in the room and the grinder has to ignore the seller until the hammer drops on the no sale. This is really bad for the auction house as the “would be seller” is fuming mad and bad mouths the auction house to everyone that will listen. The only diffuser, the house now has is to offer the seller to rerun the bike back over the block at the end of the auction “if they can”. This usually does placate the pissed off client and by the time the auction is winding down and there are very few buyers left in the audience, the bike gets rammed through again to, you guessed it, another no sale.

Many items that sell at auction actually belong to the auction house. It is not uncommon for an auc-tion house to purchase an entire collection and then advertise it as if it is still owned and being auc-tioned by the collector. The auction house will usually need to guarantee the collector a set in pocket price, and possibly even pay the collector this set amount up front, to snag the collection for a specific auction. This scenario is great for the collector/seller, as it diminishes any risk factor which is the mo-tivation he/she needs to do the deal with the house. This information is never advertised to the gen-eral public, in fact, many of the “in house” owned vehicles are advertised as the “no reserve” heroes for an upcoming auction, drawing in collectors and buyers from all over the world. This technique also works well to generate a buzz about the upcoming auction in their mailers and online advertise-ments.

When an auction house owns vehicles that they are running through an auction, they have total control of the show. The “no reserve” auction owned vehicle will never sell with no reserve, unless it is a real dog that they need to dump. The auction owned lots will have a “protected” number that the auctioneer has to hit before it is legitimately sold. When these items are on the block, the house wants the audience to think they are going to sell, without a doubt, to the highest bidder. When the auctioneer is getting close to the price the house wants for the item, the auction owner or other autho-rized staff member, will ask the auctioneer via hand signal or other preset means of communication, if he has real money on this lot. If he does, the house will pull the trigger and hammer the sale home. If not, then the auctioneer knows to hammer it sold to the phantom in house bidder, in which case the house will still own the lot. The vehicle will then either stay sold (be hidden away by the auction house and turn up at another venue a ways down the road), or it might show up in the “no sale” corral

with the story that the buyer backed out of the deal and the vehicle can now be purchased at the last hammer price.

Telephone bidding has been available for years, but online bidding is a fairly new avenue that has come available with the advancement of the internet. This area of the auction is probably the easiest way for the house to raise “false bids”. There is no proof of the bid being taken, so the staff members in these positions can easily assist the auctioneer in getting the bid up to the reserve. The play is usually already scripted between the auctioneer and the staff, so all the auctioneer has to do is look at and signal the phone and online bid takers and magically the bids start coming in. This formula is often used when the auction house owns the vehicle on the block, as this is a safe harbor for closing a deal without suspicion.

Onto a few “dos and don’t s” while buying at auction. NEVER, NEVER reveal to the house (auction-eer, ring man, owner) the true number you are willing to pay for a particular bike or car at auction. Recently, I observed a buyer telling the ring man how high he waned to go and “trying to be sly” had the ring man bid for him while he sat silent in the audience. Of course, the first thing the ring man did was motion to the auctioneer what his buyer’s high bid was, and between them, they took the selling price of a bike that had a current street value of possibly $70k and ran it up well beyond twice it’s value. It was no surprise, the high bid went to the “sap” who revealed his hand to the ring man. Another aspect to be aware of, is if you cannot be present for the auction and you want to leave a “left bid”, meaning you want to put in a set bid amount on a certain lot, know that the auction house will use your bid as their “ace in the hole” to run the number up as high as it will go above your left bid amount. If your bid is above the reserve, and there are no higher legitimate bids, you will definitely own the lot at the end of the day.

Another issue to be aware of at auction, and especially at motorcycle auctions, is “a static auction”, meaning that the bikes are not started, so there is no way to really get a good read on what you are bidding on. My suggestion is to get there early, inspect the unit and ask a lot of questions. If possi-ble, have the auction house contact the seller, so you can speak directly with him/her about the bike. Does the seller seem reputable; is the mileage on the bike actual; who restored the bike and when; how well does the bike run; does it have a clear, transferable title, etc. Really pick the seller’s brain. The more info you have, the better decision you can make. Be aware that many auction vehicles are “fluffed” specifically to sell at auction, as there is very little, if any, accountability on the products by the seller, which is why they use the auction as their avenue to dump a problem. The auction house can only do so much to protect you, as they can only go on what the sellers report to them about the vehicles. In other words, if you want that nice looking Triumph, you need to take into consideration what it might cost you to have the engine or other internal components rebuilt and then back that amount off your perceived value of that unit. That way, if you do end up as the high bidder, you won’t be upside down if you have to shell out some dough to make it right.

Do I buy at auction? The answer is yes, I most certainly do, but I am educated and experienced and I always go in with my eyes wide open. Do I still get stung at times? The answer is also yes. Like playing poker or the stock market, the auction game gives you that same adrenaline rush, but the same scenario applies, the better educated and experienced you are, the better chance you have of doing well. Auctions are a blast, but don’t get caught up in the frenzy and end up with something you don’t want. If you don’t have the knowledge or experience, then hire it. You can still go out there, have a great time and learn a lot too! For the few auctioneers and auction houses that deal a straight hand, I have great respect and admiration. For the buyers that will risk the chance at auction, all I can say is “Caveat emptor fuerit”!!!

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Check out this issues featured readers. Remember, we want to feature you with your favorite ride too, so please take the time to send us a picture of your fine ride with a few words and you could be featured in the “Reader’s Rides” section… ENJOY !

Peter... Australia Hey Glenn, You were right, the RS 500 fits very well in my collection. As you can see, I own an MT125 Honda, an EX Lee Roebuck bike, a CB1000 Casey Stoner Limited Edition, a VTR1000 SP1, a RC30, and two of Wayne Gardner EX500 Grand Prix champion bikes, just to name a few.

A notable mention also goes out to my custom CB750, with some of the finest art work I have ever seen. (pictured above right) Thanks to the good people at Bator International, inc. I have a beautiful RS500. I would also like to give a special thanks to Glenn Bator, who was exceptionally professional to work with. He went above and beyond to prepare the bike and insure its safe travel to Australia. I have no doubts in purchasing another from Glenn in the future. Have a good day mate,Regards, Pete

Denny...North Carolina, USA I want to say thanks to Bator international for having such grace and elegance to give the world a chance at such history.I bought this 1963 FL site unseen and their website and detailed pictures and in-formation was spot on to what I received. They took great care to ready the bike for shipping, used a great company to ship it to me and when it arrived it was even more then I expected. This bike is my prize possession and I will treasure it until I die. Thanks again Bator international.

Sincerely,Denny

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The weekend of April 6-7, represented the first outing of the season with my 1988 Swift DB4 Formula Atlantic. Deni and I headed out Friday to enjoy the weekend at Willow Springs with VARA (Vintage Auto Racing Association) for their annual High Desert Challenge. We were also accompanied by our friend and co-worker John Thow and his sons, Daniel, 15 and Luke, 8 (my official race crew chief). Upon leaving, our typical Southern California weather was excellent, the sun was shining and the temp was pushing 80. However, once we reached the desert, the winds were blowing “to beat the band” and we had to be very careful with the rear fiberglass race car bonnet, or we would have found ourselves with a very ex-pensive sail plane about to touch down with devastating and costly results. The Class Three playing field was a mixed bag of approximately seventeen cars. There were three Formula Atlantics running the Toyota 1.6 liter, 16 valve motors, sporting about 250 hp at around 9500 rpm, two Super V-3s, two SV2s, and a number of Formula Continentals, sporting 2.0 liter engines, just to name a few. Friday’s test run went well, without any issues. The car was running great and other than the typical once over after each session, the car was ready to go for Saturday’s preliminary and Sunday’s Trophy Race. Saturday went great and I manged to come away with the fastest time for all classes at 1.23 minutes on the 2.5 mile course. The car was really handling well, the Hoosiers were sticking and all was right with the world, with one exception, the G Forces I was encountering in the turns proved to be too much for my helmet which seemed to be trying to take my head off. (Time for a new hel-met) Each and every time we go out racing, I tend to get faster and with this, we always encounter new and challenging issues we have to correct for the next outing. Our final trophy race on Sunday was not until 2:00pm, so we had a leisurely morning instead of having to get up at 5:30 as we had done the day before. There was a warm up session at 9:30, in which I ran a few laps feeling confident and a bit cocky that I was in a good position to win the 2:00 race.

I brought the car in for a battery charge, topped off the 110 octane racing fuel, closed the lid and let her rest. The call came out for Class Three cars to take their positions in the pre-grid. I strapped in, fired up the car and after a few minutes warm up, headed over to the line up. Once I turned the corner, I was motioned to the pole position and once there, I was pushed back against the wall where I shut the car down waiting for Group Two to finish up and come in. After about ten minutes, we got the first whistle at the five minute mark. Deni plugged in the auxiliary battery and smacked me on the head to tell me to fire it up. Once started, she unplugged the battery and I was ready to go. Finally the pace car headed out on the track with us in tow. After scrubbing in the tires around turns one through five, the motion was made out of the pace car to form up two by two. Coming around turn nine, the pace car peeled off into the hot pit, and as we got closer to the starting line, I gunned it and we were off. For the first six laps I managed to hold off the field and retain the first position. The car felt fine and as long as I kept the pace, I would soon be seeing the checkered flag. At Willow, turn four is a tight right hander with an immediate down hill. I made my usual down-shift to second and then headed south with plenty of power for the next turn. For some reason, the rear end washed out on me causing me to spin. I corrected it as best I could and continued for-ward, I could hear the two trailing cars skidding to avoid hitting me broad side. For the moment I stayed in front and we raced on. The next lap was status quo, I was in first followed by the two FV-3’s. On the back stretch, we were coming into some lapped traffic, I got blocked, allowing the third place driver to get around me heading into turn eight. I stayed behind him until out of nine and was planning on passing him on the outside when going down the straight away before hitting turn one. As I approached to pass, the driver faded into my position, I had to take the inside line and successfully passed him as we entered turn one. Exiting the turn, my rear end broke loose and I spun into the gravel doing a 360, I corrected the car and rolled forward off track. After a few cars passed, I went back out on the asphalt and attempted to continue, only to find my rear end was sliding around like I was on ice. I pulled back off to the shoulder and sat there for a minute to assess my situa-tion. I looked at my front tires and saw that I had some large rocks stuck in the soft rubber. I figured the rear must be the same, so I just need to knock off the rubble and I should be good to go. I restarted the car and pulled back onto the track, after about fifty feet, I knew I was done for the day. I nursed it over to the outside of turn two, shut her down and waited for assistance. About ten minutes later the safety truck arrived. I explained that my rear end was all over the place, he inspected the damage and told me that the rear trailing arm on my right rear wheel was missing a bolt. This $1.50 cent part was the culprit for the spins and ended my race. He rigged a round key ring and “MacGyvered” it in place of the bolt. After the race ended, I hobbled the car back to the pits. I was feeling bad that I had not finished, but was greeted with applause as I exited the track. So ended the weekend for yours truly and my trusty pit crew and wife Deni. As we were loading the car in the trailer, we had a visit from some of the race fans that marveled at the Swift for being so fast. Of course, I was very accommodating as I was definitely sucking up all of the acco-lades which made me feel a lot better. After the dust literally settled, the F/A is back in the shop and getting ready for our next outing.

For video of this race, racing schedules and more go to batorinternational.com and click on Vintage Racing.

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Ducati has always been a brand associated with quality, competitive Road Racers. The 1964 F3 Corsa absolutely carried on that proud tradition. Fabio Taglioni was Ducati’s premier engineer of the day with a talent for designing fast bikes. In the 1950’s, Taglioni developed an overhead cam lightweight with desmodromic valves that was the bike to beat in international lightweight compe-tition.

Although similar in appearance to its road going counterparts, the race bike’s frame was in fact lower and lighter, with a lower steering head and shorter 35mm Marzocchi steel forks. It also featured a shorter swing arm and 19 inch wheels.

Ducati’s single cylinder racers are as much a work of art as they were great racers. Production of all three versions of the F3s combined was very limited, with perhaps less than 100 bikes, and only as few as five or six were 250s. This certainly gives credence to the rarity of this beautiful bike. It is believed that today there may be as few as two left in existence, they are extremely rare and extremely valuable.

Walter Villa was one of the most famous GP racers of the 60’s and 70’s, winning four GP titles in the 250 and 350 classes in 1974, 1975 and 1976. It is believed that this 250 was his personal motorcycle, based on an inspection by his brother, Francesco. Both the engine and frame have significant differences from other Ducati motorcycles.

This rare motorcycle is currently being offered on our web site at batorinternational.com where you will find more information and videos.

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