21/10/2009 Bonhams to Sell Important BMW Motorcycle Collection in Munich
1966 BMW 594cc R69S - £8000-12,000
French motorcycle policemen, riding boots and jodhpurs – if you like this sort of thing (in its most innocent sense) you should be at the BMW Museum on 28 November to bid on one of motoring’s most enduring images: black-painted, flat-twin BMW motorcycles.
The British auction house has scored something of a coup. Not only will it be selling nigh-on 100 classic motorbikes from the Willy Neutkens Collection, it’s going to be conducting the auction in the home of all things BMW: the Bavarian company’s museum in Munich.
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Neutkens, who died last year, had amassed an astonishing array of BMW two-wheelers, earning him in the process an entry in the 1998 Guinness Book of Records for owning the most examples of a single make.
1924 BMW 494cc R32 - £30,000-40,000
1975 BMW 898cc R90 S - £6000-10,000
The earliest model, 494cc R32, at £30,000 - 40,000, dates back to 1924, while there are also 1942 and 1943 R75 Kriegselefant sidecar outfits (in ‘desert’, Afrika Korps camouflage and estimated at £20,000 - 25,000 each) and the last ‘proper’ BMW twin, an R100 Classic which was presented to Neutkens by BMW and remains unused (£5500 - 6000).
For those interested in the sporting side of the marque, there’s the 1953 BMW R68 ISDT (£17,000 - 20,000) once owned – and raced – by Isle of Man TT-winning motorcycling legend Georg Meier.
Georg Meier's 1953 BMW 594cc R68 ISDT - £17,000-20,000
Ben Walker, Head of the Motorcycles Department at Bonhams, said: "It is a privilege to offer this collection on behalf of the Neutkens family. Not only is it one of the most prestigious collections of BMW motorcycles in the world but it is also taking place at a world-class museum – the BMW Museum in Munich."
Now where are my leathers...
Please click HERE to see a full lotlist of the forthcoming sale.
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