Be sure of what you REALLY have out in that shed… This is the sort of bike that might be casually tossed into the trash. And what a shame that would be. Up for sale in January. Se Here for what a proper restoration looks like.

PRIVATE DU PONT MUSEUM COLLECTION OF MOTORCYCLES COMES TO AUCTION

The 50-motorcycle strong family trove to be featured at Bonhams Las Vegas Sale in January.

San Francisco – Bonhams is extremely pleased to announce that it has been entrusted to represent what is regarded as one of the most important collections of motorcycles to come to market in years. From the prominent American family Du Pont, a name synonymous with a chemical empire, a luxury automobile manufacturer, and Indian motorcycle – America’s first motorcycle company, is a private museum collection three generations in the making.

Offered for the very first time, the collection of nearly 50 vintage motorcycles spanning 70 years of history contains many important and impressive machines, a good number of them Indian.

As an investor of the Indian Motocycle (sic) Company since 1923, Eleuthere Paul du Pont took over the ailing company in 1929 and helped usher in one of the most successful eras – financially, competitively, technologically and stylistically – in Indian’s history. As a result of this, the Du Pont family collection contains numerous Indian models – many of which were restored at Indian’s Springfield, Mass. factory – such as Camelback, Singles, Twins, Board Track Racer, Prince, Scout, Chief and Four, not to mention the following noteworthy individuals:

A completely untouched, original condition circa 1903 Indian Camelback
1908 Indian Camelback with an early restoration by the Indian factory
1908 Indian Twin restored by the factory and displayed at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia
An extremely rare original paint 1909 Pope Single
Circa 1915 Indian Twin Board Track Racer acquired in the 1950s
What is believed to be the last Indian Chief supplied to a dealer

Additionally, some notable British motorcycles are included such as a 1951 Vincent Black Shadow with just 3,000-odd miles from new and a believed ex-Francis Beart 1959 Norton Manx, as well as numerous Triumph models. In all, the Du Pont family collection includes the following marques from America, Europe and Japan: BSA, Ducati, Gilera, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Indian, Merkel, Ner-A-Car, Norton, Peugeot, Pope, Scott, Simplex, Stephens, Suzuki, Triumph, Vincent and Yamaha.

The Du Pont Museum Collection will be offered at the second annual Bonhams Las Vegas Motorcycle Sale on January 12th, inside the famous Auto Collections museum at the Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino on The Strip.