BIG NUMBERS

Mecum’s January 25-28 Las Vegas offering was very big: 949 machines went past the block, with 868 of them selling. The $13.7 million (£10.98 million) total sale was a record for Mecum’s Las Vegas sale.

Top performer by a country mile was this superb 1912 Henderson Four, which sold for $490,000 (£392,754), believed to be the only first year Henderson surviving in the USA. The top three sellers were all Henderson fours, with a beautifully restored 1913 example making the second highest price at $150,000 (£120,230) and another 1913 model realising $127,500 (£102,196). And all of the top 10 prices, bar a lovely, 1949 Vincent Black Shadow, which made $110,000 (£88,169) were on American-built machines.

It wasn’t just the sale prices at the top end of the market that made this such a successful sale, though. There was a wonderfully broad range of machinery – including more modestly priced Italian and Japanese classics. And heading up a strong off-road entry was Gerrit Wolsink’s 1977 US Gp-winning 420cc factory Suzuki motocrosser. The bike was presented in the condition it finished the race that year and made $70,000 (£56,107).