Mecum Monterey 2024 Sales are moving fast and the major US auction house has a field 100 vintage motorcycles on sale from August 15 to 17. With everything from turn-of-the-century bikes to a 2023 Ducati Lamborghini Streetfighter, there’s plenty to choose from, but we felt the following three bikes deserved their stories to be told.
Jimmy “Daredevil” Washburn’s Harley-Davidson VL
Forty years before Knievel’s Skycycle completed a somewhat anticlimactic descent down Snake River Canyon, motorcycle stunt riding looked a little different in America. Regional daredevils were making a name for themselves by scaling walls, jumping old bobbers, and crashing through flaming obstacles in spectacular fashion. A rising star touring California’s finest, Jimmy “Daredevil” Washburn was undoubtedly one of the biggest names on two wheels in the 1930s.
Picking prunes for 10 cents a box, Washburn was able to buy his first bicycle—a 1917 Harley-Davidson that cost $75. By 1925, he had learned to ride over a wall and was touring local festivals for $2 a day.
Washburn was an accomplished race car driver and led an entire stunt team in the 1930s, often referred to as ‘Dare Devil Washburn’s Mystery Squadron.’ His signature stunts included jumping over a sedan at 70 mph, and crashing through glass, bricks and burning planks, and in 1934, Washburn jumped 65 feet over eight sedans. Washburn toured North America, Europe and Australia, and headlined the Chicago and New York World’s Fairs. His stunts can also be seen in the 1936 film Donovan Accident.
Considering the brutal nature of his feats, it’s surprising that the man lived to tell about them, but it’s even more amazing that his machine did as well, as ‘Daredevil Washburn built his legacy on This 1932 Harley-Davidson VLThis bike was purchased by him in the mid-30s for just $200 and was used by him as his main stunt bike for most of his career.
The old VL has been stripped down and given the standard bobber treatment, with the bobber rear fender, megaphone exhaust, and all the non-essential road equipment removed. The tri-diamond paint and number 7 badges reflect the style Washburn most often wears, and the front crash bar and screen that helped him perform his stunts on the wall are still in place.
Kept in the Washburn family for decades, along with a collection of photos and memorabilia, Daredevil’s VL is a machine worthy of display in any major museum.
1922 Brough Superior Mark 1 90 Bore
William E. Brough’s Brough Motorcycles had achieved moderate success after World War I, but his young son George had delusions of grandeur when he developed a new 500cc flat-twin motorcycle with aluminum cases, pistons, and ball-bearing camshafts. George envisioned a proprietary motorcycle of superior quality and performance, and he was willing to part ways with his father to build it.
George struck out on his own in 1919, aged 29, and spent his profits from Brough Motorcycles on a plot of land on Haydn Road in Nottingham. While his new shop was being built, George worked on his first few motorcycles in his father’s garage, having secured a six-year-old engine from JA Prestwick. Despite his humble beginnings, George’s genius for early bikes was evident, and an old drinking buddy joked that he should name his company after Brough Superior. William was not very pleased, but the name was retained.
George first advertised his Mark 1 Brough Superior in 1920, calling it an ‘atmosphere destroyer’ and making clear that his new machine offered unrivalled performance and quality. Deposits poured in, and by 1922 Brough Superior was producing over 100 bicycles a year.
While his later models would make a name for Brough (the SS80 and SS100), the brilliance of Brough’s approach was evident even in the Mark 1. The frame was a sturdy open diamond design with a Brampton fork, Enfield or Webb wheels using 10-gauge spokes, and bicycle-style brakes were considered more than adequate for the time. Where most other bikes used angled tanks under the top tube, the Mark 1 was adorned with a streamlined, hand-formed tank on a beautifully nickel-plated frame.
The Mark 1’s engine was a 986cc JAP 50-degree V-twin, nicknamed the ’90 Bore’ because of its cylinder size (90mm bore and 77.5mm stroke), with triple-ring aluminium pistons, sandblasted covers, plated valve gears and polished cast aluminium mufflers. The Mark 1 could run 60mph all day, had a top speed of 80mph and was almost certainly faster than anything else on the road.
It is estimated that Brough built around 100 90-Bore Mark 1 guns between 1919 and 1923 before they were replaced by the legendary SS80 gun, and it is believed that only a handful of the guns survive today. Lot R112.1 of Mecum is a spectacular example from 1922, restored worthy of the top prize at the Motoroclassica Concours in October 2019.
1942 Indian Four Model 441
Few (if any) motorcycles of the era could match the stage presence of the Indian Four, with its elegant inline-four engine, all-sprung chassis and bedazzled fenders. Easily one of the most iconic and desirable American motorcycles ever built, history has been incredibly kind to the model given its role in the brand’s decline.
Reliability and sporting prowess made Indian the number one motorcycle brand in America, but after allocating its entire inventory to the military during World War I (effectively stripping the company of its dealer network), the brand found itself facing competition from Harley-Davidson. Strategic moves in innovation and image led to the creation of Indian’s most successful models, the versatile Scout and the full-sprung Cheif, and Indian came close to matching Harley’s sales by 1940.
So what happened to Indian? A combination of factors led to the company’s post-war skeleton status, but there’s no denying the Indian Four’s contribution to the company’s financial woes.
Indian acquired the Ace Motor Corporation in 1927, including William G. Henderson’s latest four-cylinder design, and quickly renamed the bike the Indian Ace. The bike was modified over the years, becoming less Ace-style and more Indian-style with a stronger five-bearing crankshaft, a pull-link front fork, and Indian’s quarter-elliptic leaf springs. Despite the improvements, demand for the top-of-the-line motorcycle during the Great Depression was low, as the Indian Four sold for the price of an average family car.
From 1936 to 1937, the Four was fitted with a new cylinder head with intake ports over the exhaust ports to improve fuel evaporation and increase power, but this design directed too much heat at the rider, so the previous valve arrangement was returned in 1938. The last Fours were arguably the best of the bunch, now boasting the same skirted fenders and piston-type rear suspension as the Chief from 1940 onwards.
Indian’s substantial investment in these four models never materialized, with around 5,000 bikes produced over 15 years, and the company struggled after World War II with only the Chief and a few rebadged foreign models in its product line.
While the story of the Indian Four is no fairy tale, it doesn’t detract from the sheer beauty of the bikes as Lot R204 of Mecum—a fully restored ’42 Model 441. Professionally restored by 4th Coast Fours in 2023, the bike looks like new with 375 miles on the clock. Part sophisticated Americana and part art deco brilliance, this Indian Four is sure to fetch a six-figure price and take pride of place in someone’s collection.
Source: Mecum Auction
