![Vintage Price Guide](images/DailyArticles/April2010/VintagePriceGuide/Vintage-Motorcycle-Price-Guide-001-Lead.jpg)
Vintage Motorcycle Price Guide Covers Bikes From 1901 to 1995
Story by Wendy Manning
Photos courtesy of Whitehorse Press
Whether you’re thinking about placing a bid on a Shovelhead basket case in an online auction, or you’ve already restored your 1950 Panhead and are looking to sell, being armed with current price information is always the smart way to go. Whitehorse Press, those folks in the great “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire, have just released the fourth annual edition of The Comprehensive Vintage Motorcycle Price Guide, filled with painstakingly collected data from auctions, vintage dealers, marque experts, and Internet sales throughout the year. Designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, the guide lists price information for dozens of motorcycle brands from the United States and around the world, from Harley-Davidson, Buell, BMW, Ducati, Honda, and Triumph, to Ace and Yankee, as well as well as lesser known or more specialized bikes such as Ariel, Pope, and Whizzer. [Candidly, I had to look up Whizzer in an online image search, as I’d never seen one.]
Each year, the guide is expanded to add another year, so it’s consistent in including all motorcycles 15 years old and older in the “vintage” category.
Dan Kennedy, owner of Whitehorse Press and editor of the fourth edition, said, “This edition of the VMPG is the first edition in which we have been involved. The price guide is a creation of the Vintage Japanese and European Motorcycle Club (VJEMC), and was produced in-house by them for the first three editions. We began discussions with the club early in 2009 when they decided that the price guide deserved professional production and broader distribution.”
Dan said Whitehorse Press carefully evaluated the guide and discussed it with club officials before signing on with the project. He was impressed with the research involved and the book’s layout. “Our evaluation of the book and discussions with club officials indicated that the data had been carefully assembled, and the information was presented in a highly usable form, just as enthusiasts would need it,” he said. “Unlike other automotive and motorcycle price guides, which are generally produced for insurance adjusters and wholesale dealers, this one was designed especially for enthusiasts.”
The information in the book is formed by the opinions of dealers, auctioneers, collectors, and experts in the vintage field and confirmed by hundreds of hours of research and data entry. It’s described by Whitehorse as “the most accurate price guide written for vintage motorcycles” and I wouldn’t even attempt to dispute that claim, as prices are derived from actual sales between knowledgeable enthusiasts and are given for six quality grades, ranging from rat-bike to like-new.
“The club has developed a substantial network of contributors, each of whom specializes in a small number of marques and watch sale prices throughout the year,” Dan explained. “In January, data from the contributors is merged into a common database maintained by the club, and it’s that database that forms the core of the book.”
The Comprehensive Vintage Motorcycle Price Guide begins with an overview of which bikes are currently hot and which are not, with commentary by experts on why prices are changing as they are. Although nothing is etched in stone, the authors offer interesting insight on such topics as the price of vintage Harleys at auction. They cautiously predict this is the year well-restored and original Harleys of the 1940s (and earlier) will command top dollar: “…prices for more of the Harley models have held steady, which is interesting considering the recent economy in the USA and around the world.”
The guide also includes a full description of how each price grade is defined and how to recognize which grade a particular bike belongs in. Printed in a handy pocket-size, it’s the perfect companion to have with you at the next motorcycle rally or auction you attend, or even when you chance upon that rare specimen in a neighbor’s garage or a farmer’s barn and want to make an offer right then and there. [Has anyone been watching American Pickers on the History Channel? Those guys from Antique Archeology are always stumbling on vintage Harleys and Indians in somebody’s old rundown barn…makes you want to follow them around.]
Dan said, “As the book has just come into print, we have no statistics yet for sales, but we expect that it will be popular with motorcyclists who work with or deal in older motorcycles, but especially for vintage motorcycle buffs, collectors, and restorers.”
Whitehorse Press is owned by Dan and his wife, Judy Kennedy. The couple founded the company in Boston in 1989, and moved it to Conway, New Hampshire, in 1995. They publish six to eight new titles each year, all in the motorcycling field. Currently, Whitehorse has approximately 50 active titles in print. They’ve worked with individual authors and industry sources (AMA, MSF, BMW, and others) to produce particular books. “Our specialty is technical books and travel books for motorcycle enthusiasts,” Dan said.
The Comprehensive Vintage Motorcycle Price Guide is available at all bookstores as well as motorcycle dealerships, online bookstores, and directly from www.whitehorsepress.com. Hop on over there to check out all of their titles.