Wolverhampton-built Sunbeam bike goes under the hammer
A Wolverhampton-built motorcycle is set to fetch up to £10,000 at auction.
The historic bike will be sold at the same auction where Top Gear presenters Richard Hammond and James May are selling 12 of their motorcycles for about £60,000.
The Sunbeam three and a half horsepower Model 6 Sportsman is expected to go for between £8,000 and £10,000 at the Bonhams auction in Stafford on April 26. It cost just a few hundred pounds when new in 1927.
The bike was originally owned by Horace Allen who loved it so much that he kept it in his kitchen. Mr Allen owned the bike for almost 60 years until his death in 1983.
Since then it has had only three other owners – John Moore, of Hampshire, William Cakebread, of Kent, and its present owner who has not been named by auctioneers Bonhams.
A Bonhams spokesman said: "The first Sunbeam motorcycle – a 350cc two and three quarters horsepower side-valve single – left the Wolverhampton premises of John Marston, hitherto a manufacturer of finest quality enamelled goods, bicycles and latterly cars, in 1912.
"Like Marston's other products, his motorcycles soon established a reputation for sound construction and exemplary finish."
A £10 million transformation of the old Sunbeam factory off Penn Road is ongoing.
The 120,000sq ft site had been empty for 15 years, but will be converted into 115 apartments by 2017.
Property developer Liam Wordley bought the building in 2013 with a plan to redevelop the whole site. Thirty-two of the apartments will include learning disability housing, with the remaining available for private rent.
Part of the building will be demolished to create room for 37 parking spaces, a courtyard containing an outdoor games area, cycle parking and charging space for mobility scooters. Other support facilities include a laundry and a small shop combined with the concierge office.
Former rugby player Mr Wordley bought the factory, called Sunbeamland in its heyday, from regeneration company Urban Splash.
The auctioned Sunbeam will be up for grabs just minutes before eight of May's motorcycles and four of Hammond's motorcycles go up for sale at the same auction.
The 12 have a combined guide price of up to £66,000.
The most expensive items include a £12,000 Yamaha SR400 and £18,000 Norton Commando.
May said of the sale "Just because I'm unemployed now doesn't mean I have to get rid of everything.
"I was going to sell these bikes anyway. And those paintings, and my collection of Scalextric cars. Honest."
And Hammond added: "As a serious collector of motorcycles, it's important to review one's stable regularly, and the Bonhams Stafford sale is the ideal opportunity to move bikes on and possibly acquire new ones.
"I also have a canoe, and some Wharfedale hi-fi speakers, if anyone's interested."
