CAFÉ RACER 76: Bonhams to offer The Lonati Collection of American Motorcycles

On 17 October, Bonhams will offer 60 predominantly American collectors’ motorcycles from the Lonati Collection, at its Autumn Stafford Sale…

The world-class collection of motorcycles belonged to the late Tiberio Lonati, an entrepreneur and CEO of the Santoni Group, and was housed in a stunning private museum at the Santoni factory in Brescia, Italy. Said to love the ‘complete freedom’ that motorcycles represent, Lonati started the collection after his son Francesco took an interest in the subject, and persuaded him to purchase a civilianised Harley-Davidson WLA (now estimated at £10,000-14,000). The rest, as they say, was history.

Of the 60-bike collection, 30 are Harley-Davidsons, while the rest comprise a number of predominantly American marques such as Indian, Henderson and Flying Merkel. Among the many highlights are a 1930 Indian Model 402 said to be the ‘Duesenberg of motorcycling’ (£40,000-50,000), a matching-numbers 1916 Henderson Four (£30,000-40,000), and a 100-year-old Indian 4HP Model E, one of the landmark early Indians (£8,000-14,000). We can only hope that the fortunate new custodians of these fantastic bikes share the passion and the enthusiasm for them that Lonati did. You can find the full, 60-lot catalogue listed in the Classic Driver Market. We’ve chosen 10 highlights...