Buy Eddie Lawson's Norton
He's never ridden it, though...
BONHAMS' Las Vegas motorcycle auction – starting today – is packed with ancient scrapyard refugees with stratospheric estimates but dig a little deeper into the catalogue and there are some more unusual gems being offered.
While here at Visordown we find it hard to get too excited about 100-year-old relics being passed from one wealthy collector to another for half-a-million dollars a time, some of the more recent stuff is evocative enough to pique our interest.
Like this. Eddie Lawson's own Norton 850 Commando Roadster. Bought by the former world champ back in 1990 – when it was already 15 years old – it was still in its crate until a few months ago when he couldn't resist unpacking it for the first time. A complete time-warp, it's never been run and has just 0.7 miles on the clock from being wheeled around.
Estimated to be sold for $25,000-$35,000 (£16k-£22k) it's arguably just as historic as some of those ancient things going for ten times the price. Of course, given that even Eddie Lawson couldn't bring himself to ride the Norton, it would be sacrilege to actually start it – but there are plenty of people who'll pay that much for a painting, and we'd rather have this hanging on the wall...
