• Seven vintage motorcycles were found in a Los Angeles warehouse.

• The discovery included six Vincent.

• Vincents were renowed for the speed and quality.

You’re doing your laundry and checking through each pocket to make sure they’re empty. And suddenly, your hand pulls out a RM 50 note. Note the elation of that find. Now imagine discovering 7 rare vintage bikes – 6 of them being Vincent Motorcycles!

These following bikes were found in a Los Angeles warehouse after the passing of their owner. A liquidation firm has been nominated to auction the bikes and they told of an owner who had imported the bikes in the 1960s when he moved to the States. He also brought along a large cache of spare parts from the UK.

The Vincents discovered are:

1938 Vincent Series-A HRD Twin

Vincent stopped production of the Series-A in 1939 due to WW2, then resuming business in 1946. That makes this Series-A even rarer. Only 78 Series-A were ever made, with probably only 40 to 50 still intact.

1948 Vincent Series-B Rapide

What made Vincents so much sought after? Performance. The Series-B Rapide already had a top speed of 177 km/h right out of the crate! It was the world’s fastest motorcycle of the era. Remember that this was at a time when motorcycle tyres were just a little wider than those on bicycles. Company owner Phillip Vincent and his genius chief engineer Phil Irving modified the Rapide event further, resulting in the latter Rapide which hit 201 km/h.

1950 Vincent Comet (basket case)

The liquidation company reported this bike as a basket case.

1953 Vincent Series-C “Black Shadow”

The Black Shadow and its Black Lightning racing counterpart are probably the best-known Vincents. It was a groundbreaking motorcycle when it was launched, especially in terms of its suspension and detailed quality work that’ll make modern bikes cry. Check out the picture. Vincent made only 42 Series-C, reported each at a loss to the company.

1955 Vincent Victor (replica)

If you do some research on Vincent motorcycles, you’d find that the company’s true passion was pushing the boundaries of motorcycle technology. They already experimented with a full fairing back in 1955. There were three models: The Black Knight based on the Rapide, Black Prince based on the Shadow, and Victor based on the Comet.

The concept was too far ahead of its time, so Vincent made only 1 Victor. This owner probably couldn’t obtain one, thus he modified his Comet into this “Victor.”

1954 Vincent Rapide D/C

These were produced one year before Vincent went under. But that didn’t mean the bike was under-built for it was still imbued with Vincent’s legendary built quality, technology and performance. Vincent kept losing money because their bikes were expensive to build and were priced much higher than the competition.

Source: RideApart