You may recall the scenes in the Nicholas Cage National Treasure movies when the bedraggled group somehow has survived a succession of life-and-limb threatening ordeals and finally beholds the acres of treasure arrayed below.
Although I’d done nothing more harrowing than to have walked through the South Point hotel lobby and adjacent casino, I beheld a similarly breathtaking scene last week when I stepped through a doorway and onto the balcony above the 80,000-square-foot Priefert Pavilion. There, below, to my left and to my right, all but a few of the vintage motorcycles being offered at Mecum’s 26th annual Las Vegas auction were parked in a series of long rows.
Like seemingly everyone else taking in this vista, I unabashedly took photos before catching my breath and heading down the stairway for a closer look at 1,000 motorcycles.
Oh, and I’d yet to walk into the adjacent 4,600-seat arena where the actual auction was taking place, and where some of the featured machines were on display.
Nearly 3,000 collector cars earlier in the month at Kissimmee, Florida. A thousand or so vintage motorcycles as the month ended at Las Vegas. Mecum certainly likes to get the new year off on a grand scale.
Meanwhile, over in a ballroom-sized room at the Rio convention center, Bonhams was staging its seventh annual Las Vegas sale of vintage two-wheelers, with perhaps 200 on the docket.
Whether you ride them, collect them or, like me, simply view them as amazing pieces of industrial sculpture, vintage motorcycles are beautiful to behold. Here are just a few that I got to enjoy last week:
Mecum at South Point
Bonhams at Rio
Photo by Larry Edsall
