Bike targets $400 000 at auction

The SS100 model for auction at a Bonham’s event in California on August 18 was the last to leave the company’s Nottingham factory. Only 71 specimens still exist of those assembled between 1924 and 1940. In their heyday the Brough Superior SS100 counted many celebrities among its fans – most notably T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia).

The brand was synonymous with performance, engineering excellence and a top-notch finish.

Lawrence was one of the first to purchase an SS100 in 1924 and was riding another SS100 when he had a fatal accident in 1935.

In 2008 Bonhams made history when the company sold a Brough Superior SS100 for the princely sum of $2.9-million, a world record at the time and the highest price paid for a British motorcycle at auction.

If the estimates for Thursday’s auction are anything to go by, that record won’t be around for very much longer.