G'DAY
“I’m often asked which bikes might make good investments. What would I know?” THE 1951 Vincent Black Lightning on which Jack Ehret set an Australian land-speed record of 141mph in 1953 ("Survival of the Quickest", Retrobike #27) set another record in January by achieving the highest price of any motorcycle ever sold at auction. An unidentified Australian collector bid $US929,000 ($A1.16 million) for the mechanically restored but externally untouched bike, with Jack’s son John Ehret reportedly thrilled the bike is heading back Down Under. Ehret Snr paid 500 pounds ($1000) for the little-raced Vincent in 1952, more than he made in a year as a fitter at the Garden Island naval dockyard in Sydney. Vincents have always been wickedly expensive, especially Black Lightnings, of which only 33 were built over…