Another piece of automotive history up for sale

I was astonished to read that an original Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle, dating back to 1894, has been put up for auction. I've never seen an original of this, the first ever true motorcycle, and only one reproduction (shown below).




The auctioneers, Bonhams, have this to say on their Web site:

There had been steam-driven 'boneshakers' on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1860s and, of course, Gottlieb Daimler's gasoline-engined Einspur of 1885, but the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller was the first powered two-wheeler to enter series production; indeed, it is the first such device to which the name 'motorcycle' (motorrad in German) was ever applied. (Although a true motorcycle, Daimler's was only ever intended as a test-bed for his high-revving internal combustion engine, and as soon as that was powerful enough he turned his attention to automobiles).

Like many of their contemporaries, the Hildebrand brothers, Heinrich and Wilhelm, began by experimenting with steam power before turning to a (two-stroke) gasoline engine, the latter having been developed in partnership with Alois Wolfmüller and his mechanic, Hans Geisenhof. The quartet's next design was a water-cooled, four-stroke parallel twin displacing 1,488cc, which until relatively recent times was the largest power unit ever fitted to a motorcycle.




The Hildebrands were in the cycle business so their new engine was mounted in a bicycle frame of the newly developed 'safety' configuration. When this proved insufficiently robust, a more integrated arrangement was devised, based on that of the Hildebrands' defunct steamer, and the name 'motorrad' registered for the new invention, which was patented in January 1894.

Steam locomotive practice was further recalled by the long connecting rods directly linking the pistons to the rear wheel, which opened and closed the mechanical exhaust valves via pushrods actuated by a cam on the hub. The latter contained an epicyclic reduction gear and there was no crankshaft flywheel, the solid disc rear wheel serving that purpose. Rubber bands assisted the pistons on the return stroke. Fuel was fed from the tank to a surface carburettor and thence via atmospheric inlet valves to the cylinders where it was ignited by platinum hot tube, as developed by Daimler. The box-like rear mudguard acted as a reservoir for the engine's cooling water, while one of the frame tubes served as the oil tank. The tyres, manufactured under license from Dunlop by Veith in Germany, were the first of the pneumatic variety ever fitted to a motorcycle.

Cutaway drawing of Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle (click to enlarge)

Although modern in many respects, the H&W was primitive in others, most notably the brakes, which consisted of a steel 'spoon' working on the front tyre, the application of which automatically closed the throttle. The rider controlled the latter by means of a rotating thumbscrew; there was no clutch, which made starting an athletic procedure, the machine being pushed until it fired, whereupon its rider leapt aboard while simultaneously trying to regulate engine speed. Despite producing only 2.5bhp at 240rpm, the H&W was capable of speeds approaching 30mph, an exciting prospect at a time when powered road transport of any sort was still a novelty.

. . .

The example we offer has been in the ownership of the vendor's family in the USA since at least the early 1930s, which is when it last ran. While growing up in the 1930s in Staten Island, New York, USA, William 'Bill' McNee - the vendor's father - became fascinated by his grandfather's old motorcycle with the foreign sounding 'Hildebrand & Wolfmüller – Munchen' decorative script on the rear fender. Bill McNee's interest and enthusiasm was so keen that his grandfather, Bill Brassington, promised him the motorcycle when he got older.




Upon Mr Brassington's death in 1970 his daughter Marion McNee (née Brassington), Bill's mother, sold several of his old motor vehicles, including the H&W, to an interested neighbour. However, its loss was too much for Bill to bear and he very pointedly let his mother know how betrayed he felt that she sold the motorcycle promised to him years earlier by his grandfather. Mrs McNee felt so badly about her mistake that she repurchased the H&W the next day for double the price that the neighbour had paid her!




It was not until after obtaining the motorcycle in 1970 and doing some research that Bill McNee began to think it had some real historical significance and he arranged for a representative of The Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC to inspect it. While the Museum's representative was able to provide quite a few additional historical details about the machine, the suggestion that Bill might like to consider donating it to the Museum was declined and back into his basement it went. Following Bill McNee's death in 2007 and his wife Cornelia's death in 2009, their daughter (the vendor) and her brother took ownership of the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller.

There's more at the link.

It's amazing to think the bike's been in the same family for almost eight decades, and never been restored. Its condition (shown in the last two photographs above) is surprisingly good for something that was last ridden in the 1930s!

Relatively few of these motorcycles were made (estimates range between 600 and 2,000, with most authorities estimating well below 1,000). Even fewer have survived, so this auction has to be the Holy Grail for any serious collector of motorcycle antiquities. I wouldn't be surprised if Bonhams' estimated sale price of £40,000-£60,000 (about US $60,000-$90,000) is considerably exceeded.

Peter