Man who bought motorbike for £150 is selling it for whopping £280,000
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An Aldershot man who bought a motorbike for £150 back in 1973 has made a tidy profit after selling it for over £280,000.
Things have become quite a lot more expensive over the past 50 years, but that kind of price hike is pretty crazy.
50 years ago Derek Prior gave a mate £150 to take a 1931 Brough Superior SS100 off his hands and he spent the next 20 years happily riding the motorbike.
It could reach top speeds of up to 130mph and is considered by some aficionados as the world's first superbike so forking over £150 for it doesn't sound too bad at all, especially as it was known as the 'Rolls Royce' of bikes back in the day.
Derek knew exactly what he was getting when he bought the bike, having worked as an aircraft engineer for Vickers at the Brooklands race circuit where an SS100 hit record speeds on the track.
Still, all good things must come to an end and after 20 years of riding the vintage motorbike, he locked it up in his garage where the valuable bike stayed safe and sound for the next 30 years.
When 90-year-old Derek put the bike up for auction it fetched an incredible sum of money, with the final fee coming to a whopping £281,750.
Derek says he'll buy a new knee and hip with the money, spending his auction takings on going private as he needs replacement surgery on both to restore some of his mobility.
He said: "I was at the sale and it was both exciting and emotional. It is the only Brough I've ever owned - I bought it for £150 and had it for 50 years.
"I'm very pleased with the result. I'm 90 now and I need a new hip and knee so I might spend the money on that."
The Brough SS100 Superior's new owner will now have to pay the costs of having the bike fully restored if they want it back on the road again.
It was sold by auctioneers Bonhams during a Stafford sale for around 1,900 times what Derek paid for it 50 years ago.
"It's always a joy to find a machine with such a high level of integrity and originality - and one that has clearly been loved and maintained by its engineer owner," said Ben Walker, international department director at Bonhams Motorcycles.
"The fact that such a prestigious motorcycle - the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles - remains in largely unmolested condition is very unusual.
"It offers the next owner the tantalising choice of either maintaining its patina, or restoring it to its former 'show specification'. I don't envy the person having to make that decision."
Between 1920 to 1940 there were 3,000 SS100s made by inventor George Brough and they were so valuable that only the incredibly wealthy could afford one.
Back in the year 2000, The Guardian estimated that only around 1,000 of the iconic bikes still existed, while in 2011 the BBC said it was thought that only 71 Brough SS100 Superiors were still going worldwide.
Among their famous owners were Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and First World War officer TE Lawrence, who was killed when he crashed his SS100 near his home in Bovington, Dorset, in 1935.
