On Tuesday morning we shared the terrible news that the Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum in Austria had been ravaged by fire. The images and video captured at the scene did not bode well for the estimated 230 motorcycles inside, many of which were either extremely rare or one-of-a-kind. Costa was lucky enough to visit the museum last year on a Mercedes-Benz media drive program. It does appear that a small number of motorcycles were retrieved from the building, but not all of them were so lucky.
This damage is compounded by the loss of about 650 motorcycles from a fire at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, UK. As was the case in Birmingham, it is being speculated that construction of the massive 3,000 square metre building was not equipped with a fire suppression system. This is particularly curious not only due to the value of its contents, but also the fact that much of the building was made of wood.
A member of the Brough Superior Riders Facebook group named Howard Wilcox posted an image of a 1939 SS100. It is being speculated that this is the bike museum owners Alban and Attila Scheiber acquired from a Bonhams auction in April of 2014 for a price of £253,500 ($440,069 CDN).
If this is in fact FTV 702 with frame number 2107 and engine number 1108, it features a particularly interesting lineage. An ex-George Brough, London-Edinburgh Trial motorcycle, the 1939 Brough Superior 990cc SS100 was owned by the same family since 1961. We’re hoping that more motorcycles were saved in the valiant rescue efforts by firefighters and hope that the museum will be able to open again one day.
Is Kymco Can still dead?
Apparently, most of the 2019 Brough Superior centenary display Motorcycles were still on display in the museum and were also destroyed. Possibly over a dozen Broughs.
That is FTV 702. Specially made with a Brough Cruiser sidecar for
George Brough to use in the 1939 London-Edinburgh Trial.
Howard Wilcox is the Editor of the Brough Superior Club monthly magazine.
Thanks for the feedback, Al! What a shame indeed.