Images: Exotic Car News editorial illustrations. They do not show motorcycles from the Billy Joel collection.
Billy Joel is sending more than 70 motorcycles from his personal collection to auction in New York, and every one of them will sell without reserve. Gooding Christie’s announced the consignment on September 28 for its Rétromobile New York Auctions, scheduled for November 20 and 21 at the Javits Center in Manhattan.
The Billy Joel motorcycle auction gives the first American edition of Rétromobile a headline seller with a New York name. And because no bike has a minimum price, bidders will decide in public what Joel’s ownership is worth.
What is being sold
The auction house describes bikes from several eras and from Ducati, BMW, Moto Guzzi, Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, Triumph, Honda and Kawasaki, among others. It has published presale estimates for three:
- 1978 Triumph T140 Bonneville, $10,000 to $15,000. Gooding Christie’s says Madison Square Garden gave it to Joel to mark his 150th sold-out show there. It wears custom paint and comes with a matching helmet listing his Garden dates.
- 1982 Ducati 900 Mike Hailwood Replica, $15,000 to $25,000. Ducati’s tribute to the machine Hailwood rode to his 1978 Isle of Man comeback win.
- 1975 Ducati 750 Sport, $25,000 to $35,000. Described by the auction house as restored.
The early online listing reads more like a rider’s garage than a trophy room. Entries credited to the collection include a 1954 NSU Max and a 2019 Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor, as ECN found when it reviewed the listing on October 11. Complete lot descriptions are not posted yet. Gooding Christie’s says the full online catalogue will arrive in late October.
An estimate is not a result
None of these figures is a sale price. An estimate is the auction house’s presale opinion of where bidding may land. Gooding Christie’s conditions of sale say estimates exclude the buyer’s premium and taxes and can change before the auction. Results will exist only after the hammer falls in November.
“Without reserve” matters just as much. Under those same conditions, a lot normally carries a confidential reserve, the minimum the seller will accept, which cannot exceed the low estimate. Joel’s bikes have no such floor. The highest bid buys the motorcycle, whether it lands above the estimate or well below it.
The winning bid is not the whole bill, either. Buyers also pay Gooding Christie’s a buyer’s premium on top of the hammer price, plus any applicable taxes, at rates set out in the auction house’s conditions of sale.
What a famous name is worth
Celebrity ownership draws attention to a lot. It does not set the price. ECN made a similar point about a Lamborghini Diablo linked to Rod Stewart: the history adds intrigue, but the machine has to earn attention on its own.
Gooding Christie’s has not said whether its estimates factor in Joel’s ownership. With no reserves and more than 70 lots, the sale will show how much one name adds, across a far larger sample than a single celebrity car provides.
The Triumph is the clearest test. The T140 Bonneville was a regular production model. This one’s appeal rests on its stated tie to a milestone at an arena a few avenues east of the sale room. The auction house says Joel still holds the record for sold-out shows at the Garden.
Where the proceeds go
According to Gooding Christie’s, Joel intends to use proceeds from the sale to support The Joel Foundation. The auction house describes the foundation as led by Billy and Alexis Joel and as funding nonprofit work in music education, public and women’s health, humanitarian causes and the environment.
That is a statement of the seller’s intent, relayed by the auction house. The announcement gives no amount or percentage.
“Now it’s someone else’s turn to hit the road,” Joel said in the announcement.
Why it matters for Rétromobile New York
The auction sits inside the first U.S. edition of the Paris collector-car show, which runs November 19 to 22. The open question for a first-year event is whether a Paris tradition can take root in Manhattan. A New York musician selling approachable machines at no reserve gives the organizers a local story to tell.
It also widens the sale. The same auction includes Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spider and RUF’s one-off Project Dragon. Joel’s bikes add lots estimated in the low five figures, which puts part of the sale within reach of far more bidders. David Gooding, the company’s president, called New York a fitting place to sell them, given Joel’s ties to the city.
How to see them
Viewing runs November 19 through 21, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Gooding Christie’s says a Rétromobile ticket lets visitors see every lot on display, while close inspection and bidding are limited to registered bidders. The auction house has not published which day the motorcycles will sell.
