I completely agree on value, and that a monetary figure can never truly be assigned to racing machines with real history. At the end of the day, when something like that Francis Beart Manx comes up for sale, the auction hammer will come down at some figure, so in a sense, that's it's current market value. But I for one, would pay far more, if I was in a situation where I had the money. Money is no object for these bikes. It's an arbitrary figure.
I think that anyone in love with old Nortons should feel that way. There's not much of a money making endeavor when selling them, so it comes down to sentimental value, which of course varies from person to person, and how they feel about a certain bike. I sometimes get asked how much my Atlas is worth, and I always answer the same; that it has no monetary value to me, because I'll never sell it. So it's actual monetary value has no reference in my mind. I've got far more money into it than someone would pay for it. And then you add on it's real value, which is the time and energy spent to build it, maintain and then ride and enjoy it, and the sentimental value that I get from those experiences, far outweighs it's actual worth in dollars.
Something like a Molnar Manx, while being expensive, is an entirely different sort of machine. Normally purchased by someone with money that wants to participate in vintage racing of some sort. In reality, that's it's only worth, is to be ridden and enjoyed without fear of wrecking it and wiping out it's history, since it really has no history. And the fact that it exists for that sole purpose, is a beautiful thing. Very few of us will ever be able to afford one, so the point is useless., But it serves it's purpose. It's just that it's purpose is very different than owning an original Manx.
