The most expensive motorbike ever sold at auction has taken up pride of place at the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania.
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The 1951 Vincent Black Lightning arrived at the recently-opened museum in Launceston this month, 20 months after it sold for $1.16 million at Bonhams in Las Vegas.
Museum director Phil Costello said the owner had kindly loaned the Vincent to the museum.
"With the new museum opening, having an exhibit like this is truly unique," he said.
"There are only believed to be 13 left in the world.
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"It's a wonderful piece of world motorcycling history, and Australian motorcycling history in particular."
This particular Vincent's long history in Australia includes the setting of another world record: the 1953 land speed record, set by Jack Ehret at 227.7 kmh on a quarter-mile stretch of road outside Gunnedah in New South Wales.
Mr Ehret owned the Vincent until 1999, and it was sent to France in 2014 to undergo a meticulous mechanical restoration.
Restorers took special care to ensure it was kept as original as possible - including threading new wire through the old outer cables. The paint and seat upholstery were left untouched.
The plan was to ensure that the Vincent that originally rolled off the production line in Stevenage, England, in 1951 remained as close to identical as possible to the Vincent that rolled into the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania.
The museum is located on Lindsay Street, Launceston, and is open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm.