Looking for value on several old bikes with zero miles. "Barn find"

[leafman60]

For 40k, wouldn't you be better off buying 4 new crated Guzzi and put them in your barn?

Nah, just like back in the seventies with the V7, nobody expects those things to be worth anything later on.

.

[Groover]

Did anyone here end up working anything out with the seller? Interested in the G5 if that is a superfluous bike in the stash to someone..

[atavar]

It's pretty clear so far nobody wants the G5, might as well shoot it my way and be done with it  :BEER:

Me too..  when you get ready to sell the G5 let me know.  I miss my G5..

[Lannis]

Did anyone here end up working anything out with the seller? Interested in the G5 if that is a superfluous bike in the stash to someone..

One of two things happened, I'll wager .....

1) They're still sitting there, and will sit there until the building is sold or there is an estate to settle, at which time the lot will sell for about $15,000.

2) The owner finally realized the real market value, but didn't (out of pride) want to go back to Joe or the Guzzi crowd that originally told her what they were worth, and sold them on for a very low, undisclosed price to someone else .....

Lannis

[rocker59]

Yep.  Lannis has called it.   

[Lannis]

Yep.  Lannis has called it.   

It's the kind of human behavior that shows up in other places too - combination of "pride" and "greed".   

I have to admit to seeing the same behavior in myself in the past.   I have bought shares of stock that I was convinced were going to increase in value.    They increased a bit, then began to fall in value.   ANYONE with no skin in the game could have told me what was going to happen - the value was going to fall slowly, then rocket its way down to zero and the company would go TU.

But me?   No sir, I've made a decision and I'm going to stick to it - I've got real money invested in this and I'm not giving up this easy, like the guy living on the slopes of Mount St. Helens back in 1980.    I'm not bailing out, I'm not going to admit that I was wrong.

So instead of selling when I could and losing about $1000, I held on to the bitter end and lost $10,000.

The same thing is operating when you see a motorcycle advert for a restored or custom bike that says something like "I've got $15,000 in this bike including the paint and chrome, and I won't sell it for a penny less so don't insult me with an offer."   

What he means is that he's realized that he's put way more money into the bike than it will ever be worth, he's cheesed off AT HIMSELF about it, and he's not going to be anybody's "boy" and let them get the benefit of the money he wasted .... 

So these things usually get dealt with in rational manner, not by the owner who is driven by pride and greed, but by the auction house and the bankruptcy receiver, who can operate without emotion and get the market value of the goods for the NEXT guy in line ...

Lannis

[lrutt]

It's the kind of human behavior that shows up in other places too - combination of "pride" and "greed".   

I have to admit to seeing the same behavior in myself in the past.   I have bought shares of stock that I was convinced were going to increase in value.    They increased a bit, then began to fall in value.   ANYONE with no skin in the game could have told me what was going to happen - the value was going to fall slowly, then rocket its way down to zero and the company would go TU.

But me?   No sir, I've made a decision and I'm going to stick to it - I've got real money invested in this and I'm not giving up this easy, like the guy living on the slopes of Mount St. Helens back in 1980.    I'm not bailing out, I'm not going to admit that I was wrong.

So instead of selling when I could and losing about $1000, I held on to the bitter end and lost $10,000.

The same thing is operating when you see a motorcycle advert for a restored or custom bike that says something like "I've got $15,000 in this bike including the paint and chrome, and I won't sell it for a penny less so don't insult me with an offer."   

What he means is that he's realized that he's put way more money into the bike than it will ever be worth, he's cheesed off AT HIMSELF about it, and he's not going to be anybody's "boy" and let them get the benefit of the money he wasted .... 

So these things usually get dealt with in rational manner, not by the owner who is driven by pride and greed, but by the auction house and the bankruptcy receiver, who can operate without emotion and get the market value of the goods for the NEXT guy in line ...

Lannis

truer words have never been spoken.

I see guys all the time get deals on restored bikes that you just could not reproduce.

For me, I buy the cleanest original examples I can for a decent price, research what they are really worth, and set a budget. A lot of my bikes don't get re-chromed due to cost. Payback is just not there.

Some guys tear them completely down and rebuild everything, if it needs it or not. I get them running and sort all mechanical things first to the point of a reliable rider, then if I need to do cosmetic stuff, I do it.

I'll spend $300 for a PDR guy to save an original paint set of tins vs spending much much more for new paint.

And If I have to paint, I do it myself.

I never end up 'upside down' on my restorations. I am very very strict about that. But then again, I restore them to be riders, not 100pt concours bikes. And they are restored, not customized. Or worse case...resto-modded (my lemans has braided brake lines and allen screws but I do have the original bits).

[Lannis]

truer words have never been spoken.

I see guys all the time get deals on restored bikes that you just could not reproduce.

For me, I buy the cleanest original examples I can for a decent price, research what they are really worth, and set a budget. A lot of my bikes don't get re-chromed due to cost. Payback is just not there.

Some guys tear them completely down and rebuild everything, if it needs it or not. I get them running and sort all mechanical things first to the point of a reliable rider, then if I need to do cosmetic stuff, I do it.

I'll spend $300 for a PDR guy to save an original paint set of tins vs spending much much more for new paint.

And If I have to paint, I do it myself.

I never end up 'upside down' on my restorations. I am very very strict about that. But then again, I restore them to be riders, not 100pt concours bikes. And they are restored, not customized. Or worse case...resto-modded (my lemans has braided brake lines and allen screws but I do have the original bits).

Those principles make perfect sense for bikes that you are fixing up and plan to ride for a while and possibly sell, and you don't want to get underwater on them.

But, on the other hand, (and I've told this story a couple times so stop me if you've heard it) -

One year at Mid-Ohio Vintage days, I put up in the "Somewhere in Time" B&B, and another guy there had ridden in from Baltimore, where he was a photographer by trade.   Very nice full leather touring outfit, and he was on a 305 Honda.

This bike was beautiful.   Everything on it looked polished and perfect, with a few little subtle upgrades, like a better TLS front brake etc.   He'd just ridden in from Baltimore MD, on the Interstates.    We got to talking about it, and this was his only bike - he'd had a lot of them, but he liked this one best and decided to put all his time and effort into making it just like he wanted.

He'd had the engine built (several times) by a race mechanic, balanced and "blueprinted", until he could "feel" that it was just right.   He'd had several stock Honda parts on it that were stamped steel replaced by machined parts in stainless or alloy (they didn't stand out, looked like they belonged there.    The footpegs and bars had been moved just a little bit, and the seat subtly re-upholstered to suit him.   It had bright halogen lights, and a really deep-looking paint job.   He'd just come in from a 70 mph 6 hour highway flog, and the engine was as clean as a new one.   I'll bet it didn't weigh an ounce over 300 pounds, and maybe not that.

I said "Wow.  Did you do any of the work yourself?" and he said "Nope.   I'm no good at any of the mechanical and paint stuff, but I know guys who are."   Then he mentioned that, including the rework and upgrades, he had about $32,000 in the bike.   I almost dropped my teeth.

But then I considered to myself - "This guy has the perfect motorcycle for him.   It does everything he wants, it looks nice, it projects exactly the image he wants, and it's HIS!"   Many of us, with multiple bikes, upgrades, depreciation, rebuilds, etc, probably have spent more than $32,000 over the last 10 or 15 years on our hobby, and might STILL not have "The Perfect Bike".

So far, that makes good sense to me.   But if he put that bike up for sale for $20,000, that would be ... silly.   He'd never get it.   But on the other hand, that's not what it's for ....

Lannis

[Groover]

I did contact the OP of this thread inquiring and he called me back leaving a voice message. He thought someone here ended up getting them, but didn't know who. Also mentioned that the first few attempts by someone here failed (which matches this thread, and I think that may have been JoeW after re-reading. I contacted Joe and he confirmed he's didn't seal the deal).

I guess what I'm saying is that I think I'm doing a lot of detective work here, so I think the G5 should just automatically become mine

[Lannis]

I did contact the OP of this thread inquiring and he called me back leaving a voice message. He thought someone here ended up getting them, but didn't know who. Also mentioned that the first few attempts by someone here failed (which matches this thread, and I think that may have been JoeW after re-reading. I contacted Joe and he confirmed he's didn't seal the deal).

I guess what I'm saying is that I think I'm doing a lot of detective work here, so I think the G5 should just automatically become mine

I agree.   I'll be a character witness for you at the custody hearing ....

Lannis

[Groover]

I agree.   I'll be a character witness for you at the custody hearing ....

Lannis

Thank you Lannis. I can definitely use all the backing I can get on this 

[JoeW]

OK, I just called the lady that had, yes had, the bikes. She told me they were sold to a collector in Ohio. She claims she got her 35k for them!

[canuguzzi]

Those principles make perfect sense for bikes that you are fixing up and plan to ride for a while and possibly sell, and you don't want to get underwater on them.

But, on the other hand, (and I've told this story a couple times so stop me if you've heard it) -

One year at Mid-Ohio Vintage days, I put up in the "Somewhere in Time" B&B, and another guy there had ridden in from Baltimore, where he was a photographer by trade.   Very nice full leather touring outfit, and he was on a 305 Honda.

This bike was beautiful.   Everything on it looked polished and perfect, with a few little subtle upgrades, like a better TLS front brake etc.   He'd just ridden in from Baltimore MD, on the Interstates.    We got to talking about it, and this was his only bike - he'd had a lot of them, but he liked this one best and decided to put all his time and effort into making it just like he wanted.

He'd had the engine built (several times) by a race mechanic, balanced and "blueprinted", until he could "feel" that it was just right.   He'd had several stock Honda parts on it that were stamped steel replaced by machined parts in stainless or alloy (they didn't stand out, looked like they belonged there.    The footpegs and bars had been moved just a little bit, and the seat subtly re-upholstered to suit him.   It had bright halogen lights, and a really deep-looking paint job.   He'd just come in from a 70 mph 6 hour highway flog, and the engine was as clean as a new one.   I'll bet it didn't weigh an ounce over 300 pounds, and maybe not that.

I said "Wow.  Did you do any of the work yourself?" and he said "Nope.   I'm no good at any of the mechanical and paint stuff, but I know guys who are."   Then he mentioned that, including the rework and upgrades, he had about $32,000 in the bike.   I almost dropped my teeth.

But then I considered to myself - "This guy has the perfect motorcycle for him.   It does everything he wants, it looks nice, it projects exactly the image he wants, and it's HIS!"   Many of us, with multiple bikes, upgrades, depreciation, rebuilds, etc, probably have spent more than $32,000 over the last 10 or 15 years on our hobby, and might STILL not have "The Perfect Bike".

So far, that makes good sense to me.   But if he put that bike up for sale for $20,000, that would be ... silly.   He'd never get it.   But on the other hand, that's not what it's for ....

Lannis

Nice story. I bet that guy got far more than $32k of pride and joy out of that bike.

[Groover]

OK, I just called the lady that had, yes had, the bikes. She told me they were sold to a collector in Ohio. She claims she got her 35k for them!

Ohio people... lol - probably someone in my neighborhood and I don't even know it. So close, can smell them...

Thanks for calling Joe! Now we have more info than we had before 

[oldbike54]

 Pretty sure it isn't Ohiorider or Zoom Zoom 

  Dusty

[Lannis]

OK, I just called the lady that had, yes had, the bikes. She told me they were sold to a collector in Ohio. She claims she got her 35k for them!

That's what I'd have told you, too .... !       

Lannis

[Lannis]

Nice story. I bet that guy got far more than $32k of pride and joy out of that bike.

It's a smart way to go if you're not a promiscuous bike hopper ....

Lannis

[oldbike54]

 Hey , I've got one of Elvis's old HDs , anyone interested ?

 There was a thread about the famous barn find Elvis Harley , couldn't find it . Just thought the theme kind of fit here .

 "My cousin's neighbor's uncle found an old HD in a basement ..."  Or maybe it was the cousin's neighbor's boss ?

  Dusty

[Lannis]

Hey , I've got one of Elvis's old HDs , anyone interested ?

 There was a thread about the famous barn find Elvis Harley , couldn't find it . Just thought the theme kind of fit here .

 "My cousin's neighbor's uncle found an old HD in a basement ..."  Or maybe it was the cousin's neighbor's boss ?

  Dusty

You think THAT's something - I've got an old HD that Steve McQueen bought from Elvis - with a Von Dutch paint job!   

Just needs a battery and a carb adjustment to run, it ran when Steve parked it at my house ....

Lannis

[oldbike54]

You think THAT's something - I've got an old HD that Steve McQueen bought from Elvis - with a Von Dutch paint job!   

Just needs a battery and a carb adjustment to run, it ran when Steve parked it at my house ....

Lannis

 Hold it for a few days , I'll be leaving Saturday headed that way . Will a cool million get it done , or has Jay Leno already offered more ? Please tell me it is the one that has the "Happy birthday Elvis , love Priscilla" engraving .

  Dusty