1948 Saturno still unsold??

[canuck750]

I thought this would have sold weeks ago, seller keeps dropping the price, its an Italian Gold Star!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-Other-Makes/264418318277?hash=item3d908f57c5:g:ZNsAAOSw3bNdFi3U

[sign216]

The Saturno is a legend for Gilera riders, but...$10k USD is a little steep. 

The buyer's demands and his rating isn't conducive either.

Joe

[Frenchfrog]

seen them advertised for much more closer to their birth place and looking nowhere near as good, although this one is too polished i think. If it wasn't across the Atlantic I'd jump on it...seriously good and rare machines and if it 's an authentic racer even more so...nothing like a big single

[sign216]

I'm thinking closer to $5K US dollars.  Am I wrong here?

[Lannis]

I'm thinking closer to $5K US dollars.  Am I wrong here?

I don't think so.   If it IS in fact a competition special as the seller says, then the price is right.

I don't think the seller's conditions are too out of line.   I guess I share the surprise that it's still available.   

Sometimes (like with real estate) you can "poison" what you're selling by asking way too much originally, and then even if you lower the price below what it would originally have sold quickly at, it stays on the seller's hands.

Just guessing.   I'm not there, not seen the bike, don't know the seller.

Lannis

[fotoguzzi]

I wouldn't call those demands but rather requirements. He sounds like a guy who's been burned on eBay before..

Right now I have a MacBook Pro listed for the third time, I offer worldwide shipping to increase the bid but keep selling to deadbeat bidders with no feedback, then they don't pay. There use to be an option to require bidders have some feedback but I don't think you can do that now.

[sign216]

I wouldn't call those demands but rather requirements. He sounds like a guy who's been burned on eBay before..

Right now I have a MacBook Pro listed for the third time, I offer worldwide shipping to increase the bid but keep selling to deadbeat bidders with no feedback, then they don't pay. There use to be an option to require bidders have some feedback but I don't think you can do that now.

Foto,

I hear you.
The only one I get burned on from Ebay is the Admin.  10% of my sales for just hosting the site.
I guess this is capitalism.

Joe

[Frenchfrog]

A standard road going Saturno in average condition seems to sell at about 10 to 15, 000 euros in Italy (prices for old bikes do always seem high there though ) so I don't get that a factory competition only made in 25 units would be worth 5 k in the USA....maybe the seller is feeding BS to us when he states that it is a factory produced special but even so ...it looks spotless cosmetically if over restored and one would assume that the mechanics are also top notch.Compare the 10 k asking price to a Gold star in the same condition and age and then you'd see that this is a bargain and much rarer to boot.Like I said, if it were not for the pond between us I'd pull the trigger !!!

[sign216]

A standard road going Saturno in average condition seems to sell at about 10 to 15, 000 euros in Italy (prices for old bikes do always seem high there though ) so I don't get that a factory competition only made in 25 units would be worth 5 k in the USA....maybe the seller is feeding BS to us when he states that it is a factory produced special but even so ...it looks spotless cosmetically if over restored and one would assume that the mechanics are also top notch.Compare the 10 k asking price to a Gold star in the same condition and age and then you'd see that this is a bargain and much rarer to boot.Like I said, if it were not for the pond between us I'd pull the trigger !!!

FrenchF,

Take a closer look, especially at the gas tank's side.  It looks like a tank knee rubber mount wasn't used and merely painted over.  If I can see that in the photo, then standing next to it there may be plenty of other flaws. 

Without an in person inspection, I'm fearful that this is a mockup.  A regular Saturno made to look like one the 25 factory competition units. 

Interesting that older bikes go for more in Europe than the USA.  But I would expect that for a Gilera, which has little name recognition here.   A standard Saturno in average condition gets 10 to 15,000 Euros?  I'm impressed.

We should really have this discussion on a Gilera forum.  Do any exist?  I belong to a few Gilera 98, 106, 124 cc forums, but nothing for the racing models or the Saturno, or even the Argentinian Gilera bikes.

Joe

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Could very well be a "shiny turd". Note that the fins to the rear of the sparkplug are broken off, upper one forward of it is bent. Intake manifold seems to be cobbled together out of two different ones. Welding around where the header nut attaches. No air filter or even a velocity stack. Who knows what horrors are inside the cases...

[sign216]

I posted the Ebay listing to a Gilera 106 + 124 Facebook group I am Admin for, asking about the bike's authenticity and value. 
Although the group isn't very large, and I'll let people know the results.

Joe

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1930672223610656/

[Frenchfrog]

I've always had a deep love for big singles of that era so occasionally have a look around just in case there is a Saturno that is seriously underpriced...haven't seen  one yet !Reading your comments on the bits that are wrong , therin lies the reason the bike is still unsold ! I took it all at face value and going on solid provenance.....I've no idea how many Saturnos were made over the tears but i wouldn't have thought that they were that common...smaller capacity bikes were the norm in Italy and they probably didn't export many except to the states...In the Uk they could be counted on one hand.

[oldbike54]

 I might actually know this Saturno . If so , it is a fake that was brought up from Argentina in 1991 and sold at the Dallas Mid America auction . The two brothers from Argentina who brought it advertised it as a "replica" built from a standard model by their father back home . It did have some local racing history , I helped translate for them and they took two of us out to dinner as a thank you . They also had a Moto Rumi Racer and a 175 MV Agusta , if memory serves the Rumi actually brought the highest sale price .

 Dusty

[sign216]

I might actually know this Saturno . If so , it is a fake that was brought up from Argentina in 1991 and sold at the Dallas Mid America auction . The two brothers from Argentina who brought it advertised it as a "replica" built from a standard model by their father back home . It did have some local racing history , I helped translate for them and they took two of us out to dinner as a thank you . They also had a Moto Rumi Racer and a 175 MV Agusta , if memory serves the Rumi actually brought the highest sale price .

 Dusty

Dusty,
It's great to get actual knowledge.  So this came up in 1991 from Argentia?  Interesting.  That Argentina Gilera factory is famous in the Gilera crowd, but not for real Italian race bikes.  Sad that the vendor couldn't be honest about the machine, which still has merit.

Thanks for adding your experience.

Joe

[Cam3512]

The seller is just a “buyer” who bought some rich dude’s collection.  Probably has no clue.

[oldbike54]

Dusty,
It's great to get actual knowledge.  So this came up in 1991 from Argentia?  Interesting.  That Argentina Gilera factory is famous in the Gilera crowd, but not for real Italian race bikes.  Sad that the vendor couldn't be honest about the machine, which still has merit.

Thanks for adding your experience.

Joe

 "might" being the operative word , but the similarities are certainly there .

 Probably true , but a misrepresentation is still a misrepresentation .

 Dusty
The seller is just a “buyer” who bought some rich dude’s collection.  Probably has no clue.