I've noticed for about a year or so something pretty interesting and that is the different perspectives on basket cases and projects.
When I restored my '74 Eldorado I found it as a complete and assembled bike in a garage. Mostly what it needed to make it presentable was paint, a better seat, mufflers and some replacement chrome parts. It was an EASY restoration, all things considered.
Anyone would have considered it a good project.
Fast forward many years later and I've recently completed a 1940 ex-Canadian Army Indian 640-B. It was NOT completed, what was there needed work or replacement and I had to find umpteen hundreds of parts, from nuts and bolts to things like tanks, speedometer, chaingards, dash, battery tray, etc.
People thought I was crazy and in truth it would have been easier to find a complete one and buy it instead. But, there are very few of those (550 to be exact) and they are expensive. I probably have in mine easily what I could have bought one for had I been able to find one and cough up all that money in one chunk.
After that experience I see basket cases and projects in a totally different light. Take that '69 Ambassador currently listed in the Swap Meet. To me, that is a fantastic bike as is. To many of you it's pretty darn good and to some others it might be a total piece of crap.
That Ice Blue 850 LeMans on the UK eBay is another example. Yeah, I see the rust on the frame and stuff and some might think it's not worth the money. I see it and go "Damn, look at that nice paint! That's a great project that I wouldn't even have to paint!"
In short, perspectives change once you've put yourself out there and something that was probably bigger than you could handle, yet you still did it.
I find it interesting.
