CREATING COLLECTIBILITY

The purpose of this article is to bring to light an alternative viewpoint to the prospective 'stock' restorer who is faced with the question of whether to restore his project to stock original and how far to go when beginning with a very rough piece that requires a lot of
time & money that may not be recovered depending on the collectible value of the bike. I feel as though I am somewhat knowledgeable enough in this area to offer advice, as I have been buying/ restoring/customizing/ selling vintage cars & bikes for nearly 20 years now. 

I would like to also bring an alternative point of view to the article printed in the VJMC newsletter, "Treatise On Collectibilty" by Ron Smith . Although I totally agree with Ron's theories, because I also buy & sell collectibles and his 'generational' theory holds true for most vintage sought after items. 

My theory, however, involves "creating the collectibility factor" yourself by simply producing a unique product that generates the desire to own it in individuals who's taste follows that line of thinking, thereby side-stepping any collectible trends or current values, and making that restoration project possibly easier and more profitable in the process.

Case in point are just two examples of many in my past endeavors:
1) A friend gave me a '74 CL350 that was wrecked and not running in exchange for helping him with his 305 Dream Resto Project. Obviously, the bike wasn't equal payment for my assistance, but that's OK... what are friends for, right? It was in a sorry state, as the rims were bent, the tank rusted out, chrome was bad, carb missing and it basically needed everything except the seat. Not worth restoring unless you have a real love affair for this model, which I realized long ago from the business perspective; not to fall in love with any motorcycle or they hold a power over you greater than women!

I put my thinking cap on to try to figure a way to profit from this decrepit hunk of metal
that should have been sold for the few parts left on it that were good. I remembered on my last trip to my salvage dealer spying a descent original paint '66 CL175 Tank sitting on the shelf with an inch of dust on it. This is all it took for me to conceive of a hybrid custom 305/350 "Red Frame Scrambler" . The project involved 2 months work on a few hours on a here and there basis and required some new and used parts like rims, handlebars, grips, mirrors, seat cover, tank badges and new tires and chain etc. But I mostly used what was on the bike and disassembled it and painted the frame, motor, bad chrome fenders etc, and added a few parts I had laying around. To make a long story short, I ended up with about $500 invested in the bike, and after riding it for 6 months and wining trophies at several local events, I realized it was time to pass it on for someone else to enjoy. I sold it to a buyer 300 miles away ( although I had out of state offers also) for $2800 which is a premium price for a restored stock 305 CL77 and more than most any CL350 will see after full restoration. A tidy profit that probably would not have been realized had I restored to stock, and there would have been much more time spent (=$$$) tracking down NOS replacement parts. Pictures of this bike appear below.

A beautiful bike or what?

Electronic ignition and good looks. What more do you want?

2) Case two involves a similar project but rather on a wrecked 1981 GL1100 Interstate that I bought for $500 without a title, stripped all the bad gear off of and customized it on a budget, creating a unique motorcycle that I called the "Retro-Wing". My total investment in it was $1200 and I sold it to the first buyer for $3500 which is about the price a highly collectible 1976 GL1000 LTD in mint or restored condition brings these days. And by selling this bike on the internet, I was approached by several prospective customers to build them a similar reproduction of my original custom, which yielded more profit, and was easier the next time around. 

I might add that each of my several custom projects also were sold over the internet to the first buyer (with no price haggling) in every case who apparently 'fell in love' with the bikes and their uniqueness. 

So you see, there is hope for the enthusiast who is "on the fence" with a project that appears to require too much time & expense for the end value. By using their imagination and some ingenuity, and some of those old parts sitting on the shelf, the typical "Stock Restorer" can create his own "collectibility factor" and reap more than the typical market
allows for even a painstakingly restored piece or well kept original. Something to consider when pondering that "Hunk of Junk" that appears to be no more than a fair parts bike. 

T.D. BASH
COOL RETRO BIKES
NU-IMAGE RESTORATIONS
Pictures & info on these two projects can be seen at :
http://www.coolretrobikes.com OR:
http://www.coolretrobikes.com/bikes%20for%20sale.htm