Craigslist and a Motorcycle Project
I have been spending to much time watching Craigslist lately waiting for a sweet motorcycle project to jump on. I found a few deals, and made some calls and emails, but took no action, with a $1,000 budget I wanted to play it smart. Late last week this ad caught my eye, with no pictures and just a brief description, the Craigslist listing went like this;
Title – Harley Davidson Rolling Frame and motor, and the ad copy stated; Have 1963 Harley Davidson rolling frame. Also 1998 1200cc motor supposedly rebuilt with transmission. They are separate. Have titles. Have new forks and new rear wheel with new tire. I have approximately four boxes of misc. parts. I am selling as an entire package for the best offer.
Please call xxx-xxx-xxxx. If no answer, please leave message. Thank you
Like I said no pic’s and a brief description, and the only words about price is “best offer”. So I call the guy, about a half hour after he makes this post, he says that he loaned some money to a friend and this package was the collateral for the loan. He told me there is a rolling frame, one motor, a new tire and rim, new front fork, four boxes of stuff, and two titles. Then he says ” I don’t know anything about motorcycles”. Now this is happening around 7pm, and it would be an hour drive, so I tell him I wouldn’t be able to go over a grand on the deal, and would call first thing in the morning prior to leaving, to take a look see. I was surprised when I called in the morning and he’s still setting on all this, I jumped in my truck and headed his way.
This is what I found, made the deal, loaded up 5 boxes, the rolling frame and two motors with titles;
1963 sporty frame
1973 1000cc motor
1998 1200cc motor
Just in case you are wondering I offered $500, he countered with $700, I countered with $600 cash, while reaching in my pocket, he said he would do the 600 cash. I made it home and transferred the titles to my name, unloaded the truck, and took a nap.
I now have several project options to play around with, all from a 600 dollar Craigslist motorcycle deal.
Watch for updates on this project.
Ride Safe
Jimminy Crickets…I hate it. I mean, I haven’t run into deals like this since 1978, when I found my ’59 rolling chassis w/Pan-engine in a box…and my ’71 rolling chassis with a Pan-shovel engine in a box…all within a few months of each other…at about the same bargin rates your talking about here.
I’m green with envy…but not so much that I won’t be back to read up and follow the building process.
Comment by Chessie — January 26, 2009 @ 9:35 pm
Sweet deal.
I’m a sporty fan.
tell me your gonna put that iron head in it.
and use the evo for anther build.
I just picked up a BSA off of craigslist for 200.
got it home and found perfect condition cone hub rims
Original frame with a hardtail brazed on.
And a Rare 65 lightning rocket motor.
According to the BSA club onlt around 200 were ever imported here to the US.
Comment by BigDaddy — January 28, 2009 @ 9:39 pm
BigDaddy,
and craigslist is a good place to shop, sounds like you found a hell of a sweet deal too.
Yea the iron head stays with that 63 frame, for the time being, going to a swap meet this weekend to see if I can pick up a late model frame for that evo, for cheap
Comment by JG Mashino — January 28, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Man, if that was me, by the time I got there he would have either: a) sold it already, b) given it back to his friend, or c) figured it was worth a lot more and upped the price to $2500.
As you can guess, I NEVER have any luck with on-line “deals”. So I’ll just have to enjoy this one vicariously.
Good on ya. Will check back to see how it goes….
Comment by David B — January 29, 2009 @ 6:29 pm
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Wow. That’s great. And luck for you, too. Good luck with your build
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Comment by Jesse — April 4, 2010 @ 11:24 pm