You really, REALLY cannot see these old girls in terms of either (a.) making MONEY or (b.) not losing any!!
It does not work like that..It my appear to at a quick glance through the "for sale" ads, but to see prices and then think oh, they are going up in value, thats a "good buy" is a false premise to begin with..ask anyone whos restored one from a dog to a concourse show winner....anyone at all.....
I feel confident they will tell you that much much much more money has gone into the build then the bike is currently worth, and this will not change, even if the bikes value in dollars goes up over the next few years, the scarcity of parts will also go up and they will cost more accordingly, a resoration is a very expensive experience..
But as most folk know, its the reward of doing it that is the "buzz" the "hit"......
A dog is found, your misses/ mother /sister/ bestest friend all think you are stupid when you buy the "dog" (and after you have stripped it to see what you have , so do you!)
Then the months of agonizing "horrendous finds" start happening, the rusted barrells that you could not see when you bought it, part after part that is broken, meddled with or just plain missing or from a different model..Then all the ebaying ..and everything that entails.......
months will pass when you have not got another PENNY to spend on it, because your wife is threatening to leave if the electric bill is not paid this quarter..........
BUT, bit by bit, part after part is found, secreted away in boxs, you start to experience the all to familier "Thrill of the Hunt" (that our neolithic forefathers must have felt) for parts, it becomes a 24hr a day obsessive compulsive disorder, you even reach a stage where you cannot pass cb750 stuff by without buying it ..EVEN IF YOU DON'T NEED IT, just because "one day it may come in usefull"
You will never ever ever under ANY circumstances throw anything away that is a cb750 part or may be a cb750 part, after all (now your disease) has taken hold, it may do for something.
You will get "autosol-finger" a condition ( in right handed folk) that causes the index finger of the right hand to go black, and leaves prints on your sandwiches.....this is caused by loving your aluminium bits of your cb750, caring for them, fondeling them lovingly, and jealously gaurding them will also happen to you at some stage of the illness.
You will rip and tear bits of your clothing off your own back to clean your cb750, if nothing else is to hand.
you will tax other owners with question after question, to make sure you are doing the right thing for your cb750.....
and then........
one day,
five more years into the future than you thought it would be,
your cb750 is ready...note i said ready, not "done" or "finished" ( because thats one bike that will never be "finished")
but ready to be ridden...carefully ( at first) slowly and tenderly is she broken in, with much more care and attention then even the loss of your own virginity!!
And how "much" is she now worth??
NOTHING , mate nothing, BECAUSE YOU WOULDN'T SELL HER FOR THE WORLD ITSELF.....
Thats the "deal" with these particular "old-girls" no one makes money on them.......we do it for varied reasons,
but market value dont come into it.
