Nice bikes.
Rugged motor. Liquid cooled and very user friendly. My mother had the Shadow (cruiser) version of that motor. Had over 50K miles with no problems.
I have the FT500 single cylinder version of that bike. As you say, very fun. 64 mpg, too!
They're rare only because of the collapse of the US economy back in the early 80s, combined with the Japanese makers cranking out tons of new and different models, seemingly just because they COULD.
He should have fun with it.
Kirk