Topic: Quick, somebody loan me $500!

[pdxPope]

Man, why do the really good ones always come along when I am broke!!?!?!?!?!!


http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/856287240.html

-JP

[Terry in Australia]

They were pretty awful mate, the only good turbo bike of the era was the Kawasaki 750 Turbo, it was well designed and reliable, much better than the Yam, Suzuki or Honda attempts. Save your money up until you can find one, it'll be worth it! Cheers, Terry.

[pdxPope]

Agreed, but I was thinking in terms of return on investment, as opposed to usability.

At $500 I could do nothing but park it in an unused corner of the garage for 10 or 15 years, and wait for it's "rarity" factor to (hopefully) outweigh the "POS" factor.

The early Ariel Square Fours had all kinds of problems, too. Priced one of those lately? 

Oh, well, most likely it's long gone now, anyway. And besides, I'm pretty sure that if any more projects follow me home, SWMBO will have ME parked in an unused corner of the garage! 

-JP

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I could have bought a mint Ariel square four (special Elizabeth II coronation model) in 1973 for "only" 800 bucks, but then again, my father (who was a departmental manager at a department store at the time) was only earning around $100 a week, so in real terms it was still worth around $15,000 then, so it would have been an expensive "dust collector". If I'd just put that money in the bank at 10% interest, it'd now be worth close to $100,000, in today's dollars.

Now on the other hand, if you bought this bike, you can enjoy riding it as it's value appreciates! Cheers, Terry.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawasaki-kawasaki-gpz-zx-750-turbo_W0QQitemZ320303103513QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320303103513&_trkparms=72%3A727|39%3A1|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

[pdxPope]

Yeah, that is pretty cherry, to be sure!
$500 or $50,000 it's still about the same to me, these days. 

-JP

[mark]

Does that mean you aren't going to lend him a fiver there, Terry?

 

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, with a week to go before my monthly pay check, I'd have to borrow the money from you, to lend to him!     

[mark]

oops.... I don't think that would work either........ I guess he's screwed.


How's this for an idea....

Send me the $500 (or more, I don't mind) along with some "Terry's Oil Coolers" decals for the racer.

My accountant assures me that your 'advertising expense' would be fully tax-deductible.

 

 

[mark]

btw.... You should have bought the Ariel...... there's all kinds of fun stuff you could do with the pieces.......



 

 

[Terry in Australia]

Is that a "Popular Mechanics" mag mate? I used to love sitting in the school library poring over those mags back in the early 1970's, home made go kart and mini bike plans, boats, all sorts of cool stuff!

Needless to say I never built anything, (my Dad isn't mechanically inclined so no tools back then) I had some friends who were "dirt poor", but their dad owned an arc welder and they had great scrounging skills, so they built all that stuff, and I loved to hang out with them! Cheers, Terry.