Fred lives in a village somewhere along the A2. He is there "The man with those old motorcycles, those classics." One Saturday morning the phone rang. An old lady and a less old lady stood at the door. Fred knows them. Mother and daughter. They live in the countryside. The mother once had an attack and talks hard. The daughter is a soured single. "Can they speak to Fred for a moment?" Of course you can. Fred's Inge provides coffee and cake.
There is talk about cows and calves
This fits in with the rural environment. But then mother comes, speaking with difficulty and supported by the daughters of the daughter. “You have old motorcycles and stuff like that. From classics. My husband saved that too. But now I am selling my house and going into an old people's flat. And my husband's old stuff has to go. Do you want to buy that? "
Fred is more than mildly interested
He says he would like to see the classics first. Which can. Straight away. The trio leaves for the countryside. Behind the house is a dilapidated barn measuring ten by thirty. The locks are coming off. The doors open. Inside, at dusk, the motorcycles stand side by side. There are also a few cars between the two-wheelers.
Fred is best known in classic country
He sees one, no two Norton Manxes. A BMW with a sheet steel frame. A Vincent, a Porsche 365 B Coupé, a few Zündapp motorcycles. A Norton Atlas. Jawas. A Suzuki. What Harley's. The widow tells that her husband had been a submarine. If he saw an old engine somewhere, he would buy it and take it on board. He did that from 1950 to 1970. Between 1960 and 1970, all motorcycles had about the same value, Fred knew: more than 0 guilders. All the machines seemed to be in reasonable condition, fairly complete and quite original.
The daughter took over the conversation in a diligent tone
She was clearly the hard liner who could bring the matter to a successful conclusion. With the clarity that the case was crystal clear, she said that Fred had to make the cut. "What do you want for it?" Said Fred, who had barely recovered from everything he had seen. Daughter looked relentless and said: “We know it's worth a lot of money. So I want 5000 euros for it. ”The mother nodded in awe at the mention of such a monstrous amount.
It took a while, but still ...
Fred pretended to touch his heart and said: “That must be done then. I get the money and make sure that the shed is empty on Monday. ”Mother and daughter looked at each other satisfied with their tough business approach. Fred kept his promise. And he only found the Rudge Ulster with radial valves when cleaning up. He stood behind the Big Chief. That Monday he had something to explain to his employer. Because he had stored his acquisitions in a shed at his workplace. In exchange for the Norton Altlas, his boss was satisfied with it.