Villager Theo Terwel recently found a crated BMW R80 G / S. In Leende is a Harley Sportster with the same number of kilometers on Joppen motorbikes among the recent occassions. Rob Remmerswaal from Wezup has an XS650 that has never had a wet tank and we know a man who left twenty + motorcycles in their cardboard or wooden packaging in a room without windows and with special lighting so that the text on the packaging does not fade…
Is that smart or madness?
In a few cases it was actually a coincidence. A machine that was purchased by a dealer, but was never sold and did not stand in the way. Or the unsold stock of an over enthusiastic dealer. That played in 2010 when a whole bunch of crimped Nortons came on the market from Flanders.
That had not been an investment attempt. That had been a bad buy on the purchasing side from the time that only that dealer saw a future in British motorcycles. We found one of those machines a little later at Gallery Aaldering. There were a total of 10 or eleven ...
It could also be a bike from someone who already had so many that he couldn't drive. Those kind of things. The man with his collection in the dark? We know him. He doesn't know what to do with his money from birth. And he just doesn't get it.
Showroomshine vs patina
At a time when 'patina' is the magic word you naturally wonder what the use of a virgin machine is. Is it not really an old maid? Is the machine priceless due to its lack of kilometers? We have heard a happy owner of such a thing sigh: "If I only start it once, it will immediately be worth two thousand euros less." It will…
With work anyway
It is of course very funny that after twenty, thirty, forty years such a motor has a lot of overdue maintenance. Tires of brake hoses, suction rubbers ... They are all really ready for replacement after such a time. I wonder how long simmer rings and valve stem hats stay good in terms of losing their flexibility. If you have to open a block it is of course less fun again. I would guess that the Harley has the least problems with regard to simple technology.
But if you did that, you could just have a whole new classic without being drained for restoration costs. And with regard to the price ideas we have heard, such a motorcycle is not even more expensive than a Really Very New. And the depreciation? With proper maintenance, this will be considerably lower than that of an 2019 person.
With eternity guarantee
And with a little bit of policy, the Ironhead Sportster does get 50D without having to separate. Theo Terwels BMW is of course good for the 90-120D before it needs a head overhaul. Ron Remmerswaal's XS650 is unlikely to make its first revision in this lifetime. But with the kilometers that we drive on our classics, things are pretty far away.
Soon we will have a story in which a zero-km machine is a photo model.
But the question is: Is an 0 km km machine worth the grand prize or nothing?
Is that, or rather already, not a good time to get such a dirt cheap subscription AutoMotorKlassiek, the largest classic magazine in the Dutch language area?
It was for sale years ago at Gallery Aaldering
Such an engine deserves to make miles!