Opportunities Foregone?

[RichardL]

Gents,

I am almost embarrassed to tell this story as I am sure to be thought the fool ("more the fool"?) either for passing up this '52 plunger basket case or even considering its purchase. If one of you bought it, congratulations, we look forward to seeing the progress.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230371497609&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEDWX%3AIT

At first appearance I was all over this. The idea of having a plunger to go with the swingarm was very inviting and somewhat exciting. I informed the wife (translated as, "as long as you don't deeply object") I would bid on this bike, which I did, almost immediately. My bid did not meet the reserve.  This gave me time to think and look closer, maybe my two big mistakes.

My thinking was that this time I would go for closer to original. Well, in looking at what was there, it was promising that the engine and frame numbers appeared to match. What started me on a road of negativism was looking into the crankcase where I noticed the flange on the left side inside the crankcase for the internal bolt was broken off. Then, I noticed the chain wheel was fractured, then: the wrong barrels (said to be no good anyway); the wrong head; gas tank painted to, no doubt, cover inches of bondo; the wrong fender...and I'm sure a long list of wrongs that you plunger specialists could expand upon. HA! "So what?", you say, "More baskety basket cases than this have been brought back to life.? As much as I wanted to try it with this one, the fact of a running A10 in the garage and a major house remodel in the near future made this sound less and less promising.

My hope was that at the last few seconds the price would raise dramatically and justify, in my own head, letting her go. Instead, it stayed right at the cusp of ?should I have? and ?better I didn?t.? So, I guess I won?t be inundating the forum with 500 questions about rebuilding a plunger ? THIS TIME!

Richard L.

[tombeau]

Hei Richard,
Now you've decided you want one. That was a practice run. It didn't cost you anything, and you also now know what you don't want.
It wasn't meant to be, and means that there is a better one just round the corner...maybe literally.

Cheers,
iain

[terryk]

You should have bought it cause it went for a song really. You can get new and the original bits to complete it on ebay, autojumbles and bike shops etc. If it was in Australia I'd be going for it just gotta beat the other aussies chasing these bikes.
Terry Queensland Australia

[a10 gf]

Relax, could just as well be problems foregone !

[coater87]

 Hi Richard,

 I looked hard at this also, and I never bothered to bid. Though I do want a plunger, I think after the trials I am going through with the swing-arm basket I will find a much more whole bike for a plunger project.

 Plunger pieces dont seam to come round very often, and the bidding is pretty fierce or the catalog prices are high. I think we would be best off here in the states to pay more and get more of the right parts in the first place. Now if I would have needed parts for a plunger, I would have snapped this up in a heart beat. But as the basis for a project? I passed it up, and I dont regret it.

 Lee

[RichardL]

Lee, Iain and Erling,

The validation from you that I was not nuts in letting this go is reassuring.

Terry, your opinion is not wrong either. This was definately a fence-sitting decision and both sides had grass and weeds of different descriptions. I opted for the safe side and suffer only a bit of "opportunities foregone" remorse and absolutely no buyer's remorse.

Richard L. 

[rocket man]

well done it might have cost you too much to put right

[Brian]

It could have been worse. You could have bought something like this that er, um, someone I know did yesterday. I dont know what he was thinking !

[rocket man]

looks like it only needs a bit of work on it 

[LJ.]

Now that Brian... Is very basic! phew and an early A7 too!

[RichardL]

I like it, I think, better. More classic, by its age; an A7, for that smooth ride; you know exactly what you got; I'm thinking, less than $825 U.S., but not prying, no need to say the amount.

I look forward to the saga and pictures as it comes to life.

Richard L.

[Brian]

Its actually a 1951 A10, engine no. ZA10 6192 and frame ZA7R 7277. I'm not sure why I bought it, it just seemed like a good idea at the time ! Didnt cost much which is right up my alley, I'm a miserable bugger.

Not sure what I will do with it at this stage, I do have some of the parts it needs, gearbox/front guard/rear guard tail section and some of the small parts. I might just let it sit for a year or two and see what I can find. That now makes it two A7's and three and a half A10's.

[terryk]

Hi Brian, I know what you can do with the frame, rear guard and oil tank if you dont want them. I have the rest of the bits for a long stroke project. Just a thought for ya. cheers Terry

[tombeau]

Hi Brian.

Daytona A7 replica would be nice:

http://www.beezanet.com/daytona/default.htm

Cheers,
Iain

[snowbeard]

as we were leaving the states, terribly behind in everything that needed to be done, I got one quick ride to the Smashburger Show 'n Shine Saturday.  On that ride someone mentioned a friend was also moving out of the states and was selling two or three complete A10's, plus some parts!! Boy was that hard to ignore, and I actually called the fellow later to get the name and number, but it was inconvenient for him and he said to call back later that evening, but that was when I was at home with the missus around and I was not about to have her hear me even thinking it.  so I missed that opportunity for the sake of keeping my marriage 

I did however manage at the very last minute to go trade the late 60's unit tank that was included with my super rocket for, not one, but TWO new A10 tanks (with the addition of a 100$'s anyway)!  not new of course, and in need of much help, but one is a regular smaller tank close to ready to use, needs to be pressure tested as it was brazed on the front yoke, but other wise in decent shape, the other is a EU four gallon tank! dented and rusted, but not too bad over all, I'll see what I can do with it when I get back to the states I guess.  I nearly missed my own going away party to do it, and the wife was not at all impressed when I returned triumphantly with more tanks than I left her at the car with, but it was worth it in my book!

pick your battles would be the moral of the story then, sounds like you did well to fight again another day!