I went to a clearing sale at Boolooroo, 70km north of Clare SA, this morning to have a look at this 1973 SL70, and hopfully buy it. From a starting bit of $100, the buying price rapidly escalated to a price of $700 + GST. I was willing to pay $400, and my final bid was $500 (got carried away, like always) and the other two guys kept going. The winning bit was a proxy bit with one of the stock agents, so the winning bidder has not seen the bike in the flesh.
As can be seen in the pictures, the bike has 7528 miles on the speedo and is very original and almost complete. Problems and damage I noted apart from all the dirt and general wear and tear, were as follows;
There was no kickstart fitted, and when I put the bike in gear (the gear lever turns on the selector shaft) the engine turn over for about a turn before stopping (posibly bent a valve as you could here the camchain rattling as it turned over). Badly cracked rear mudguard. Missing spokes in the front wheel. Chain and sprokets fairly worn, tyres flat, hard and perished. The seat cover has several small tears in it. All the chrome, including the fork tubes have lots of minor rust pitting.
Now am I just tight, or is this really worth what the guy has payed for it?
Edit: The early 60's C92 125 Benly in the background sold for $500 + GST. It actually still had the original took roll / kit under the sidecover in mint condition, so maybe the SL still has its toolkit too. I din't remove the sidecivers for fear of snapping the lugs off.
CJ
