This thread is going to start with the statement.." I never in a million years thought I would be able to own a Vincent" They were motorcycles to be looked at from a distance...I belong to the AMCA and have several Harley Shovelheads and an XLCR Cafe Racer....I live in the very small town of Bennington Nebraska...Last Tuesday I sat down at 6 A.M. to peruse the local Craigslist ads and have a cup of coffee....About 5 listings down the page I came across an ad that read....1948 Vincent Black Shadow....10,000....I thought it must be a scam but the ad had a phone number ...The ad stated ..text/email or call....At 6:30 AM I did all three....A young man answered...Explained it had belonged to his Grandfather...His Grandfather had bought the bike in 1970,,rode it a few years and then the motor blew up...It had been sitting in his Grandparents basement since 1975....He told me his phone had 27 messages on it after he posted it the previous evening at 11 PM..But since I was the only person that had emailed/texted and called he would give me first crack at it....I told him I would take it and asked where he lived...He lived in another small town.. Irvington Nebraska...A little over 5 miles from my house...He told me to show up at his house at 8 am...Then,came the hard part...I didn't have but 3000 to my name...I called a friend at 7 and he agreed to loan me the money...At 8 I showed up at the young mans house and in his garage was a blue Vincent....The rear cyl was off and parts were in a bin...the bike was fairly complete with front and rear frames still attached to the motor.Had the girder forks all there....It had the parts from the motor in the bin...It looks like it swallowed a valve...but the bottom end looked perfect and the motor turned over with the kickstarter...The rod had some give side to side but was tight up and down...It had the gas tank and oil tank and exhaust in the bin..Now, remember,,,I don't know anything about Vincents other than I had one in front of me...I gave him a 2000 deposit and we struck a deal that if the title was good and it was as advertised we would settle up the next day...I ran the numbers and it turns out it is a 1948 Series B Rapide...It appears to have factory blue paint on it...Well, I pulled the trigger and now I own it....A couple of shovelheads went out the door to pay for it but ,Holy smokes.!! I own a Vincent!! From what I can tell it is missing the electrics/gauges and fenders....Very excited about what will be a multi year project...1st question for you guys is...Is there any way to tell what color my bike was from the factory...Most of it looks like original paint except the gas tank...Well, thanks in advance for any help and direction...Jeez, still catching my breath....Thanks again Bruce