Black Shadow

Peter Holmes

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Just got bored of watching 'The Apprentice' so thought I would browse Ebay, by the way Hugo I am not hopeful, I think you will be outbid. I digress, just noticed a rather nice Shadow for the bargain price of £67k, apparently just rebuilt to better than new and as it left the factory, did the factory actually use pozidrive machine screws for the handlebar controls?
 

philo

Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Gosh that seems alot of money. I heard you can pick up a shadow or A rapide for 1000 pounds if you have the right contacts!
 

Tom Gaynor

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VOC Member
I was given a "matching numbers" Comet basket case by a friend about the time JL was discussing giving his bikes (also basket cases) to friends. (Many people seem to imagine a file of pristine A Rapides and SS100 Broughs being wheeled out of a showroom, not tea-chests of bits being loaded into a van.) My giver knew perfectly well what the price of a fully restored Comet was, and, because he was neither stupid nor inexperienced, what it would take in time and money to restore what he gave me. And that if he wanted to see another Vincent on the road, which is what he did want, in the hands of a friend, which is also what he wanted, I was a better bet than eBay - or HMRC. (Might be out next year. Eight years - a quick restoration, then...)
Luckily he didn't think of Vincent basket cases as being worth the price of a fully restored bike. Nor do I. Even a complete basket case Comet, all parts usable, "requires assembly only", ho, ho, at say £5000, is no bargain if you add in the cost of your own realistically costed labour. (Garages here charge labour at £90 per hour when all they ever do is swop out modules).
Whoops! The notional profit on "a bike worth £10,000" has just evaporated. Restore bikes for love, as I do, but don't do it for money. I've never made any, and I have bikes "worth £4000" which I bought for £40, and bikes "worth £6000" for which I paid nothing.
And since they were my friend's to dispose of exactly as he wished, and he did exactly as he wished, as, it seems highly probable, did JL, I don't see what business it is of anyone else. Even if I disapproved of what he did, which I don't.
 

Tom Gaynor

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VOC Member
Don't. I've had a near-death experience. If I hadn't wakened up, after 20 minutes, I'd never have known. The guy I hit wakened up 6 weeks later. The common mistake appears to be thinking you'll experience dying. You won't. Either you're alive, or you're dead. This may be different for you if you can hover a lightswitch between on and off. The good news for believers is that they'll never find out that there isn't an afterlife. This is it: it isn't a dress rehearsal. Living doesn't contimue when you're dead.
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Hello Tom, I was out for 3 1/2 hours, When I came too the nurse asked me if my arms and legs worked, I said you should know your a nurse !! Had a plate in my head ever since, That was 1970 just befor I started racing, For some people there is no hope !! Bill.
 

vincenttwin

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VOC Member
Last year I picked up the rusty remains of a 1939 New Imperial 350cc model 46 with a sprung rear frame ,very close to Vincent"s rear sprung frame (well Matt Wright did work at both factories) I got it for scrap value ,I know I am over 6-7 k into it ,but I would not dare keep accounts or I might have to get a new dinning room set as well.
and what will it be worth - 8k on a good day , but the fun is to take something that was very nearly thrown away and to get it to run. I do not care what it is worth ,I will ride it and have fun with it as I do on my A single 13,000 miles in 10 years.
Peter
 

Hugo Myatt

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Don't remember where I read this but somewhere in the dim distant past I seem to recall that the New Imp rear suspension (Bentley and Draper?) was under license from PCV. I envy you as I have always wanted one. However I do have a New Imperial Motorcycles Handbook for 1932-6 which includes the model 46. PM me if interested.
 

Hugo Myatt

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VOC Member
Bill,

Forty years ago I had my only prang on a Vincent, touch wood. It was near Watford. A Ford Anglia pulled out from a cart track right in front of me. I pulled on the front brake so hard I buckled both brake plates. It was not enough. I hit the front wing and flew into the air. I actually saw the bike somersauting beneath me. I landed on my head, fortunately with Everoak helmet. As I staggered to my feet a man got out of a Ford Anglia. I swung a punch at him and passed out. I came to in the Peace Memorial Hospital in Watford. A little shy man was sitting by my bed crumpling his trilby hat. "I'm the man you hit," he said apologetically. "but I'm not the man that hit you. That was a different Ford Anglia."
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Hello Hugo, I Blush for you, I thought many times about killing the toe rag which ruined my life, But my head was and is very delicate, Head Aches every day !! But you forgot about the time you wound up in the trees, you thought you had a tank-slapper, but it was a petrol leak which got on to the back tyre !! I think we have had lots of good times, Which make it all worth it. Have Fun Bill.
 
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