Commando Provenance

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dave Swanson

Dave Swanson

VIP MEMBER
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
64
Country flag
My Commando came with loads of provenance. It was purchased at Elite Motors, London by an American GI with the intention of eventually shipping it to the US. Somehow all of the paper was saved and passed on with the bike.

Everything imaginable was kept; payoff slip, registration book and tax disc, Lloyds insurance docs, all factory correspondence, receipts for the down payment and spares, and export docs for the shipping company.

It doesn't make it any more fun to ride, but it is fun to look through the old paper from time to time.

Commando Provenance


Commando Provenance


Commando Provenance


Commando Provenance
 
That is the coolest thing in the whole wide world. Plus after a winter in India I now understand the penchant for overdocumentation/beurocracy.Ah the British. Which form to have sex please?
 
calbigbird said:
That is way cool, but the paperwork says it is blue. Now you have to repaint it. Doooh!!!
Click to expand...

Right you are! The second owner had it painted black (I am the third owner). I always wonder what kind of shape the original paint was in when it was sanded down!
 
$1800USD in 74? I guess that's what they went for, but I only paid $750 for my used 69S in 72. That's quite a markup.

Cool story though.

Dave
69S
 
DogT said:
$1800USD in 74? I guess that's what they went for, but I only paid $750 for my used 69S in 72. That's quite a markup.

Cool story though.

Dave
69S
Click to expand...

It's all VAT. :shock:
 
1800 US in 1974 = ~ $8853 in 2011. If in pounds may have to use another inflation calculator. Don't expect to get what you put into it even if selling for a bit more than you put into it when.
 
I bought mine from the original owner. As I was looking through his original bill of sale, I noticed that he traded in a Yamaha 360 to buy the Norton. I would never have known that otherwise. I sold my Honda 360 to buy his Norton. I plan to put all the paperwork together in a frame. It is a cool record of the bike.
 
hobot said:
1800 US in 1974 = ~ $8853 in 2011. If in pounds may have to use another inflation calculator. Don't expect to get what you put into it even if selling for a bit more than you put into it when.
Click to expand...

Don't know where you get that conversion from Steve, but a new car here in 74 was about $3000, and now the same basic model of the same basic car is like $35000 - thats ~ 12 times.
And cars are now cheaper to buy (to a years wages) than they were then.

(Couldn't think of a bike example, the same makers aren't really in business).
Suppose H*nda is - $1500 in 74, $15,000 now, so that 10 times is still about right...

But we diverge.
Cheers.
 
swooshdave said:
DogT said:
$1800USD in 74? I guess that's what they went for, but I only paid $750 for my used 69S in 72. That's quite a markup.

Cool story though.

Dave
69S
Click to expand...

It's all VAT. :shock:
Click to expand...

The exchange rate would be about right for 1974 at around $2.40 USD to £1.00 GBP.

As it was going for export I doubt there would be any VAT included in the price? £728.75 would be less than the normal retail price for a Commando in 1974.
 
I have the same documentation for my '74 that I bought new in '75. Cost at the time was $2550 US.
 
drones76 said:
I bought mine from the original owner. As I was looking through his original bill of sale, I noticed that he traded in a Yamaha 360 to buy the Norton. I would never have known that otherwise. I sold my Honda 360 to buy his Norton. I plan to put all the paperwork together in a frame. It is a cool record of the bike.
Click to expand...


I bought a 69 S in 1971. If memory serves me correct, I paid $900 some. Little story to that bike. My wife, at the time, and I were in the pre-divorce stage. After another round of useless confrontation, I fired up the Commando and left. Got about ten miles down the road and that thing seized up tighter than a bull's ass at fly time. Somehow, mysteriously, the oil tank was bone dry. My guess is she, the wife, had a little help from one of her male admirers sucking the oil from the tank. Luckily, I got the bike back together (major rebuild) and divorced the wife. The next bike and the next wife were both a lot nicer and prettier. The third bike and third wife were even better.
 
At the time I departed Norton in 1968, I could have got a discounted employee price of £520. At that time, the exchange rate was fixed by law at US$2.40 to the UK pound. I think the employee discount was 15%. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford it, even though Boeing would have included it in my personal belongings shipment.
 
JimC says"

"seized up tighter than a bull's ass at fly time."


now, THAT is damn funny!
 
To follow up my previous post, I think the $2.40 to £1.00 was the legally fixed exchange rate until about 1974, but memory dims with time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top