Garage Fire Find in 2005

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travelerjerry

travelerjerry

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Jul 24, 2003
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Enjoy seeing other people's Fresh Barn/Garage Finds. Had some time today to show some pictures of a 73 Norton 850 with 6,283 miles that was in a garage fire 5 years ago. The bike was pulled out and left uncovered in the winter covered with snow when I discovered it. (Ironically, was 7 miles from my house).

It was destined to the salvage yard as the owner got a settlement from his insurance policy. I was able to purchase it for the insurance salvage price of $1,500. Could not bear the thought of seeing this bike getting crushed or melted. I figured the power train was worth the salvage price.

Have not begun a restoration yet. Just sitting for now. What a dirty job this will be someday.

Any other Forum viewer's did a project similar to this?

Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005
 
Heart breaking photos.
I had to pause and shed a tear :cry:
Hope you get her back to her right full rider status.
Boy, everything melted :shock:
PS: I have some rider quality take off parts from my 72 750 if it helps?
Marshal
 
Believe it or not I've actually seen worse. One of the guys in our club had his Norton get caught in a shop fire. When we saw the bike we dubbed it the "Crispy Critter". I thought all it was good for was scrap metal. But he rebuilt it better than it was before. The bike is gorgeous now and it runs as good as it looks. Its new name is The Phoenix. Sorry I don't have any photos...

So this one can definitely be saved.

Debby
 
Looks like a doable project.
However I can't believe the insurance company wanted $1,500 for it!

Good luck
Bob
 
While I wouldn't call it the deal of the century it's definitely a candidate for the before-after restoration competition we're have annually here.
 
I would agree Rennie on the price was a tad high. Tried to get lowered but they wouldn't budge. Had the extra money at the time. I already took off some parts for my every day rider so far. But I do have a title for it. Just didn't want to see it exterminated.
 
We're not all good business heads or hard nosed wheeler dealers I guess. They were looking at taking it to the scrap yard though so you may have been able to play hard ball with them but... I've done the same thing. I've picked up a couple bikes that other locals shyed away from because they were worth it to me. There is something about finding a bike in your neighborhood where shipping doesn't enter the equation that we can take into account on these deals. Don't look back bro, what matters is you got it! It will be interesting to see before and after shots thats for sure.
 
Travelerjerry, I think you got a good deal here, It looks mostly to be smoke damage on the lower part of the bike at least, many of the rubber and other flammable components (footrests, filter etc) look relatively intact and with any bike thats been 'maturing' quietly for a while you need to replace things like spokes, rims and tires, exhausts and all the other components that have become rusty or unusable, which in this case have simply become burnt then rusty. It seems difficult to pick up a matching frame and engine for much less than $1,000 these days and this one comes with the relevant paperwork.
I agree with RennieK This will be a difficult one to beat in the 'Most Improved' competition in the future.
 
Shop fires. Here is a picture of my shop in 06. This is looking into the storeroom door. The first bike is the crispy critter Debbie was refering to. In front of that bike were 5 more Commandos, a BSA, a Ducati, a Yamaha, a Suzuki, 3 Hondas plus the handbuilt racebike that I was racing in Modern Supertwins.
Outside the door with a little less damage was a Bimota, a KTM and my Fuelie bike plus over 750 thousand in parts and equipment. Basically was a 25 year collection of bikes and parts. All because the guy in the bussiness next door wanted to hurry the paint in his booth with a space heater. James Comstock

Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005


Garage Fire Find in 2005
 
Jim,

Was it your shop that a Commando was damaged in the fire that the guy restored it again with the help of the local club?
 
I had a similar experience, but actually owned the bike when it burned, and was sitting on it when the inferno started.

Here's the high point (or low point) of the afternoon - going full blast!

Garage Fire Find in 2005


Note that it's not a Commando, but my treasured '68 650SS.

Here is the corpse.

Garage Fire Find in 2005


And although I don't have any "after" photos of my winter project, here's a similar bike that I happen to have a picture of, (although I think mine looked much better after rising from the ashes).

Garage Fire Find in 2005


Good luck!
 
My Commando was worse than that, it was a ge-nu-wi-ne JPN with 25 miles on the clocks (yes, 25 miles) :( All the plastic, fiberglass and rubber burned off, the zinc parts like the carbs melted and then it sat for two months frozen in ice, the battery acid leaked on everything below it too. I restored it as a Fastback.

Garage Fire Find in 2005


after the first rebuild

Garage Fire Find in 2005


Second rebuild

Garage Fire Find in 2005


Now it's due again...

Jean
 
Jeandr said:
My Commando was worse than that, it was a ge-nu-wi-ne JPN with 25 miles on the clocks (yes, 25 miles) :( All the plastic, fiberglass and rubber burned off, the zinc parts like the carbs melted and then it sat for two months frozen in ice, the battery acid leaked on everything below it too. I restored it as a Fastback.

[

Now it's due again...

Jean
Click to expand...
love the grimica (/) front brake Jean -looks great
 
Cookie,
Yes, Bob's bike was damaged in my shop and then restored with help from the local club. It was nicknamed the crispy critter. It came out beautiful but I don't have a picture I can post. The Ducati was also restored and three more Commandos are on the list for restoration. The rest of the bikes were goners with the aluminum parts just melted into puddles. James
 
you are all killin me w/ these destructive pics.
It looks like a visual guide to inside the mind of Steven King and the Norton.
I only own one Norton and am really fond of it I'd be devastated if I lost her in a fire.
Debbies crispy critter comment was pretty funny as all you can do is step back afterwards and make light of the situation.
I'm going to see if we can start a fund raising committee for buying some of you smoke detectors.
Smoke detectors save Nortons. If your garage is detached you put a baby monitor in as well.
The after pics are trully amazing. I would have administered last rights for some of these units.
Jim I think you should get the $150.00 as you had the biggest loss I've ever seen.
Did insurance help at all?
Well I'm in the emergency services so everyone have a smoke free 2010,
We should do a forum build.
Someone w/ the time can donate the carcass and keep it, we can send that rider all our old take off parts and they can make a rider. Sorry sounded good in my distorted mind :roll:
Hey we can show before and after pics then show Obama change is possible :P
Thee Marshal
 
Hey Norton speed your avatar your actual ride?
If so WOW!!!!
I gotta start hangin around w/ you and Jean 8)
Marshal
 
Marshal,
Six of the bikes damaged were customers bikes and they were fully covered by my shopkeepers insurance. The bussiness where the fire started had no insurance and is deep in trouble from the several customers cars he had in his shop that were destroyed. I had enough personal property insurance to cover about 1/5 of my loss. They just wrote me a check for the limit and walked away. They said I could salvage what I could and clean up the rest. Guess that"s my retirement. James
 
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