Why didn't I buy one?

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 08/19/2014 at 23:44 • Filed to: None

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Such perfect proportions, even without the fairing.

At one time I had a fair amount of cash, and these bikes were unwanted and dirt cheap. Today I don't have any spare funds and these things are priced considerably higher than I can justify for a toy. C'est la vie...

GhostZ > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/19/2014 at 23:47

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Reminds me of when you could pick up 60s Mustangs for pennies on the dollar before the 2000s, and now it's hard to find one that isn't a convertible straight six that doesn't run.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > GhostZ 08/19/2014 at 23:56

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My grandfather did some horrible, unspeakable things to early Mustang's back in the late '70s. Tacky, tasteless modifications that were an affront to those of us with a proper sense of design. Even at 10 years old I knew better. One was so bad that I spotted it in the parking lot whilst still in the air, just prior to landing. Good thing film was expensive back then, because I knew better than to waste one of my precious frames of 110 on his monstrosities...

GhostZ > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/20/2014 at 00:01

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http://37.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdd74p4…

mcseanerson > GhostZ 08/20/2014 at 00:02

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You know I think that bubble has burst. We are finally starting to see decent prices on muscle again. It will never reach pre-2000's low again but at least it's not 10k for a pair of rusty frame rails and a vin.

GhostZ > mcseanerson 08/20/2014 at 00:38

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That is true, to some extent. Cash for Clunkers also came at the worst possible time for this.

Also, thanks to the recession and gas shortage off-nameplate land yacts are dirt cheap .

I have been seriously considering picking up an old Plymouth Fury sedan from the mid-70s and building up the 440 in it as a winter beater. If the body rots away, I can always swap the motor into something else.

mcseanerson > GhostZ 08/20/2014 at 00:46

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http://chillicothe.craigslist.org/cto/4624326479…
http://chillicothe.craigslist.org/cto/4626367061…

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4626840764…

Man look at these. You'd never see stuff this nice this cheap ten years ago.

GhostZ > mcseanerson 08/20/2014 at 01:19

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That mercury cougar makes my jimmies commence the rustling.

Jobjoris > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/20/2014 at 02:06

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Ain't the one it was derived from (the XBR500) much cheaper? It's only the seat that differs (and maybe the comstar wheels on early XBRs) I suppose. The XBRs are to be found for way under 1000 euros over here.

sdwarf36 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/20/2014 at 07:44

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Where are you that these were unwanted + dirt cheap? These were expensive on the showroom floor-and always commanded top dollar that I've seen.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > sdwarf36 08/20/2014 at 09:59

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Back in the late '80s and early '90s, when I was heaviest into bikes, these things were languishing on showroom floors for years; this is somewhat similar to the way Plymouth couldn't sell SuperBirds when they were new. Everyone liked the looks, but the price was a bit dear, and nobody wanted to pay the asking price for what was ostensibly just a thumper in pretty clothes. Maybe dirt cheap was an exaggeration, but you certainly weren't paying anything close to MSRP when new. And like a fool, I passed...

sdwarf36 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/20/2014 at 20:41

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10-4 on the languishing on the showroom floors. A good buddy worked at (and actually live at) a small town Honda dealership when these were out. Going from memory, they made very few (in Honda terms) 1 per dealer. And it was like $3495 while XR500's were $2100. We were big thumper fans-flat tracking + Ice racing. We thought it was cool as hell-spent much time sitting on it the couple of years it was there. We actually built a low buck version of one out of a wrecked XL500.

I bet I've only seen one in the wild all these years.