Carol my older sister who's been a hot rodder her whole life and can magically find anything, (like my 57 Chevy truck). Calls me up and says hey I'm at this lady's estate sale, her husband just died and there's an old Honda 750 here in decent shape, you want it? I could probably get it for a couple hundred bucks. I laugh and say if it's a 69 I'll take it. So Carol asks the lady… do you know what year this is and the lady says it was my husband's bike, he bought it new in 69. I can hear the woman through my sis’s phone… Holy sh*t, I roll the dice and say tell the lady I'll give her a grand for it, she says oh that sounds great! but first let me call an old friend who knows motorcycles. Carol’s still on the phone, I tell Carol everything I know about sandcasts an how much I love her. she can’t read the serial number because there’s too much stuff in the way, So as time stands still for me an my sis chit chats, the woman's friend calls her back and says, "Hell if you can get $1000 for Laverne's old motorcycle that's great” yes, his name was Laverne, yes, now I love her man friend and yes, Carol’s magic comes through again! The woman agrees with Carol to take 1000 for it. I'm in my truck flying over there before I get off the phone. We pull the bike out, an it’s in really good shape #1059 with black Calif. plates. She said her husband loved to ride an that he did, 42k hopefully smiling all the way. He did have a beer cozy mounted on the bars. I pay her and She hands me the original 69 California title. I take my first breath in an hour.
So I get it home and clean it up, take some of the poo poos off and really see what kind of shape its in. I need to stare at it in the garage for a few days to see if I want to restore the bike or sell it as is. I decide it’ll be a fun project to restore and start taking it apart. Everything I own, I drive or ride so the motor needs to be gone through. I was recommended to Perris 750 guru Dennis Truddelle. Dennis has gone through the motor and it's ready to be reassembled but he doesn’t want to use a later head gasket, He says it will leak and only a sandcast head gasket will suffice. I’ve searched but to no avail. Might have to get my sister on this one, No really, any help would be amazing and thanks again for letting me in. Mike
here's getting it home
an then.....
