Restorers are not any different than any other discerning motorcycle enthusiast. In order for the bike to be right, it has to be RIGHT. Racers are this way, they can spend ten's and even hundreds of thousands of dollars on building a competetive machine. A full blown sandcast CB750 restoration is small change compared to values of early American and European pre-WWII motorcycles. Every rare part or machine has it's value, sometimes this value is more subjective than others. Am sure you've heard of Barrett Jackson auction. These parts correct for early sandcasts are pretty exclusive as is the early CB750. If you can't live with an incorrect 17L tank on an early vin, you can't paste several $100 bills where the 19L tank is supposed to go. Back when i was editor of the Indian 4 Cylinder News, from 1978-1991, the Indian 4 club had idenitified around 485 Indian 4's in existence. In the late 60's a nice clean original running Indian 4 would sell for around $500 to $1,000. By the early 90's, if you could find one, the same would sell for around $25,000. Today, they are selling for $65,000 and up. I firmly beleive we can expect to see an upward trend for our sandcasts, if we reflect on prices 10 years ago prices today. It's easy to imagine sandcasts continuing to evaluate. Vic World was selling his restorations for 29,000 and up, depending on vin. Then the economy to a nose dive. But, natural law being what it is, what was up, goes down and then what's down goes up. A number of our restorations are comparable to Vic's bikes and ditto every bit in authenticity and value. It's easy for me to imagine a pristine correct restoration of any RH horn bike being worth $30,000 in another 5 years, if not now. It's been several years since there was a pristine correct authentic restored sandcast on ebay and last i remember the bike went for lower-mid $20 K. Vic's 6xxx bike w/ 441 miles sold for $42,000 as i recall at the time the economy had cratered. Any vin under around 300 is going to have essentially all the same parts as any 2 digit. They should all be worth the similar values, assuming they are all in the same condition. But it would also seem, the lower the vin in each of the 1,2,3, digit categories would engender added interest, desireablity and probably higher dollar value. Certainly, a 1 digit, a 2 digit and a 3 digit bikes are all in classes of there own. And, there is fewer of these digits in each lower category. 9-1 digits. 90-2 digits. 900-3 digits. And for all practical purposes we've figure out there's, at best, very few, differences between vins 100 to 300. I don't even know there are any signicant differences between 2 digit and early 3 digit bikes, for that matter, so the 2 digit "Cool Factor," should make a 2 digit worth more than a 3 digit. How much, i don't know. I think to really command max dollar value, you'd better own a 1 digit. Serious restorers take making their bikes being correct very seriously, they'll do anything to make their bikes correct and perfect, so cost is no object. You'll sacrifice to get the part you want, you'll sell a bike or two you can live without or sell parts you don't need to buy the actual part you need, or if you are lucky enough to have the cash, then you'll pay whatever price is necessary to get that part in your hands. It's all relative. If you can afford it, get it, if you want it. If you can;t afford it, build a relationship with the owner and beg him or her to make a deal with you so you can get th prized object. I paid $2300 for my 19L tank and $1600 for my early seat and $5000 for my E254 engine..... So, $2000 for a set of carbs...... No problimo ! Of course, there will be people who think we are crazy for spending crazy money on parts, but myself i spend only minutes out of the year wondering what people think of me. Think as they will of me, it's not my business ! My motto is, "If a dollar bill can be made to fit in place of the part i need, I'd be happy. But that's not the case. And if i have to put a wrong part on a restoration, it GNAWS at me until i can find the right part.