UPDATE: I have now sold this machine and it's being shipped to United Kingdom this week
A number of members have asked me to post about VIN 28
I bought over two years ago from a fellow located in the township of Needles, California. Needles is located near the California/Arizona border and has a very dry/arid climate. Very little information was available about the bike from the seller other than it was bought from someone who was presumed to be the original owner or related to the original owner. All I had to go on were a half dozen pictures that really didn’t show much but what I could see was enough to ask for further info and pictures.
I’ve posted a few of the original pictures I received but the quality was poor. Nevertheless, the bike seemed to be fairly complete from what I could tell. Whilst the bike was equipped with a 4 into 1 exhaust the owner had the original Lotus Root exhausts originally fitted to the bike, a bunch of original paperwork including a title, and a number of other sundry parts. Hey, when was the last time you saw a set of original LR exhausts.
Prior to shipping I had the seller fit the original LR exhaust and clamps so that it could be shipped without incurring damage to loose exhausts. Shippers don’t give a toss. but their good at tossing.
Once 28 arrived I did a complete check of what I'd bought from a set of less than great pictures and to my surprise there was very little that wasn’t there. The items not original to the bike were an early seat, original handle bar, no 28 carb caps, a right switch, rear indicators and mounts (front mounts were with the included parts) a pair of 11mm mirrors, Speedo cable and 1 x LR baffle Other than those few items there is nothing else missing from this bike. Surprisingly, the seat that was fitted to the bike was a perfect original red foam seat as seen on later sandcast production so that seat is not a total loss.
The biggest downer with the bike is the locked engine. Given it was last registered in April 1984 I’m not surprised with that. Someone has at least attempted to try and unlock the engine and get it going as there were no spark plugs in the head and the carbs have been removed at some time. Other than that the engine has never been out of the frame and all fasteners are untouched from what I can see. The bike has what I believe is the original plate and I have read about early Californian bikes having a black plate What is significant about a black registration plate? Does anyone know?
Now the good news is I have all the items that the bike didn’t have. Yep, I had an early seat (thank you Mr Courtney) which is now on the bike, I changed out the bars, I’d already sourced a LR Baffle AND I had a set of 11mm stems and mirrors. Yes indeed, of all the hard to find items I have, these 2 are the rarest parts I own. I have several sets of early NOS indicators so I have installed a set on the bike for a photo shoot soon to be done. One of my early taco cables completes the list. I now think 28 is about as period correct as it can get.I suspect the original owner was too far from a service centre to get these things changed out. The engine does not have the 3 punch marks near the engine number pad so I presume no changes have been made to original equipment. I’ve already spotted a few things I’ve never seen before and I’ll point these out with the uploaded photographs.
I am not intending to commence a restoration for some time so what I post in the coming week will be it as I intend to remove the mirrors and rear indicators and repack them until required, put the bike back into storage and concentrate on other projects. I’m more than happy to answer any queries members may have