Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
Well, not really a barn find. I suppose. A few of us in Tassie have known that these triples were rotting away in a shed for years, but the owner thought they were worth their weight in gold and wouldn't sell for less than $50k
He must have recently come to his senses or realised he was never going to get his pot of gold and let them go for a sensible price. A mate of mine bought the pair for $15k, plus a bunch of spare parts.
There's a 1980 Jota and a 1974 3C. The Jota hasn't been running since the early 90's and the 3C since the early 80's. They're both quite original apart from re-upholstered seats and modified rear footrests for the wife's comfort. All mods appear to be reversible.
The Jota appears to be in reasonable condition, with some patina. A bit of a clean-up and re-commission, and a new set of tyres and it should be OK to ride. But the new owner wants to give it a thorough check over before attempting to start it. It's apparently been pranged at some stage because it has an un-numbered frame. The original frame came with the bike but it has a hump in the spine tube indicating a front-end crash at some stage. It's not a severe bend so I reckon the original frame is recoverable.
The 3C is a bit more of a project. It too has had a front end crash and has subsequently been parked with no attempt to repair it. The forks are bent and I'd guess the frame is too. A few bits are missing (possibly been robbed to keep the Jota going) and some other parts are broken. But it's 90% complete. This one was stored in a damp lean-to and has a bit of rust on the steel bits and white oxide on the alloy. If the engine internals are OK it's a potential resto project, but it'll need a fair bit of money spent on it to get it back on the road.
He must have recently come to his senses or realised he was never going to get his pot of gold and let them go for a sensible price. A mate of mine bought the pair for $15k, plus a bunch of spare parts.
There's a 1980 Jota and a 1974 3C. The Jota hasn't been running since the early 90's and the 3C since the early 80's. They're both quite original apart from re-upholstered seats and modified rear footrests for the wife's comfort. All mods appear to be reversible.
The Jota appears to be in reasonable condition, with some patina. A bit of a clean-up and re-commission, and a new set of tyres and it should be OK to ride. But the new owner wants to give it a thorough check over before attempting to start it. It's apparently been pranged at some stage because it has an un-numbered frame. The original frame came with the bike but it has a hump in the spine tube indicating a front-end crash at some stage. It's not a severe bend so I reckon the original frame is recoverable.
The 3C is a bit more of a project. It too has had a front end crash and has subsequently been parked with no attempt to repair it. The forks are bent and I'd guess the frame is too. A few bits are missing (possibly been robbed to keep the Jota going) and some other parts are broken. But it's 90% complete. This one was stored in a damp lean-to and has a bit of rust on the steel bits and white oxide on the alloy. If the engine internals are OK it's a potential resto project, but it'll need a fair bit of money spent on it to get it back on the road.
