1974 Laverda 1000 3C

Just been talking to Ged at GCS here, he's jut got my 74 3C back together and it's sounding sweet apparently. I have just calculated that it has cost me nearly ?10,000 so far and there has been no cosmetic work. Still it should now be functionally excellent, engine rebuilt, crankcase studs timecerted, rebored, later barrels, later head, later cam bearings, Redax ignition and alternator, rewired, brakes rebuilt, new wheel bearings, steering head bearings, fork seals etc etc.
It looks a bit timeworn but I can live with that. I hope you have better luck with yours Beucars because this one drove me to the brink.
 
I haven't touched the cosmetics Shaun, it's all hidden inside ha ha! You know I don't mean it anyway.
I think the bike polish up fine but there won't be any wheel rebuilding for bling purposes or anything like that. The chrome is a bit hit and miss and I can't afford to waste money on that either. When I saw the cost of Pompeyguys chroming on the ILOC site I decided rust was of aesthetic value to me.
 
pf1 said:
Just been talking to Ged at GCS here, he's jut got my 74 3C back together and it's sounding sweet apparently. I have just calculated that it has cost me nearly ?10,000 so far and there has been no cosmetic work. Still it should now be functionally excellent, engine rebuilt, crankcase studs timecerted, rebored, later barrels, later head, later cam bearings, Redax ignition and alternator, rewired, brakes rebuilt, new wheel bearings, steering head bearings, fork seals etc etc.
It looks a bit timeworn but I can live with that. I hope you have better luck with yours Beucars because this one drove me to the brink.
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My budget is probably near that including purchase price to which I'll have to add missing bits and aesthetics though wheels won't be rebuilt either and alloy parts will be cleaned up but not machine polished.

Engine has the full Nairn treatment with rods and 78mm pistons. Crank done and balanced.

Paul
 
It"s purely what you want to spend and how far down the road the bikes been treated,low mileage bikes if not abused don`'t need much.
 
I think most of them have been compromised in some way over the years Shaun.
So then Paul, shall we set the bringing back to life of an abused 3c at ?10,000 on average including purchase costs?

 
pf1 said:
I think most of them have been compromised in some way over the years Shaun.
So then Paul, shall we set the bringing back to life of an abused 3c at ?10,000 on average including purchase costs?
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Depends on purchase costs and how far you want to go on the engine.
Purchase costs and engine work on mine bring it to between ?8000 and ?9000.

Then there's the rest. Total cost will probably be around ?13 000 I imagine. Mine needed quite a lot of parts. Side panels, most of the air box, carb innards of course, the Redax kit, saddle recovering and the purchase of a two seat saddle, wiring loom, etc... Plus services parts, tyres, chain....

And Shaun, a low mileage bike can need a complete engine job if it's been badly stored.

Paul
 
?13,000 is a lot of money but unless you are lucky there is no cheap way to do the job. The thing is there are a few 3C's looking very pretty on carandclassic in that price range but they aren't selling.
 
-Old metal is a wealthy man's pastime.

- You never recoup your money. The only time I ever did that was with the barn find Scuderia Duke Gilera 4 I brought back from Argentina. It cost me ?80 000 to restore but was sold in a snap at ?200 000.

- Now is the time to buy. Our age and the Covid slump means the bikes of our youth are not only not selling at anything like recent prices and there will be more and more of them on the market.

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
- You never recoup your money. The only time I ever did that was with the barn find Scuderia Duke Gilera 4 I brought back from Argentina. It cost me ?80 000 to restore but was sold in a snap at ?200 000.
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That was you? If I hadn't stopped for that steak gaucho-style with chimichurri sauce ...... I would have gotten there first. At least my stomach isn't complaining.

I feel like I need to spend $15,000 now just to keep up with all you 3C'ers. Maybe $30,000 since I have a pair of 3C's. Makes shipping a motor to Australia or Scotland seem like the cheapest part of the deal.

Jim
 
I'm making a 3CL out of random bits, it will be interesting to see how much it costs. It's better not having to worry too much about the rivets.
 
I hope you have better luck with yours Beucars because this one drove me to the brink.
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I was lucky to be able to acquire the 3C from a man who maintains, restores and races Laverdas and uses them all on a daily bases for almost 50 years, hence he isn't the static display type of person. He bought Laverdas new, including several SFC's and owned at least one Egli SFC (google picture without the tank).

He is a 750 man, but bought this 3C in 1974 and used it for several years before selling it. It then stayed with the second owner in storage for more then 25 years after an ignition failure. He bought the bike back in 2011 and restored it again. Since then he enjoys it on longer trips including the 70 anni in Breganze (Laverdamania stand)
 
Hi, great bike and nearly all there, i would take the primary case of because that welding you see is probably due to the bearing walking out and boring a hole in the casing. Hence the need to weld the casing when fitting the inner part of the Crank support niddle roller it's important to centre punch the Crank end, this will stop it going walk about. Don't hit it to hard or you'll distort the inner.
Hope that makes sense and ho it's already been sorted but i would check.
Regards Andy 😁
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Thanks for the advice Andy! That's exactly what happened
 
Just been talking to Ged at GCS here, he's jut got my 74 3C back together and it's sounding sweet apparently. I have just calculated that it has cost me nearly ?10,000 so far and there has been no cosmetic work. Still it should now be functionally excellent, engine rebuilt, crankcase studs timecerted, rebored, later barrels, later head, later cam bearings, Redax ignition and alternator, rewired, brakes rebuilt, new wheel bearings, steering head bearings, fork seals etc etc.
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Good to hear that you are at the end of the financial tunnel Pf1! Mechanical hobbies are always expensive..
 
The only time I ever did that was with the barn find Scuderia Duke Gilera 4 I brought back from Argentina. It cost me ?80 000 to restore but was sold in a snap at ?200 000.
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If interested, I have a Gilera 500/4 for sale Paul. Ex Enrico Galli and Graziano Rossi (father of)
 
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