Well, nothing followed me home but I’m really glad I went, was a pretty fun day and gave me a chance to look the sleds over first-hand. Some of the sleds that looked good on-line turned out to be somewhat cobbled up affairs (wrong motor, scavenged seats off who knows what, etc.)
I thought a fair number of sleds went for somewhat high dollar figures for the condition. In some cases, the internet bidding drove the price up pretty fast. On a couple of internet buys, I couldn’t help but wonder if the buyer really knew what they were really buying. Photos don’t always tell the real story.
The Polaris race sled wasn’t that nice but still went for $1750, which was probably to be expected since it was a one-off sled. The crazy one was a 73 Starfire triple that was pretty rough and still went for $2700. Guess those guys love their Starfires!
There were a couple of 73 TX 500’s. I think both went for over $1000 and, in my opinion, weren’t worth that price. One had the wrong motor and the other had the correct motor but otherwise was a combination of parts collected from other years/models.
Some sleds did go for a decent price and there were a couple that I know I’ll regret not biting on. The first was a 73 TX 400, which went for $700 and was really a good candidate for restoration.
The second was a 72 ATX 340, which went for $450 and had all the right parts. I’m pretty sure I could have had it for $500, as the top bidder was shaving the price bump and didn’t look like he wanted to go higher. Hindsight is 2020, but thinking about it now, I seriously doubt if I will ever find one for that price. This will bother me for a while.