@Derek deserves all the kudos for the find, and for impeccably screening interested parties to ensure that the lady selling her late husband's bike was shielded from hucksters and time wasters. In the end there were a couple of us at least that had genuine interest in buying the bike as a project. Hopefully I do it justice in the end, I'm thrilled to get a chance to ride a bevel as I really thought the market had already gone beyond my means.
Bikes gone to a good home, the original owner would be very happy it got restored so well, and someone genuine with morals now owns it for keeps.
The lady selling the bike had approached the Scottish Ducati Club to ask if we could help value the bike and possibly help her sell it. As the one with the most knowledge of bevels I was asked if I could help her and went to see the bike. I would have happily bought this bike myself but already had 4 Ducatis and had just completed the restoration of a Pantah 500SL, so absolutely no room for another project at the time. So I acted as the agent for the lady selling the bike and had a dozen or so people expressing an interest. Once I had weeded out the time wasters I was left with 5 or 6 serious contenders then the problem of the frame number and the V5 came to light. This put a few people off and it was down to 3. I kept the lady up to date with all of the interest and offers that were being proposed and let her decide for herself which she would accept. Initially she accepted an offer from another forum member but he got cold feet and pulled out so @Fire3500 got another chance. I'm glad that he got the bike because he has done a wonderfully sympathetic job in conserving the bike and getting it back to a beautiful running condition and has gone to lot of trouble to get it recognised as a genuine MHR due to feck up in it's registration details by DVLA, probably when it was new. Well done Ian
A long period of quietness... the DVLA decided to conclude that the bike was built up from three other bikes and that I should stamp the frame, and apply for an age-related VRM under "reconstructed classic" categorisation. Naturally this filled me with horror. However after some good advice from Ray Dudding of DOCGB and from Phil Worth at Italia Moto I had some further constructive discussion with DVLA and this morning received... I am beyond excited. The bike is finished, bar a bit of roadtesting and a polish, and we're almost ready to hit the streets. With a bit of luck we're going to have it on the road and making some important journeys before the end of the summer!
Great news! Should have happened much sooner but at least you got there in the end! I am a week into my application to register and await a reply with some trepidation
Good luck dude, I think polite insistence and having the patience to provide enough photographic and documentary evidence that there is no doubt about the provenance of the bike is the thing. I could have lost my rag with them many times over, but I'm pretty sure that getting shouty wouldn't have helped. I was lucky in that the chap I have been dealing with was willing to hear my side of things and escalate for me internally. This "business advice" department seems key.
BTW they don't even seem to look at complex cases within 4 weeks. If they're busy then it's worth chasing them after 4 weeks to get your application to the top of the pile.
M&S had one in on Saturday when I went in. I only briefly looked at it when walking by, and I think it was the newer model with the battery cover. It had some modern switch gear on it and didn't look the best one I have ever seen tbh. I still love these.
Thank you, Phil Worth at Italia Moto in Lincoln deserves the credit for keeping me on track, with props to Stuart for keeping Phil on it when they are up to their ears in work! Yes it’s a series 1.5 so it has everything bar the SS tank with glass-fibre cover of the “pure” first 200. This is number 283 and has a steel tank. The wanted outcome was a “conserved” recommission rather than a restoration, so the majority of the bike is original (paint locally repaired etc) and all removed parts have been retained. The one-piece fairing is super convenient, as you can imagine.
