The Bike The Suzuki TS185 I bought from a bloke in Glenroy VIC in 1973 for $250 (he threw a helmet and gloves, still have the gloves). It was good, reliable and bullet-proof, but not sure if I would buy one again. Although if I could get one as clean for the same price........
Had the engine seize half-way between Mackay and Eimeo, ran out of oil, rear wheel locked, skidded to a halt, pushed it a couple of km to a farm, hitched a ride to Mackay, picked up the PV, went back to farm, farmer had put some oil in, turn donk over, lubed the cylinder, started the engine for me. He would not accept any reward, gave me a lecture about not looking after the bike.
Happened again when it was pinched in Cairns, thieving prick left it on the side of the road with the engine seized. Best part was it ran better after each seizure.
Traded it for $250 on a $1,000 CB400F Super Sport in 1976.
The Panel VanThe HQ Belmont PV (202 Tri-matic) I bought new in 1973, I think it was around $3,300
on-the-road. I used it for work, boss paid me $0.10 per mile in 1973, increased to $0.15 by 1975. Ran up around 60,000 by the time I traded it for $1,500 in 1976.
In 1975, prior to driving to Melb to Cairns, I wired in a driving light warning light into the dash, this worked okay until the blue or green lense cover I put over the light rattled loose. The bright light fell back into the under-dash area and despite being only around 5W, was very bright and distracting. Somewhere around Bowen QLD in the middle of the night I scrunched up and stuffed a Chux superwipe into the cavity. That worked,
I'll fix that properly later. Well later never come ......
Skip to the early 80's I was driving down a side street in Mansfield VIC and caught a glimpse of the old PV in a local repair shop car park, backed-up, checked rego (LMA 946), yep that's my old PV, stopped had a look inside and that bit of scrunched up Chux was still lodged firmly in the dash. Some temporary repairs are the BEST.
