$500 Barn Find - 1980 Kz1300

It's better to be lucky than good, and it's even better to be in the right place at the right time.

My resto tech extraordinaire, Ray, was cruising the local La Pine Oregon classifieds and saw this 1980 Kz for sale. The ad had been up for 38 minutes. 

Ray called, told the man it sold as-is, on the spot, hold it, I'll have truck and trailer at your place in 15 minutes.

Ray calls me up -
* Ray- "Don, I just spent some of your money."
- Me, "Say what? I didn't think there was any more in the resto jar at this point in time!"
* Ray - "There isn't, I just spent $500 of my money to get you another KZ."
- Me - "Sweet!"

So yesterday, met Ray to look this sweet barn find over.

She is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Not molested. Every connector OEM and clean. Stock hose clamps on radiator hoses. Mechanical water seal is tight. No base or cylinder gasket leakage. Instrument cluster 100%, switch gear too.

Took a little video of this beauty..

Decided to start the 14k mile bike and take a video after some pics...



Still pics on my Candybutt.org site 
500 dollar barn find

What a find!   I’m surprised that somebody would advertise it at such a low price. What plans have you for it?

biltonjim wrote:

What a find!   I’m surprised that somebody would advertise it at such a low price. What plans have you for it?

The owner is a math teacher who likes to tinker. He thought it was a 4 cylinder, saw it was a 6, did some research and figured it was beyond his abilities to 'fix properly'.

I'll go through it, top to bottom, front to back to make it a dependable 'runner' and leave it <mostly> alone as it's too pristine to sport or part out. You know the gig, wheel bearings, brakes, head and swing bearings, connectors.. all the usual mechanical stuff. Maybe a bikini fairing, not sure. 

Oh, new slip on mufflers.. these are holy mufflers.. 

Congratulations, I have always dreamed to find a barn-find for this price. It is still amazing to compare global indications that start low (in the US), get higher (in Europe) and I guess they reach the top in Japan.
Good luck with it, wish you lots of fun.

Holger

Wow, what a lucky find. Really pleased for you - and very envious

In the UK barn finds tend to be complete dogs and still fetch £4000-£5000 through evil-bay. Perhaps £2500 fro a really bad one that's had fire damage

Congrats Don. Glad to see the bike go to someone who will make it right.
Nice to see Friends who look out for each other. That in itself is refreshing in this day and age. Look after him. he's worthy.
KB