So I bought a basket case yesterday. It's a mismatched engine and frame.
![John healy triumphant John healy triumphant](http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s54/flamas_racing/1969TriumphT120R.jpg)
I’ve learned this craft from the best – Don Hutchinson, Jay Medeiros & Choppahead, John Healy, Ken Grzesiak, David Gaylin, Lindsay Brooke, Bill Hoard, Ron Finch, and a handful of others. My Triumph restorations regularly win shiny trophies and are featured in the pages of fine magazines and books.
The engine is mostly complete and in good shape. The vin dates it as a '65.
I posted about it on Triumph Rat Forum and later posted some pics. Well, someone has suggested it is rare and maybe valuable.Now I don't particularly care about the rarity except I hate to build a parts bike with a rare engine that someone would need for their project. I just want a good engine and don't care about particular model as I was planning a mismatched partially custom bike.I can't find much info and can't even find one that has ever sold on eBay.The triumph forum is a bit slow so I thought I would post here on the off chance anyone knows about these things. Click to expand.Well, I have no interest in that. If I thought someone was looking to fake an old bike I would just keep the engine and use it as intended, which is my plan anyway.This particular one is a legit engine with no cool (i.e. Fake) story to go with it. The guy I got it from didn't even know the correct year.
Just a craigslist ad for a guy who thought he was going to build a bike 15 years ago. Sitting in a tub covered in dust, with a non-matching frame. Which as pointed out is the real shame.But if it had a matching frame I would have to sell it as I would feel too bad about making a frankenbike out of it.
Well, I have no interest in that. If I thought someone was looking to fake an old bike I would just keep the engine and use it as intended, which is my plan anyway.This particular one is a legit engine with no cool (i.e.
Fake) story to go with it. The guy I got it from didn't even know the correct year. Just a craigslist ad for a guy who thought he was going to build a bike 15 years ago. Sitting in a tub covered in dust, with a non-matching frame. Which as pointed out is the real shame.But if it had a matching frame I would have to sell it as I would feel too bad about making a frankenbike out of it. Click to expand.I actually put a craigslist ad up for the frame on an off chance. My guess is the frame got wrecked maybe?
Why separate it, you know? Unless they blew up the engine in another bike and just pulled this one off a bike they weren't using.
![John healy attorney John healy attorney](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125448262/106111663.jpg)
Old bikes are always a bit of a mystery.I just sent a message to the guy I got it from just on the miniscule chance he would have a lead. Friday he was telling me he was given the parts by some biker friends. As in true Harley die hard, questionable reputation, day in and day out bikers. The frame has some unknown long tubes in them and I think it is obvious they were thinking it would be a chopper one day. It wouldn't be unheard of for someone to build a bike around the engine and then sell it as a t120c, even in the wrong frame it would still be worth more than an average t120 of similar year.What are you going to do with the engine anyways?
If you're just building some kind of a 'special' bobber chopper tracker cafe racer any engine unit would do.You might, as in probably, be able to trade that unit for a run of the mill t120 or tr6 engine plus some money and or parts. There are a shit ton of 71-72 650 motors out there that will never be worth restoring into a complete stock bike and in reality they have many improvements over the early engines.In other words someone will pay you good value for that engine.