Craigslist Deal O' the Day: Turbo Motorcycle COLLECTION!

According to an article a few years ago in Motorcyclist mag by the illustrious Mitch Boehm, these were all “restored by turbo guru Greg Goss of Escondido,” and in the pics they do all look magnificently original and perfect. All the bikes, the CL ad says, are “in fantastic `show’ condition and [have been] featured in magazines and many concourse shows. All low mileage and in original condition. You won’t find better anywhere but off the production line!!!!”

These are definitely rare motorcycles, but if they’re ever going to appreciate like Porsche Turbo 911s, it seems like we still have some time to wait. Unlike performance cars which people could actually afford, which went through a serious 20-year rough patch from about 1970 on, motorcycles that would blow the doors off all these turbos proliferated like rabbits directly in their wake – for less money and less complexity. The Kawasaki Ninja 900, case in point, was introduced the same year as the `84 GPZ for sale here. In the early `80s, though, these bikes got our aspiration abnormally elevated like nothing else.

For some people it’s just not about the money. The owner didn’t really seem too interested in discussing his reason for putting all these on the market in one block, but he says he still has a bunch of other bikes in an eclectic collection including “all the rotaries except a Van Veen,” which have won awards at the last two Quail shows. Except the Van Veen (which I’d never heard of until now), that must include a Norton Rotary, a Suzuki RE5 – and so ends my knowledge of rotary motorcycles. For some people it’s about the hunt, and finding a good Van Veen is probably not an easy task.

How much would you expect to pay for these five slices of motorcycle history? A mere $32,000. That’s only $6400 apiece. The Los Angeles Craigslist ad is here.