dnaj
1st Gear
Posts: 67 
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Post by dnaj on Oct 27, 2020 16:17:28 GMT -5
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Post by janski on Oct 28, 2020 5:37:05 GMT -5
A fantastic opportunity to save what looks to be a bit of a bargain, especially if that proper has compression.
Just as an aside, and curiosity, are there any facts as to how many of the RE5 are now road worthy, and how many are possible runners. For starters I have one of each. Are there any RE5 dead or alive in Japan? Apart from the ones rumoured to have been dumped at sea.
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Post by Jess on Oct 28, 2020 11:39:54 GMT -5
None were dumped at sea....
Stupid rumor...
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Post by wayne on Oct 28, 2020 22:42:44 GMT -5
A fantastic opportunity to save what looks to be a bit of a bargain, especially if that proper has compression. Just as an aside, and curiosity, are there any facts as to how many of the RE5 are now road worthy, and how many are possible runners. For starters I have one of each. Are there any RE5 dead or alive in Japan? Apart from the ones rumoured to have been dumped at sea. There's at least one Japanese member of the RE5 FB page and he often posts up pics. There's one in the Hammamatsu museum and an industry associate of mine saw two in a Suzuki warehouse when he was up there working about 15 years ago. Maybe one of those is the museum display these days. |
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Post by janski on Oct 29, 2020 6:30:06 GMT -5
Thank you Wayne, glad to hear of at least one Japanese owner. Jess you just put me off a diving holiday:) Is it still a mystery where the unsold went?
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Post by Jess on Oct 29, 2020 7:30:20 GMT -5
"Is it still a mystery where the unsold went?"...
Not sure I understand the question?
Best
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Post by wayne on Oct 29, 2020 18:01:30 GMT -5
I'm not sure there were any "unsold". I'll bet almost every RE5 the factory had in late '74 was spoken for by keen dealerships. There were only a few thousand, they would have been anticipating at least "normal" sales volumes. It was only after the dealers got them on the floor that the reality of slow or non existent sales became known. I think they all eventually did get sold, it was just painfully slow.
I last saw a brand new for sale in a dealership in early 1981 (A model). It wasn't "special" or "collector", just a stock item they'd either had for years trying to get rid of or had bought from another dealer who hadn't been able to sell it. It went, somewhere around the 2,500 to 3,000 AU.
Current model new bikes at the time were around $3,500 AU. I considered it but thought it too expensive (I was just going to store it and mine with 8000 klm had only cost me $800 a few months before).
The only truth to the "dumped at sea" myth that I know of was the importer in Brisbane, Australia. One of our board members, RE5Mike used to drop in now and then and buy RE5 parts. He was about the only RE5 customer they had approximately in the 80's, maybe early '90's.
One day he dropped in and the sales guy who knew him said "I've got something for you..." reached under the counter and pulled out a wooden box with a brand new set of RE5 engine assembly tools. He said "....saved this for you, everything else has gone to the tip".
Mike told that story to me face to face and showed me the kit. The importer had given up on stocking RE5 parts and every unsold spare they had was dumped at the local rubbish tip.
As far as the "swap over" kits, the A model tanks, gauges etc. I've met the guy (Ray Bradkey) who Suzuki tasked with going 'round the dealerships to collect all the M model stuff that was removed. His job was to take them all, destroy them (I think hammering may have been mentioned) and then dump them. But that was all about import tax I was told. When the A model swap over kits were imported Suzuki was exempt from paying the import taxes of the day on those kits. They allowed Suzuki to do this as they were replacing previously imported and unsold items that tax had been paid on. The proviso was that the original import needed to be destroyed so Suzuki couldn't profit from the tax exemption.
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Post by h2e Al In Aus on Oct 30, 2020 16:56:26 GMT -5
I agree with Wayne on the Aussie tax system , lots of good new parts were tipped in the seventies and eighties !, as you got a tax discount loss , against your profits for parts not sold (tipped) , thats why we have almost no new old parts here , unless some one was informed prior to trip to tip to be there at the same time and collect !, when I worked for Toyota in Sydney 70s , spare parts department use to through out old stock at end of every financial year, guys in the workshop use to go though it and take what they wanted !, some good stuff scored !!!
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Post by janski on Oct 31, 2020 8:58:07 GMT -5
Much appreciated, and what a waste of good engineering.
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