Michael, You are pulling our legs...yes?? Your shop restores Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and on yet when the very earliest Colnago that anyone has ever seen (unless Ernesto has one in his collection) in original and complete "as found" condition sells for $7101 it's just a scruffy old bike?
Would you turn away a customer who brought in a scruffy old C or D Type Jaguar? What about a worn out blower Bentley? A rusty 540K Merc??? You restore super high end cars and call $7101 outlandish??? How much does your shop charge an hour on an eventual 1000 or more hour restoration???
In the vintage car world every time an unknown vintage Bugatti, Alfa, Lancia, Ferrari whatever turns up even in the worst state possible the buyers line up at the auction/sale. Certainly the vintage bicycle world is smaller but the adherents are just as passionate and no different. Colnago's have been discussed ad nauseaum here on the CR list. There are plenty of very passionate Colnago riders and collectors here as well. Read what has already been written and discussed then ask some specific questions. Do your homework.
Oh, since I'm ranting, to John of Woodstock, Ontario how do you know the buyer is wealthy? Why does someone following their passion and has a means to do so automatically reviled? Instead of cheering on a fellow vintage bicycle enthusiast who managed to acquire a super special bicycle this list can be (at times) a bucket of crabs grabbing at anyone who tries to climb out. This list is about bicycles....not economics and societies ills! I know the buyer of this Colnago...he is in the same middle class I am....and most all of us are. Sorry Mr.B.
Matt "12 Colnagos' Gorski Belmont Shore, CA USA
On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 5:33 PM, <euromeccanicany@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Boy howdy, two somebodies were hankering after this one! I mean, with rusty
> lugs, cruddy chrome, chipped paint and corroded aluminum (those hubs!), this
> bike's "patina" came from hanging out in a damp stable. Stunning photos &
> pedigree notwithstanding, $7101 seems like an outlandish price. Oh, old CR
> hands, help this goggling tenderfoot understand! Could those drilled,
> chopped & channeled cranks possibly have come from the Colnago factory that
> way? Did that scruffy, unyielding saddle bear the weight of some (short)
> hero of the peloton, or a winsome, lissome (& tres petite) star of stage and
> screen, perhaps? Is it a one-of-a-kind, fabled missing-link kind of thing?
> Handlebar packed with happy-dust?
> I held my amazement in check when, this Fall, a set of Campy Pista
> chainring bolts went for $71. I was restrained when one Motobecane after
> another entered the stratosphere, but I can contain myself no longer.
> Please, before my poor brain melts, explain why this bicycle could possibly
> be worth this much! Please!
>
> Your humble & obt svt,
>
> Michael Shiffer
> EuroMeccanica, Inc.
> 114 Pearl Street
> Mount Vernon, NY 10550
> (914) 668-1300
> euromeccanicany.com