Todd's You Tube rant.

[Chris Haynes]

Here is Todd's latest You Tube rant. Matt and I commented on some things about his bike that were incorrect. Here is how he acts about it instead of thinking we may know what were are talking about and correcting the bike. He goes on a bulling rant telling lie after lie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5P96...ature=youtu.be

[pete reeves]

Restoring original paint bikes.

The Bike in Question appears to be an original paint survivor, it has some history and looks like it was used.it has some parts on it that obviously would not have been fitted to this bike when manufactured. There appears to be some controversy regarding other parts that are on the bike that according to popular belief would not have been fitted on the bike when built?
Most of the parts in question appear to have been on this bike for a great number of years and might reflect the fact that the bike was used, things get damaged and would have replaced by what was available at that time.To a certain extent they tell a story about the life of this bike.
The following is an extract from our judging hand book.

A Final Word
The AMCA judging system emphasizes the importance of keeping original motorcycles as such. These are truly the rare and priceless jewels of any collector, for they maintain and show with clarity and without any doubt, the true picture. When these all important machines are sacrificed unnecessarily to restoration, we have experienced a tragic loss. Therefore the AMCA strongly encourages the preservation and judging of original conŽdition motorcycles.

Chris

In your post you appear to be suggesting that the owner should change parts on his bike to conform with what you and others (myself included) believe would have been fitted by the factory?
This may be controversial but should we really be telling owners to remove parts from a bike that could have been fitted 60 years plus ago in order enhance its value or credibility. Doing this will strip away some of the evidence of the life of the bike and more importantly changing parts on an original bike could also remove evidence of would might have been.

Would not changing the forks or gear box on this bike be considered to be restoring it?

Pete Reeves. 860

[jwl]

IMHO Pete is right. This is THEE BIKE! Todd says he paid big bucks because of its appearance in Field's book. To change anything would almost be sacreligous. It is obvious that the bike has had a few updates along the way but it is all a part of its history and will have to be left alone or its billing as THEE BIKE would no longer mean anything. To start changing parts to make it conform with what is commonly thought to be "correct" would reduce it to being merely on the same level as any other old 40 original paint. I originally, and still do, give Todd the benefit of the doubt on a couple items of contention on certain parts but his continually you tube posts are starting to get overbearing. Todd, If you find yourself in a hole the best thing to do is stop digging. Been some interesting reading and viewing lately though.

[jurassic]

This is all very fascinating , but can't we keep all the rants, and the bullying, and the pissing matches over on the other forum where they belong.

[len dowe]

This is all very fascinating , but can't we keep all the rants, and the bullying, and the pissing matches over on the other forum where they belong.

I agree. Quit posting this crap on here.

[Rooster]

This is all very fascinating , but can't we keep all the rants, and the bullying, and the pissing matches over on the other forum where they belong.

Yeah that's right, we never have any of that kind of stuff here...!!

[sirhrmechanic]

Want to see Todd really blow a gasket, I can spend the weekend with my old Royal manual typewriter and Photoshop and before Sunday's kickoff, I'll have an invoice posted online showing that the bike was painted mint green and had an early transmission put in it in 1956 because the old one broke and the new paint matched the owners' fiancé's eyes...!!!... I mean, this whole thing is just made for trolling and spinning up passions. I mean, wouldn't a nice little 'provenance grenade' be fun about now?

Personally, I am simply enjoying the ride. This is better than Jerry Springer... and it's just getting good.

Ultimately, the new owner needs to be less defensive. He has a bike we would all love to own... so he should enjoy it and let the internet armchair archaeologists babble -- even if some of the armchair archaeologists may be right. Or not.

The funny thing is that all this discussion... videos, posts, arguments... is simply adding to the mystique of "that" green bike. Next time it goes on sale, it will be a cool quarter mil... because it's "that" bike.

So after all this, my opinion is that "Todd" IS crazy... like a fox. ;-)

Cheers,

Sirhr

[surfdude]

au contraire - it's not "that" bike, sirhr - it's THEE bike! it is really neat, though - i'd love to have something like that. too much drama around it, but it is great that old bikes can create that much of a stir. there's still a lot of passion in this hobby and on both message boards - which is healthy!! if no one gave a crap, we'd all be in trouble.

[hennigan62]

After watching some of his videos and I have no dog in this hunt, does anyone wonder where he gets this kind of money to have these bikes ??? never heard of him before this circus but just wondering.

[sirhrmechanic]

http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Ne.../dp/0671015206

You never know... great book.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[BoschZEV]

never heard of him before this circus but just wondering.

I hadn't either, but he has put over 600 videos on youtube the past three years. I skipped around and listened to parts of a half-dozen of them. Sometime between 2011 and 2013 he grew a beard that added about 70 years to his age. Before he did that he posted three videos specifically made to try to get a reality TV program commissioned around his business of buying and selling bikes.

The videos I sampled struck me as nothing more surprising than would be seen on a badly produced used car TV commercial on a small town station. Every bike on his lot seems to be "just fabulous," "just amazing", "the rarest Panhead on the face of the planet," etc. After having seen this material, his claims about various aspects of the green Harley seem no different than many other things he has said on youtube about other vehicles on his used car lot. Although on his youtube channel he writes that he buys these bikes "for my collection," several times in the videos that I watched he shows people he calls "customers" and says things like they are starting the bike prior to purchasing it. So, it appears to me his bikes are a "collection" in exactly the same sense the cars on a used car lot are the dealer's "collection" between the time he buys them and when he convinces a customer to pay the highest price possible and take them away.

As for where someone gets the money to have 30 vehicles with a retail value of as much as an average of, say, $30,000 each (i.e.~$1M total), that's not a particularly difficult problem. While it would cost someone $1M of their own money to actually own those bikes in a personal collection, it costs them nothing if the bank owns them. That is, borrowing $1M at 5% would be ~$4200/month in interest payments. The profit in flipping just one such bike a month easily could cover that. Of course there certainly are significant additional expenses, but once established as a functioning used vehicle business the turnover required to finance having 30 bikes on the floor at any one time isn't all that much.

If you go to a low-rent part of any town you will see used car dealers with dozens of cars on the lot but without a customer in sight. You might question how they could possibly stay in business, but the fact that so many of them that you see have been around for years tells you that it's a quite workable financial model. As far as I can tell from Todd's videos, his financial model is identical. Jay Leno, like Todd, also has a lot of vehicles on his "lot," but the similarities end there, because Leno's is a quite different financial model.

[c.o.]

Yeah that's right, we never have any of that kind of stuff here...!!

Don't know how much time you spend here anymore Tom but it's been rather peaceful ( for the most part) since most everyone started hanging out at the "newer" version of this site.

So after all this, my opinion is that "Todd" IS crazy... like a fox. ;-)

Cheers,

Sirhr

I think you hit the nail right on the head.

[exeric]

au contraire - it's not "that" bike, sirhr - it's THEE bike! it is really neat, though - i'd love to have something like that. too much drama around it, but it is great that old bikes can create that much of a stir. there's still a lot of passion in this hobby and on both message boards - which is healthy!! if no one gave a crap, we'd all be in trouble.

That's a very good observation. The money angle aside; it's the passion that makes this a great hobby.

[46EL]

[QUOTE=Chris Haynes;. He goes on a bulling rant telling lie after lie.
[

I guess not everyone out there has the god given level headed people skills and the finesse you have when it comes to treating other people.

Are you and Matt some sort of "team" now or something??

Just curious? 46

[T. Cotten]

Sometimes I wish I had a modern PC, Folks,..
and even upgraded from dial-up.

But I probably benefit from not being able to view YouTube!

So Chris...
Did this fellow slander you personally with his "bulling rant telling lie after lie"?

....Cotten