Oh Bugger - again

I am always on the lookout for Manurhin parts (there are a lot of missing parts that still need sourcing for my bike), and one way of doing this is by setting a global 'saved search' on eBay for 'Manurhin'.  Once I've filtered out all the hits for revolvers, CNC machines and meat processing machines, I sometimes get lucky and find an item or two of interest.
Sometimes I even see a complete Scooter come up for sale too.  And now and then they are actually in the UK!  But rarely (if ever) do you see a Manurhin Scooter come up for sale in the UK at a bargain price - So I was rather excited to see one come up at a starting price of £100.

The chance of such a bargain seemed to cloud my better judgement.  I didn't seem to pay much attention to the sellers clear description "Manurhin hobby scooter believed to be 1960 some parts missing engine runs fine body in fair condition no v5 requires some tlc" and nor did I look too closely at his 3 blurry photographs.  I was simply motivated by a bargain price [On reflection, I have realised that I can no longer moan at my wife for her ridiculous behaviour of buying shoes she doesn't need simply because they were 'such a good price']

To cut a long story short.  Bidding began on this Manurhin and a fellow Manurhin-renovating friend of mine suggested that we bid for it together as there might be bits we could both salvage off it.  Brilliant.  I started to bid with a vengeance. And we 'won'.  We were now the proud owners of "some parts missing... body in fair, condition no v5, requires some tlc" for the bargain price of £120.21
I was very excited (and I still hadn't looked at those blurry photos properly)

I took a van down to collect the Scooter.  I arrived in the dark.  The seller was a nice chap; Into scooters, and had come across this one as part of a trade-in (he had no history of this bike and was selling it now because he "wasn't into large scooter wheels" - in his mind scooters should all have Vespa like 10 inchers).  He was into stock-car racing and so had originally fancied it as a matt black slick thing - I wasn't concerned about the colour, but the external petrol tank modification seemed a bit odd.  As we loaded it into the back of the van, and I noticed that the wheels and handlebars weren't original, my heart began to sink.

Despite there being no starter mechanism, the seller claimed that he last started it with the aid of an electric power drill, and went on to inform me that if i ran with if fast enough I could bump start it! hmm!
There were still a couple of parts on this basket-case that I and my friend could still make use of, so I handed over the cash, and as the cheery seller waved me goodbye he (genuinely I think) claimed "You've got a lot for your money there mate!"  hmm!

So when I got home I parked the new addition to my garage up in the corner and tried to forget about it.  Mainly to forget my embarrassment for being so foolish in not either walking away from it, or negotiating a price more reflective of its worth.

A few weeks have passed now, and I don't feel so bad about myself and so I went and did a 'stock-take' of useful / valuable parts.  After my friend and I have taken the bits we both want, I think we are left with a little collection of eBayable bits that might just about claw back our 'investment';

• Aluminum footrests
• Leg-shield "Hobby" badge
• Huret speedo
• Frame and rear suspension
• Some body panels
• Floor rubbers
• A bunch of ancillaries (that sometimes come up individually on eBay at quite high prices)

So Ive learnt some interesting lessons out of this experience;

1. Irrational spending isn't just a 'shoe' thing
2. There is no such thing as a 'bargain'
3. One mans "Requires some TLC" is another mans "Sleepless nights"
4. People don't take blurry photos for no reason

But that all said;   It might have been a heap of crap, but I still felt amazingly excited to have another motorbike in the back of my van :-)