• Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

    We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides. Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?

    Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

  • NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

1965-R69S What' it worth?

they're worth what people are willing to pay and they're getting harder to find.
I remember when I passed on a Vincent Rapide because the seller was asking the outrageous price of $3000.oo
 
If it doesn't have a title, it's not even worth that...depending upon what state you are in, it can be a living hell trying to get it titled...in many states, you've got to bring it back to full running condition before it can be inspected and the VIN verified...and if something happens that it can't be registered, you've just poured all that money down the tubes that you have spent to get it to that condition... Ergo, a total pig in a poke...no title, worth no more than 500 bux, maybe less, in my opinion...

Hi Dog!

You're right about that rule for getting a title in Cali but....

After getting a couple of bikes "bimbo bikes" titled up here, I got to know the CHP officer who commands the inspection station and he has been nice enough to run some registration numbers for me, before I start in on a new project.

That doesn't get me a title up-front but it does let me sleep at night, while the build gos on and next week I can get the finished bike inspected, confident that by the afternoon, I'll be driving home with a title and a license plate, rather than an empty pick-up truck and a sob story!
 
Had a 69S show up today at the shop on a trailer...matching engine,frame & badge #s. The fairing is blocking my view of mfg date on the badge, I can only see the serial #

Bike hasn't been fired in several years, but turns over and has compression, the tank insides look amazingly rust free... The grandson who brought it to me said he ran it and put Stabil in the tank a "few" years back. He also is going to bring up his grandfathers /5 that has been sitting idle about same time.

18775 showing on the odometer

and this Grover Smith Sport Plastics, Odessa Texas fairing

Tried two diff sites trying to run the serial #...any help would be appreciated
 

Attachments

  • P1010003.jpg
    P1010003.jpg
    80.9 KB · Views: 106
Steve -

The fairing looks remarkably similar to the Wixom Ranger fairing on my R69S. As for numbers, try Vech's website:

http://www.benchmarkworks.com/articles/tech/serial.html

I'm not sure the plate will tell you the manufacture date...at least mine didn't. To find the actual date, I had to send an email to BMW and provide the details. Generally, the VINs for pre 1970 bikes cover the entire range of years as opposed to telling you when the bike was built. BMW started publishing that beginning with the /5.
 
Thanks Kurt,
the son thinks it is a 67/68...he is looking thru all the papers he inherited to find the title.

I got a flashlight and looked again at the plate, you are right....no mfg date

there is a card laminated inside the fairing with the Odessa TX company.
He has a solo seat on it, but said he has the bench as well as well as some side cases...somewhere
 
I've been maintaining a PDF file on the Yahoo /2 website. It's a compilation of VINs people either provided me or that I've found from various websites and postings. What I was looking for is the VIN and the year of registration. That was going to be a crude way of breaking down the VINs into the various years.

I was going to link the PDF file here, but unless you're a Yahoo /2 member, you wouldn't be able to see it. If you want to PM me the VIN, I can then see where it falls within the existing range of entries. It might provide a reasonable clue as to the date of the bike.
 
update

Well, after having this bike sit here for two years, I am handing over some $ for paperwork Thursday.
The owner finally decided it wasn't the bike for him and needs the cash. I had tendered offers to him from other folks, but he wanted WAY more than any of us had in mind. He had seen a restored one on EBAY:banghead

I now begin the long journey to bring her back to life after 28 years of not seeing a road. The grandson of the original owner did start it about ten years ago he recalls.
I tinkered with it until he called and said he was out of a job and money. At that point, I drained the fuel, and tucked it in a corner. I had put a battery in it, new fuel lines and got it to sputter about long enough to hear it and see fuel leaking from both carbs. :eek.
I had planned on sending the block to Vech for a freshen up, but the money deal from the owner put that on hold.

Kurt came by and looked at it some time back and asked why didn't I buy it?...Well, finally did. Kurts' database shows it to be in the '67 range as I have been told...paperwork will verify.

There is a /6 sitting at his house as well that has been dormant as long...will eyeball it Thursday...Helen eyeballed me on that one!I took the fairing off a few minutes ago to get some different pictures...Boy, I have some work to do! He has the original saddle and some bags as well. Guess I'll be hanging out here some as well.

P9230039-M.jpg


here it is next to it's 40 year difference younger brother...yeah, I know!
P9230048-M.jpg
 
Back
Top