FINDING THE TORPADO SUPER RACING

Ebay created the awareness of the availability of this nice, sort of, old Italian racing bicycle.  Offered the first time as a "Buy It Now" Item, the asking price of $1000.00 seemed so far out of reach that little thought was given to the possibilities.

Less than a month later, the bike was offered again, this time for $500.00.  Certainly more appealing than the original asking price, but still way off in the distance, for someone who has a tendency to shop at the Dump.  None the less, interest was captured and investigation followed.

Needless to say, the investigation began with further reading of the Ebay listing.  The Torpado was described as a 1984 Torapdo, size 56cm and that it was complete and made of steel.  To that, add the brief description...

"BIKE LIGHT FULL CAMPAGNOLO WHEELS MAVIC GP4 COLOMBUS TUBING DROPOUT CAMPAGNOLO SEATPOST CAMPAGNOLO LOOK PEDAL MADE IN ITALY STEMP3TTT BIKE NEW TAPE ON AND READY TO USE BIKE SIZE 56 CM"

That description was accompanied by a set of 12 somewhat fuzzy, small pictures that revealed little about the bicycle other than it was a Torpado and in desperate need of cleaning.  The paint appeared splotchy and the chrome was rust contaminated.  Based on the pictures alone, one would be hard pressed to spend money attempting to acquire such a bicycle at the prices being asked.

None the less, dirty bicycles can and often do clean up very nicely.  With that in mind, the idea of acquiring the bicycle took root and started to grow.

Further reading revealed that the bicycle was already in Canada and, surprisingly enough, the owner of the bicycle was a fellow who had purchased hundreds of vintage bicycles from the Thunder Bay chapter of Bicycles for Humanity.

The seller of the Torpado, the same guy who buys the vintage bicycles in bulk, accepted an offer to trade his Torpado for five vintage roadsters and one old road bicycle - straight across.  His shipping would be free, since he was already paying for a truck load of bikes and it would cost nothing to add five more.

The Torpado shipping, on the other hand, coming as a single unit via Greyhound Bus, would cost about sixty dollars, from Toronto to Thunder Bay.  Not bad since the five traded bikes could not be sold in the local market, but were of decent value in the much larger center of Toronto.

The pictures in the Ebay listing were nothing to get excited about.  Though good enough to get an idea of the bike's condition, they were not good enough to entice purchase or trade.  Better pictures would be a must, before any decision could be made.

With that in mind a local collector's services were called upon to look the bike over.  Once done, he reported that the bike was dirty, did have some surface rust.  His opinion was that the bike would clean up very nicely.  Based on that, the deal was offered, accepted and struck.

A couple of weeks passed and the call from the bus line came about eleven in the morning.  Yahoo!

NEXT - BUILDING THE TORPADO