I Bought a Brand New 1975 British Motorcycle(Rare)

almost a year ago I found a brand new 1981 unopened Honda motorcycle still in the crate for sale online and I bought it in over 8 million people watched me and my team unbox history and then a few months later we did it again with an old Yamaha and because of these videos I got a phone call from a man who claimed to have the Holy Grail of British motorcycles a brand new 1975 Norton Commando 850 still in the crate and despite all the haters and my accountants and my family and my barber have forked out all the money to buy it and now we're gonna unbox it one to see if mice have completely destroyed this thing two to see if we can get it running and to right and if everything works out I've got a special plan for this bike and we found the best place to unbox it which is right here at Daytona Bike Week at the Airbnb this is why uh this is why Airbnb Loves Me This is by far the oldest motorcycle we've ever unboxed and I'm just just look at it it's 48 years old it can almost get dinner at four o'clock at the restaurant so all right so this is what we know England England something England England made okay made in England that's what it says there's been multiple holes cut in this box this one's gonna flops in there hold on a second you got you guys hear that hello hey what's up Craig what's all the banging well come on up we need your help I'm here to help this bike has been moving from person to person for the past 48 years and no one wants to emboss a box it I said the guy the guy who we bought it from was like all these people were telling them like dude don't unbox you're gonna ruin the valley you're going to ruin the value if you know anything about unboxing if we know anything about anything it's that you have to unbox these things they're getting destroyed inside there signal I don't know but you can imagine that like all everything on this thing is that mold probably everything on this bike just doesn't work anymore color black engine that number other thing you have a wooden frame wooden size look at this big piece of metal that I can only assume does a thing goes all the way up the tailpipe and probably bolts to the connecting shaft connecting rod smells old it does feels old smell it yeah I'm anxious to cut these straps cut them see this thing hopefully this Cuts this will cut I don't know Craig can you cut signode I don't know if I can there we go if you don't have glasses except you're guaranteed to fling and gouge your eye out yep 100 when I was a kid I was walking in my backyard and we had like a close like a metal clothes line like the kind of metal clothes line that has like like the the plastic on the outside and a little metal piece hanging down and I walked underneath it scratched my cornea in the summertime I have to wear a pouch on my eye for like six weeks for like a pirate it hurt it felt like something was in there it was very painful that was so good Sean I did that like twice oh I think he's not supposed to do it twice you'd ever scratch a cornea yeah you'd have come on Craig manhand it I'm trying none of these holes were ever supposed to be in here at some point in time when the people were selling them and they didn't want to remove the box from it to mess the mess of the originality if they started cutting holes they have a hole in the top they've got this hole which shows you this what's that bag of stuff right there apparently probably this is supposed to deter rodents I don't know how I don't know what that means were they supposed to open the bag I don't know every single motorcycle in a box that we've ever bought the seller said the exact same thing no mice every single motorcycle we've ever bought all had mice I mean this it's not going to deter anything unless they're eating it so here's we can see this thing has Norton Lockheed it says Lockheed brakes is Norton where's Norton Lockheed there's only so much you can find out with the Box on and it's time that we unbox the Sleeping Beauty and find out once and for all whether mice and bugs have completely destroyed it and left me with a very expensive but worthless artifact or if it was preserved like we were told I can't wait find out what's in the box that looks really good it does first of all I just want to clarify I've been calling it a commander half the time so clearly someone screwed up on the sticker and that should be an ER because I don't make mistakes so what is that bolt that's going in there what is that holding on to nothing oh look that bolt that goes right there goes to a metal piece and connects to the um to the axle bolt two pounds of mouse repellent yeah look at this it's a bag of stuff it's like there's another bag of stuff under here like nothing about this when I'm poking makes sense that it would be on a motorcycle why does it feel like it's soft it's just like it's just kind of squishy I've opened up a lot of bikes you know how they and we know the Chinese do it and it's just awful we know we've seen how the Japanese do it I've never seen how the British do it also this is my first uh Norton I've never had a Norton before never Triumph before can we name this one Billy Bob Norton Billy Bob Norton the Thornton I know what it is where's it Where'd you say that thing Craig put that out again made in England by Norton Triumph oh that's sharp here's the thing I don't know that much about this bike we're Nortons Austin Power Road one or British bikes or women or kids or really anything but I know a guy who does know a lot about him voice over Sean James lands now Norton started Norton motorcycles in 1901 and began producing motorcycles in 1902 using a French and with engine by 1907 Norton was winning TT races including the first ever Isle of Man TT and throughout the decades Norton has had a lot of ups and downs but the war really kept them afloat they made over a hundred thousand motorcycles for the British military the Commando was the successor of the Atlas And The 1975 Commander MK3 was the first to get electric start and weighed in around 492 pounds and had a top speed of 105 miles per hour check this out look at the crudeness of the casting of the of the head look at that it really stands out up here too at the triple clamp I mean Harley Davidson has cleaner looking castings in the seven in the 50s yeah our wlas cleaner looking castings than that like this this would not pass Harley Davidson State like like some kid with like an angle grinder kind of took that off and then this is all rough that's very uh it's very unique but now with this one The Jug the actual cylinder is very smooth now you would think you know you when you when you bust out like an old uh an old hose line from a 20 year old bike it's all solid look at this this is actually fairly um pliable yeah I'm no science magician but I think it's because the the fuel was what actually hurts them some wrenches and a wire cutter pop this thing out of here have you taken these things off stuff like this is bolted on there very clever what people don't know about the British is they're a very clever people well at least they were 50 years ago are you telling secrets about the British I like this knife yeah that is a good knife I will make it my own right hand four speed rh4 stands for right hand four speed we use this 75. so somewhere in there is when when were things getting standardized I thought it was the late either late 70s or early 80s all right so luckily we've had this problem before we couldn't find the key did you see the keys look at this look up in there that's the key it's heading in the headlight this key is right there the most preserved part of the key was the piece that was for holding facing down then it was inside the thing this part's all little Wilmont Wilmont breeding I'm assuming that's the uh the person who made it made in England oh here it is made in England in another language it's pronounced Wilmont Breeden Breeden um oh look look there's two sets of keys oh nice there's already one in the ignition remember last time we couldn't find a set of keys right if moisture got in here got in the tank some leak or whatever this whole tank could be ruined now the way this tank sits a perfectly unusual just the tank the tank with no flaws is is probably worth five thousand bucks I would think I have no I have no real reason to say that but I'm just making stuff up let's see what's in the tank Chrome looks amazing amazing look at this Craig this is very interesting look the paint wore off okay very interesting and that right there is what you want to see that is a very very good looking tank after motorcycles get I don't know 20 30 years old and they've been sitting for a little while the biggest one of the biggest issues is the tank all rusted out because it's fuel set in there water got in there whatever it'll rust the tanks out uh this looks some this one looks great things are looking up Craig so when I first looked in the Box I saw this this bar right here and I was like oh it's kind of ugly looking but it's not really part of the bike no just the packing oh this part right here would be ugly it's the same diameter as as the handlebars might have been the same pipe just before they chromed it and that's what they use to weld here to connect to the frame so that this thing Falls over it'll mess up this but it's not going to mess up anything else I don't know I don't really know it's very interesting how they packed all this stuff together it's got a mall carburetors a mall a mall a mall that boot is literally the most Supple boot I've ever felt in my life with my finger they put a treasure map inside of it is this worth anything can we sell this like a 1975 North 850 Commando smell it it smells old doesn't smell like anything can't smell it okay you guys when you smell it you get I kind of put my nose into it yeah you ever do it without hurting it okay why could we could get the bottoms off that one worked I don't want to practice I'm getting pretty good at this he is pretty good oh brag for you Craig okay Goosey nah we're already too far into it now let's put it all back together it's still on the rollers we can just push it right into the trailer okay okay what's keeping it from falling over right now the bike I'm not gonna lie these are 50 year old zip ties zip ties have not evolved in 50 years oh okay there's still a strap down there holding the money closer yeah okay first first of all everyone always tells us because they're we're paying good money they're selling their bucks for good money there's no mice look at this is there any mice starting there this is like the original like invoice does it say who bought it oh come on tell me that's not a mouth look at this Craig what do we got some type of what packing slip tell me it's not a mouse something's eating that thing and that looks like Mouse oh it tells us what's in where all right here's that soft bag what parts do they eat Craig just the important bits here we go Dan ooh this is mouses there it is this is a mouse's dream the mouse is Den that you're just opening up look at that reaching into look how nice that looks that's cool I bet you first of all someone's gonna step on this and it's gonna be me I bet you a brand new unopened Norton 850 Commando and I think this was the first year or this is the first year of electric start it's a big deal manual it's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars thirty eight thousand dollars on eBay and it was tore up one of these one of these bikers gonna find the mouse I'm gonna see I'm gonna look them right in the stupid little eyes and right in his Mouse face dumbled Mouse face okay that's a thing right there what is this this is so heavy but so soft there's some more things okay oh the crudeness so crude so crude but so elegant just like the British people people saying like you can't open up your ruining and ruin the value these things sitting here covered up where you can't see what's going on in there that's what's ruining them unless you unless you bought the thing brand new and sealed the whole thing up shrink sealed you know vacuum sealed it and then kept it like in a bubble like suspended nothing could ever get to it so we are saving this motorcycle by taking it out and then wrecking it on the highway look at this solid rotor this is a thing so before they knew that like they had to like cut little holes in here to let it breathe a little bit get the air also look at this we still run solid rotors on the dirt bike and really muddy races yeah yep easier on the pads rust no maybe that'll come off unless you take it off it doesn't stop so we are saving this motorcycle I don't want to see any comments in there bashing us and saying like you guys are monsters this bike actually may never have seen the light of day how crazy is that to think about this is like a baby that stayed in its mother's womb for 48 years wow and as a grown man is now coming out this is like that movie with a Rand and Frazier blast from the past where he spent his whole life living in like a bunker and then he comes out and like everyone you know what I'm talking about and that Chrome shine up nice yeah it will there we go I hate having body panels and stuff off the bike the most dangerous spot for any type of body panel fairing Fender or tank is off the bike let's get that thing out let's get that thing off we've got the wheel in there we can kind of move it around a little bit Yeah so I decided to be a good idea to get the bike on the center stand so we can mount the front wheel but that proved to be harder than I thought and just like I predicted Craig was the one that stepped on the nail but luckily it didn't puncture his foot we also realized that the bike had a dry sump oil system kind of like old Harleys do and we found some paperwork that mice did not eat we finally got the front wheel on which puts us one step closer to seeing if this bike will start what's this thing over here we don't know how to ride motorcycles okay front wheels on but the brake is not so do we want to wheel it out of the crate yeah let's get this thing off the crate where's that hammer at don't throw it at him it's not working no all right this is nice look at this joke you like that you like that there's something we forgot to tell you guys and after we bought this we've had this for a couple months we didn't pick it up yet we wanted to order some parts we wanted to make for sure we were ready to put it all together when we were going to put it together and Craig talked to a guy that knows a lot about these things and I've actually seen some photos of a bunch of these stored in in England like brand new in the box looks just like our box and Craig found out that there's like there was a a lot of them they they stored them that way because they had because they had bad cranks right Craig yes they had a bad crank and if cranker connecting rod yeah some major internal bottom end engine component that would be the reason of why this thing stayed in the Box for so long because the question is like why why was it in the Box what was wrong that was it cursed by which maybe it wasn't who knows we just don't know but that would explain why this one was still in the box and probably never should have been sold he said if if that's the case if it is the one that has the bad crank in it and then you start it you're done you destroyed the engine but he told us how we can figure it out you said you started you see what happens that's not what we do you know I want to see if it's going to fire up but on top of that the big question is and we were going to we are going to see if it's fires up on top of that though the big question is is this thing gonna explode is this the bad one or is this one of the good ones is this the last good 850 Commando I don't think I've ridden the bike that old that big even our Harley's not that big I don't know what they were cubic inch wise so we put on the handlebars and we finally got the bike off the crate and onto dry land and then we had our first issue we couldn't get the bike out of gear but we're gonna deal with that later then we found our next problem which was the brake fluid looks like the underwater grave of a pirate ship but we're also gonna have to deal with that later now out of curiosity I tracked down that in 1975 the spike new would have sold for 2 400 bucks and now it's worth a lot more than that but is that the best way to invest your money so I ran the numbers and if you were to invest that same 2400 in the S P 500 it'd be worth today 134 000 and I didn't pay anything close to that so I'm gonna get some no it's a little rubber piece that covers there it's supposed to cover there doesn't do it anymore it's been its whole life folded up but a little little stem lock so no one steals your bike even in the 70s people were stealing people's bikes is this for the seat it looks like it is there we go oh no it's still not oh there there there's the moment that's the tray for your drugs look okay talk it here's that silly bag tool kits for Norton's like this hundreds of thousands of dollars danco find us we'll sell it so what okay that just snugs in snug that in and Bam that's how you do that I wonder if the battery's good it's dead dead let's do a cheap British junk so you see here's the other thing the the potential engine the engine issue we got to figure out how to unlock the rear tire but if moisture got in to the engine from I don't know how maybe the guy didn't turn the spark plug it come up with the exhaust valve you know could come up in the Box are probably open it comes in the exhaust lived in there and you know it could the engine could be locked up that means we're not riding this thing it's not going to start so let's see if it uh let's hit the engine is locked up tight it's not locked though yeah there you go yeah maybe we should get a little lubrication in the cylinders probably wouldn't hurt it here you go Craig there it is and it's 3 8. you know what's funny everybody complains that we're the only or one of the only countries that don't use metric but yet all the ratchets are quarter inch 3 8 and a half inch drive we invented all that stuff don't hurt yourself spooning that Norton Craig don't worry about hurting myself I'm worried about hurting the brake pads don't need brakes that's right Sean's feet work perfectly fine yeah but for real though I actually do need brakes don't want to lose those oh a sticker mission so here's what we established a little bit of mice activity there's also something goofy I don't know what that it looks like ash because right now we don't know if it has that catastrophic engine problem the rear brakes locked up the front brakes locked up the tag is clean best thing we found out is that we have the plugs out the engine is not locked up but it's still pretty hard oh it might be in gear but if it wasn't gear that tar would have been moving that's just soak in a little bit that's soaking in so when it fires up it's going to be puffing on with white smoke yeah yeah brakes we can just pull everything and replace everything what do we do to get this wheel moving pull the brake caliper look out broth all right I only use uh Norton tools Norton Triumph tools on my Norton Triumph motorcycle so I got the rear wheel free by removing that pesky brake caliper and then I asked Craig if this oil smells like old man closet even though we're in Florida this is a road bike if it wasn't a road bike it was an off-road bike we might take it off-road we wouldn't know where to go but we saw that with the Onyx off-road app we can jump on the app we can look at different places we can see who owns what and what places are legal to drive on and then what type of tags you need and how how big how big the vehicle is or we can even see if our full-size Sprinter van is big enough to go on that trail if you do the elite membership tells you who owned it if you guys are interested in checking this out it's a really cool app click on the link below and there's like if you look at the very very bottom you can try it out for free for a week or if you want to get it use beards as a code to get 20 off but I'd say try it out for a week and see if you like it and then I will go from there and then we spent the next hour trying to scope up the oil pan to see if we could tell if this was one of the bad engines that that Triumph man warned us about apparently we're looking for some type of D on some component up in there that's the bottom of the piss this right here is the wrist pin wrist pin boss wrist pin boss small end of the connecting rod is right here in the center I think I'm gonna say I wish I had one of those fancy ones I could see sideways classic Greg you were bashing the fancy one and now you wish you had a fancy one and all this motorcycle putting together reminds me of one of my favorite Bob versus Luke 16 10. one who was faithful and very little is also faithful and much and one who is dishonest and very little is also dishonest in much I like to mount my clutches on backwards it makes it easier yeah so when someone was in the comments typing you idiot that is on backwards and then oh well never mind space backspace backspace you're stupid man yep hey hey as a win we are in a gear there's neutral first that's a win that's a win that's a big win a lot of people are probably wondering Sean it's unusual bike you keep on finding these things in crates how much did you pay for it we paid 17 000 for this 850 75 Norton Commander this Tank's clean the gearbox seems to work I'm pretty pleased with how it went out now I know it sounds like a lot of money but ultimately what it comes down to is what's the what's its actual value a good place to figure what the value is is see what other ones sold for recently 75 Commando that I don't have like 5 000 miles 29 000 bucks 18 500 bucks it also has a really interesting story behind it because it's in a box and we got to unbox it so hopefully you know I call that investment hopefully it pays off and this thing runs it doesn't look at that Skyline boys whatever skylines like that in Pennsylvania anymore the sun just stopped setting in Pennsylvania [Laughter] that looks right that looks like it makes that looks like it it's got a nice flow but the problem is the piece set in front of me it's trying to melt on is way down here and that doesn't make any sense is that definitely the right side yeah maybe you're right Dan crying I wonder if these lights will turn on Dan oh that's a big deal look at that headlight oh gosh right here in my face gotcha cranks the last guy that put together one of these was in 1975. I'm not freaking out why is this wet what what because we're in Florida and everything's moist in Florida so it's not moist everything's moist in Florida what are we talking about this was not wet earlier now it's all wet probably sweat and Craig's barely even sweaty yet this is gonna go glow glow glow glow glow glow glug I need every drippy droppy gonna clean these floors gonna make them shine take off the spray paint with turpentine that's a neat fuel cap that's cool fuel cap are we ready to put fuel in it yeah you tell me I'm ready to put fuel in it put fuel in it and see what happens there yeah there it goes it's Michael Buble and it's not leaking nothing that's a great sign unique about this bike I think it was like the first electric start one yeah I'd agree with that um I don't know why it's all wet now all the other bikes we've ever started concerned with the kickstart so that's where it starts see how many kicks it takes but I'm not I can't do them Crocs well I'm not gonna do it Crocs but but it's Florida I'm not gonna put the jeans on I'm gonna put a boot on one boot all right so let's uh let's see how many kicks we can get to get at the start key and on switch oh headlights on I think it's head and pilot I don't know well a pilot's a guy that flies an airplane ahead is the bathroom oh where's the choke at it's Bluetooth how many kicks I'm guessing three three dude this thing's 48 years old foreign [Laughter] okay hold on hold on uh the gig is up if it looks like I'm not as excited as I should have been after hearing this bike fire up for the first time after two kicks in 48 years it's because this is all big sham because I heard something from outside while I was inside putting on my boot and this is what was caught on camera the jeans on I'm gonna put a boot on one boot just push the button and see if it fires it's very tempting I didn't see nothing quite often [Laughter] I can't believe how easy that thing fired fired up really easy that was the easiest one to start bands down the big deal about these bikes is that it was electric start let's see how big of a deal that is let's see if the clutch is working the back tire is finished it's the first time this motorcycle's ran in 48 years finally something around here that's older than I am protect oil again so it runs has oil didn't explode it didn't explode yet no air in the tires and no brakes other than that we're pretty well ship shaped so with back to the bikes and beard shop to try to solve the brake issue we only need one break to work to test drive it and I cannot wait to test ride this bike and after a few hours Craig got the rear brakes to work and it was almost ready for its debut now you know I obviously can't take it for its first maiden voyage looking like this so there's only one thing to do [Music] and then I was ready to ride my first Norton Commando and just to clarify it's not Commander it's Commando and hopefully it doesn't explode [Music] all right first time putting this thing in gear for a ride first time this motorcycle has moved under its own power in 48 years assuming that they tested it in the factory hey wow after the initial novelty of riding a brand new 48 year old motorcycle wore off I started to notice that it wasn't running right yeah I think it was a little stutterish probably just because it's sad for 48 years and it needs some if you'll run through it so I imagine the more we ride it the better it's going to feel and let's confirm the front brakes do not work but let's make sure the rear brakes rear brakes work okay that's good [Music] oh died on me out of all the other motorcycles and I unboxed they all cleared up pretty quickly after riding it then I realized that the right cylinder fuel petcock was off so I turned it back on after a few minutes I realized that was not the problem whoa but even without the bike running a hundred percent I can see why people love these old Nortons it's got a very unique feel and that big 850 cc motor has a great Rumble to it nothing like any modern day motorcycles I've written and once again I feel connected to the motorcycle riders of the past not in some weird mystical way but in a way where it makes more sense when an older fella comes up to me when I'm on my bike and he lights up when he tells me about a new bike that he bought in the 1970s that's the exact same feeling that I get when I steal a motorcycle on Grand Theft Auto 5. [Music] thank you all right so there's a reason and other than the fact that it's not working right that we didn't drive this thing home from Florida the reason is I'm trying to keep the miles low I gotta plan for this bike and that plan is my man Jay Leno has a motorcycle that I want he's got a Honda Rune that I want to trade with him Jay you want to trade and this brand new 1975 North Commando for your I think 2004 Honda Rune hit me up at this email right here let's get this straight together let's let's make this happen we're trying to get this thing running better see you guys next time you know I was watching the boys at uh beards and bikes it's a srk Cycles they know a lot about these and I watched their a couple of shows they did on it you should check them out they know their stuff

Channel: Bikes and Beards

Views: 3,311,533

Keywords: bikes and beards, sean, caleb, motorcycles, srkcycles, srk, beards, bikes

Id: a9_Vmi_1lKQ

Length: 30min 40sec (1840 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 10 2023