Bluebird frame on FeeBay... realistic?

[clerkkent]

There is a Elgin Bluebird **frame** currently on 'mega online auction website'.
It is rusty and looks like it was run over. So my questions are:

1- Is the seller inhaling a questionable substance?

2- Is a frame that squished repairable?

3- If it is repairable, how does it affect the value if/when someone would restore high end historic bike like this Elgin?

 

[yoothgeye]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37845

 

[outskirtscustoms]

1- Is the seller inhaling a questionable substance?
Probably

2- Is a frame that squished repairable?
ANYTHING is repairable if you have the time, money and resources. If it is worth repairing is the bigger question. since it is an Elgin bluebird and a valuable bike I'd say it is worth repairing but not at that price.

3- If it is repairable, how does it affect the value if/when someone would restore high end historic bike like this Elgin?

The fact of the matter is that no matter what you do to it it is not an original bluebird it is a repaired bluebird. Just like a salvage title car, it's just not going to be the same again and it won't be as valuable. Don't get me wrong a collector would love to have it. But in it's condition $1,000 is just out of the question. It's missing too much and it's far from mint.

 

[clerkkent]

I'm not familiar enough with detailed metal working, but if the rear end is -that- squished, do you just cut it off and start new, or is there a way the 'unsquish' it?

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Most anything can be unsquished these days. I bid on this bike to make a rod out of it. I know I will never be able to afford a nice one and probably wouldnt want to rod a nice one anyway. I wanted to transform it into rolling art because I know that not many people would. Its very hard to have something that out of the ordinary, so sometimes one needs to take something some might consider sacred and bite the bullet sort of speak, to make an extreme custom. These make great candidates and do not pop up on a regular basis so I thought why not. Unfortunatley I was out bid but still watching.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

It all depends on how badly deteriorated the metal is, the degree of squish, and the thickness of the metal itself as to how much strength it has left and if you can un-squish safely. Personally I'd cut it off and start over on the back end. A bluebird would look sick with some factory look frame rails that would hold a stingray fatty or 24x3. :mrgreen: