Mea Culpa

[farmerdl]

The other day when I started to strip GTR serial number 9730 I realized that I had given the wrong motor and frame numbers for it in another thread.  Those numbers actually belong to GTR number 9663 and are frame number 9890 and I gave the motor number as 9920 and it is actually 9950. The two bikes were parked next to each other in a less well lit area of the shop (let's blame that) and I took the numbers off of the wrong one.
  The numbers for 9730 are a little funny.  The frame number is 9957, which although it's quite a gap, is reasonable.    The motor is a different story.  It is 8004. I immediately thought that the previous owner, who is also the original owner, had at some time swapped motors.  I called him up and he said that while they did rebuild it, that is indeed the original motor.
  He bought the bike new off the showroom floor in 1971 and it remained in his possession until 1999 when I bought it.  So we are the only two owners of this machine.  I know this man to be as straightforward and honest as they come. He would have no reason to be untruthful about this, but it makes  no sense to me.  Any theories out there?

DL

[OldSwartout]

The motor may have been a failure, either at the end of the assembly line, at motor assembly test or a dealer warranty return that was reworked and then re-inserted into the assembly line.  It was, and is, common for a manufacturing reject to get sent to the rework area, then returned to the production line.

[farmerdl]

I hadn't considered that.  Knew that from the equipment I worked on over the years, but never thought about it with the Bridgestones.  Always figured that their birth was pure and they were without the stain of faults!

DL

[slawsonb]

Would be interesting to trace old 8004's path to 9730.
...bert

[BRT-GTR]

            I'd go along with Karl's theory that this was a motor reworked at the factory. We now know the final production run (Oct 70 - March 71) built 2000 machines, a combination of White GTOs and Solid Gold GTRs. Assuming they were Vin numbered 7800 to 9800, this would include motor 8004, so it's number is within an acceptable  range. Also remember, this was the final build run, BS would be looking to use up as much stock as possible, anything left over would have been surplus and potentially loss making.
     It's not impossible the motor was swapped by Rockfords or a dealer prior to sale but less likely in my opinion. ( DL, It would also look good in my GTO No. 8012 if you ever decide to put a later motor in her )
         Brian.

[farmerdl]

I'll keep that in mind Brian.  Would only need to ship the cases, a compete motor would be costly to ship across the pond. The motor that is in it is likely the one that it left Rockford with.  The previous owner is the dealers son and worked at the shop.  He says that that is the motor it was shipped in with and so I am inclined to leave them paired up.

DL

[BRT-GTR]

          Cheers DL................wishful thinking on my part  .............but if anyone has a set of good cases in the range 7800 - 8200 I would be interested  .
     
              Brian