Suivant mon emploi du temps, je le ferais avant de livrer la machine.

Le siège est celui d’une 70. Je suis en train de préparer une série de repro de siège et mousse Cobra, elles sont différentes des autres, évidemment…

Les rondelles chromées sous les pattes de phares seront remplacées par le bon modèle (simplement pas montées). Idem pour le compte-tours que j’attends sous peu. En gros, à part la selle (j’ai une couverture neuve en peu retournée), elle est complète.

Les selles sont quasi impossible à trouver, nous allons lancer une refabrication. Elles se cassaient au milieu grâce au poids du motard américain moyen. Ça passait pour un essayeur japonais…

END Result: 54 bids, 9’055 US $ Final Price.
That’s for a quasi-entirely restored Cobra… I think that price is in line with the work involved. Bear in mind that  a 100% restored (all new) will be entitled to a couple more grand, although I have yet to see another bike of that caliber.

In the words of Paul himself:
Vehicle Description
Japans 1st superbike ! totally blew away the american public in late 1967…..the 1st Japanease 2 stroke 500…….wow! This is the bike that started the superbike craze!      46 horsepower, 14 second quarter mile and a top speed of 110 mph

This is a very special resto, i wanted it to be the best you can find, and i beleive it is ……..look at the very detailed pics…you can see….triple plated chrome, mint perfect paint, brand new.

Emblems and badges, new gray cables that match perfectly ….nos parts everywhere, bolts and screws that look like they  just came from the factory…..
Look at the seat…..it is the swede like material……it has been proffesionaly rebuilt by world class seat man Daryl Waller…what a fantastic seat…..better than new……new buttons and hardware too.

There are things you cannot see:
completely rebuilt crankshaft with new bearings and crank seals (done by crankmaster!)
all new clutch plates and springs
new 1st over piston and rings
new gaskets, seals, orings, grommetts
even the grease nipple on the kickstart is brand new nos!
the bike runs like a swiss watch, starts 1st time …….has the original tool kit and comes with a brand new owners manual

State of Ct will not title a 1968 vehichle , but it is currently registerd and the registration is tranferable which is honored as a title in all 50 states!

so if perfection is what you want……this is cetainly it!

Sadly the motor is not the original one, numbers should match the frame on these. It has the correct large carbs but later type cylinders (11 fins instead of 10). It’s also missing the rear grab bar (remade nowadays, but at a price).

It came with a replacement tach as the one on the bike is split into bits.

There’s a few things not quite original on the bike, one of them being the seat. The Cobras not only had a specific suede-type cover (now available again) but also a specific seat pan. This is a later type fitted, see the gap? The fork ears look like the right type, but the chrome washers are wrong and come from a T500 R or J.

All in all, even with the missing parts, it’s just pure luck to find one of these here in Switzerland.
Most of the imported bikes were meant as demonstrators and were often kept in the shop window. Then Suzuki couldn’t meet the demand and most of the production was shipped to the US. Then in 69, the 500 II, called the Titan (see on your right of the page, in the bike menu) had a radically different and more modern styling… the old Cobras couldn’t sell and some of them end in the back of the store room and stayed there for many many years… This is where Tom found this one, only a few kilometers from his home.