1980 Wes Cooley in the garage....finally!

[trevor]

Well since the thread I started back in June has been "purged" I will start a new one as I have good news today.

This is from another forum where I wrote the same thing...with pics that the po sent me and I based my decision to buy...

So, I had decided that after my 83 had gone to the grave I would not try to simply replace it with another 83 1100e...I thought I would be harder to get it out of my head thinking it wouldn't be the same. So I decided I would not get another bike...it wasn't like I needed one...lol...

Then a couple of weeks ago...just like on here, I posted on a "German bike forum" that I was going to Vegas to "clear my head" from my recent loss.
The guys on the forum were very supportive as of course I had posted many times and pics about my GS bikes...got a lot of love there for our old Suzukis.
Anyway, one of the guys says to me..."sorry about your bike, I know it was special as your dad had painted it"....I have a 1980 gs1000s...I think it's a Wes Cooley....if you are interested..."?......I said.."I'm listening..." lol....We pm'd back and forth and now I'm going to have a Wes Cooley in my garage.

He explained that the bike was purchased years ago from an ex brother in law that had died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. And it's been sitting in his barn...yes barn ever since...he hadn't even put the bike in his name.
It for sure is going to need some work...he thinks the mileage is correct..no reason to not. He said he started it up years ago and it ran great but the carbs were leaking. The damage on the left side is likely from a drop in the driveway.
So I'm taking a bit of a leap of faith buying something not seen in the flesh....but hey..it's a Cooley...

 

[Ray916MN]

Congrats! Looks very good and correct. Even has a Telefix fork brace on it. That level of paint damage can be touched up so it is barely noticeable and the original paint is preserved. Does it have the 2 position on/off switch (turns off the clock) tucked in behind the right side of the gauges and does the clock work?

 

[boris.h]

Hey this is a cooley!! Nice job, you are a lucky one.
Could you if possible take some more pictures about the mirrors because i am going to try making new ones... thanks boris

 

[trevor]

Congrats! Looks very good and correct. Even has a Telefix fork brace on it. That level of paint damage can be touched up so it is barely noticeable and the original paint is preserved. Does it have the 2 position on/off switch (turns off the clock) tucked in behind the right side of the gauges and does the clock work?

i will be putting a battery in it tomorrow. Yes the paint...it for sure can be fixed and like you say preserved. I will investigate the clock tomorrow.

Hey this is a cooley!! Nice job, you are a lucky one.
Could you if possible take some more pictures about the mirrors because i am going to try making new ones... thanks boris

Yes my internet seems to have crapped out on my lap top but be patient I have more to post.
cheers

 

[Charlie G]

Congratulations Trevor. Nice to see you got the bike.

 

[Guest]

Good looking bike Love the blue paint scheme.

 

[GSXR7ED]

Great news Trevor and congrats!


Ed

 

[dorkburger]

Cool(ey). Glad its finally in your garage.

 

[Vmass]

Congratulations! This bike will clean up awesome! It's unlikely that you will ever learn what the true mileage is, considering the speedometer/odometer have been swapped and the PO has passed on. But who cares it's an '80 Cooley!!

 

[Kiwi Canuck]

Congratulations on the new arrival Trevor, looking forward to seeing it in person one of these days.

Did you go to the border and clear the bike yourself or did you use a broker?

BTW if you need anything, I know a little about them.

Cheers,

David

 

[trevor]

Congratulations! This bike will clean up awesome! It's unlikely that you will ever learn what the true mileage is, considering the speedometer/odometer have been swapped and the PO has passed on. But who cares it's an '80 Cooley!!

Thanks everyone!
Vmass..can you tell me why again why it's not the original speedo? Thanks buddy...

Congratulations on the new arrival Trevor, looking forward to seeing it in person one of these days.

Did you go to the border and clear the bike yourself or did you use a broker?

BTW if you need anything, I know a little about them.

Cheers,

David

Oh don't worry buddy, you will see it in person as I plane to ride the wheels off this bike!
Yes I had Bosch Brokerage do all the paper work...I just went to the border and showed the original paper work...Title and bill of sale and gave them the ITN number that Bosch provided for me. Cost me $125us for that.

 

[Vmass]

Thanks everyone!
Vmass..can you tell me why again why it's not the original speedo? Thanks buddy...

Sure, the 1979 model had the 140 mph speedo and the 1980 had the 80 mph.

Post up what you need for parts, I may have a few cooley bits laying around.

 

[trevor]

The guy said he remembered me saying two years ago when I joined the BMW forum and was showing pics of my gs bikes...he told me he had a cooley...I said..apparently..."if you ever wanna sell let me know...."....And he also said he wanted me to have it because he felt I would "fix it up, ride the sh*t out of it and not flip it" I promised him I won't do that. Not that I'm very good at selling bikes anyway...lol

So why did it take so long?
The po had never put the title in his name in all those years, it just sat in his barn waiting for him to get the inspiration to fix it up.
So he sent away for the title and 6 weeks later it came back denied as it was not in his deceased brother in law's name but someone else's...he wanted me to take my money back while he figured it out...of course I said no, I'm good.thanks. So he tried contacting the family to find out who this person was...and tried again..came back denied a second time 6 weeks later...then he had to take it to the Sherriff...twice to have the vin inspected...then sent away again and low and behold 5 months later the title was in his name...lol

So had it shipped to this place to hold it for a week until I could get there to get it....cool name eh? lol
My good buddy Rob came with me on the 7am ferry and we got there around 10:30...this place is one minute across the border...I had a brokerage company do all the paper work the week before so it was pretty quick to clear customs....



After 5 months of waiting, this was my first look at the bike...



And I remembered to wear the appropriate shirt for the occasion....




Holy crap...I have a Cooley in my truck!!! Lol



At the border...



At the ferry....



It's going to need a good cleaning...I'm getting at that this morning then Rob is coming over and we are going to see if we can get her started....





And it's in my garage.....

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Looks very good. Hope all is well inside too.

 

[Frank Z.]

Nice, Trevor... and congrats man. Subscribed!

 

[Guest]

Congrats - strange greenish tint to everything though

Wait a minute - something affecting my vision !!!

 

[GSXR7ED]

That's a sexy bike!


Ed

 

[BigD_83]

Sure, the 1979 model had the 140 mph speedo and the 1980 had the 80 mph.

Post up what you need for parts, I may have a few cooley bits laying around.

It could be just a US thing, but it wouldn't be unusual for a few bin parts leftover from the 1979 production run to be used up in the early releases of the next model year, though...I've seen that on a few of the smaller displacement models.

 

[trevor]

It could be just a US thing, but it wouldn't be unusual for a few bin parts leftover from the 1979 production run to be used up in the early releases of the next model year, though...I've seen that on a few of the smaller displacement models.

Good point D it's manufacture date is 12/79

 

[Vmass]

Good point D it's manufacture date is 12/79

The mandate for the 85 mph speedometers was 9/79. I think it was fairly common to swap the 85's for the 140's.