Occasionally, I will enter the name of local towns into the For Sale section of Craigslst, just to see what comes up. Yesterday was one of those days and I found an ad for a beadblaster. I wasn't really looking for one, though I have wanted one for years. We exchanged a few emails, I went to look at it and brought it home this afternoon.
It's an old Gesswein jeweler's bead blaster in perfect condition and I got it for a fair price. I'm going to try to set it up for sodablasting.
But the really cool part is the rest of the story.
The seller lives in a 200 year old house with a couple of great barns that I have admired every time I have driven past for the last 20 years. He bought the balster at an auction simply because he wanted the Jun compressor that came with it (Who could blame him; a Jun!).
He had a bunch of cool motorcycles inside the first barn, one of which was a DRZ400S, just like mine but with a few modifications that I have been considering. Turns out, he was a sponsored motocross rider back in the 60s. I don't know much about old motocrossers, but he was a big enough deal that he was asked to accompany a few of his old bikes as they crossed the auction block last year. He's got a full woodworking shop and is an accomplished TIG welder. He built and operated a Honda dealership in Atlanta for a decade or so before he retired. He's 69 years old and has got two replacement hips, but still rides off road.
We're going riding next week.
Sonic
SuperDork
9/27/12 6:49 p.m.
That's great! I search the name of my small town daily, and in doing so have scored deals on several things I wanted, though I didn't want them enough to really look a long way away. I've gotten: a huge extension ladder in new condition, a weight set, a jazzy scooter, and BABE rally car.
I agree, great story! 
I love the closing sentence.
Awesome story and post with a great final line!
Cool! Don't let the old coot blow you away too bad. 
I was nuts about MX at around that time, I may know the name. Not by chance Jonathan Formoa (sic), is it?
Its always nice to bump into such a cool person leading to a little motorsporting fun. Wish I would ride more often. I don't have my own bike, but I ride my MIL's 100. I do a ton of work for a guy who used to race bikes for Honda, so any work done on the bike is parts only. His son is one of my best friends. I think we're going to get trail bikes soon. The street scares me.
I want to be one of those old guys who has barns full of cool E36 M3. LOLZ. Good story, Woody.
That's the kind of think I like to read on GRM.
Dirt bikes, cars, whatever, the shared passion brings us together.
Curmudgeon wrote:
Cool! Don't let the old coot blow you away too bad.
I was nuts about MX at around that time, I may know the name. Not by chance Jonathan Formoa (sic), is it?
Nope, not the same guy, but he will kick my ass.
This is not the first time I've met interesting people while buying and selling stuff on Craislist and eBay.
I bought a set of WRX wheels from a guy with a heavy accent who seemed to have an awful lot of nearly new Subaru parts for sale. He turned out to be a former Russian military pilot who was building an autogyro (for simplicity sake, think "helicopter") powered by the engine from a wrecked low mileage WRX. I have since seen video of him flying it.
I sold an arc welder on eBay to a guy who asked if I could hang onto it for a month or two as long as he paid in full. He was from Everglade City Florida and stopped at my house in Connecticut on his way to Maine, where he was going to build steel gates for property he had bought there, also on eBay.
I bought a set of Porsche wheels from a "contractor" who had two Formula 1 cars and a 962 in his two story, mahogany floored garage.
I sold a Locost chassis ("Local Pickup Only") to a guy from Iowa. He and his son drove straight through to Connecticut, loaded up and headed home. They made it to central Ohio before finally stopping at a hotel.
I sold a WRX wagon to a guy who publishes car magazines.
I could go on...
Dang it. All I get are offshore petroleum engineers who want to pay full price for something they've never seen. 
Yeah, but maybe he's posting something on his creeper forum like "This is why I will never give up on Craigslist: I sold this guy my bead blaster tonight, we got talking about motorcycles (seriously, these gear heads are so easy), and I lured him into going riding next week. I think I'll make this one into soup. The season is staring to turn."
Seriously though, cool story... Just watch out for the creepers...
Not CL, but I got to meet and have lunch with Dave Coleman and Josh Jacquot when my friend bought Dave's Project SE-R...
LainfordExpress wrote:
Yeah, but maybe he's posting something on his creeper forum like "This is why I will never give up on Craigslist: I sold this guy my bead blaster tonight, we got talking about motorcycles (seriously, these gear heads are so easy), and I lured him into going riding next week. I think I'll make this one into soup. The season is staring to turn."
Seriously though, cool story... Just watch out for the creepers...
Thanks for the heads up, Mom...
