Heres mine, brought her as a bit of a wreck in Ireland. .The bike was a demo bike and had been ridden like a whore. These bikes are not meant for keeping up with jap bikes. Anyway , the last shop it was at went under, and the bikes were auctioned off. The guy who bought it tried to do exactly that ( keep up with his mates on Jap bikes) when he realised it run out gears before they did, he put it in a barn and threw a cover over it as he also had a GSXR. There it stayed for a number of years forgotten until one day he decided to sell it as it is. The engine had a bit of a knocking sound but run ok. The exhausts had been welded so that a Harley pipe would fit, the alloy looked like worms had left tracks in the metal, the tank had big scratch marks all over it. Everything was either corroded,scratched or rusty. Thunderbirds in Ireland are fairly rare as the Irish prefer sports bikes. So when this came up I though it might be worth a look, in the ad picture it didn't look as bad as it was . So I phoned the bloke and ask if I could call over. It was about an hour's drive. When I arrived.He took me to the barn where she had been stood. He had been messing about with her and managed to get her running after jump starting her and god know what else. When I first saw her, I thought Oh dear I have wasted my time . He said take her for a spin. I did but she was running rough. Most would have walked away but I could see something in her. He wanted 2000 Euro for her. After much negotiation I got him down to 1000, my thoughts were if it's had it I'll break her up. Anyway after stripping her down and spending many hours cleaning polishing , powder coating , respraying and then finally finding another Engine . She's finished. Penelope as I call her is back. I run her with the old engine for a while. I was waiting for the right engine to come up. I done away with the Harley pipe and brought some noisy pipes that look original. Penelope stuck as she's a Thunderbird and was high maintenance. Like lady Penelope. I love riding her around Kent as I now live in the UK . The other bikes I have ( Kawasaki's) are nice but pen is by far my favourite.
Sorry about the "piss poor pic". Out today with a couple of Ford mates at Redhill (Somerset) breakfast meet, then on for a blast with them over the Mendips.
