Wanted: Photos of women Dispatch Riders of WWII

A secret envelope, doubly sealed, is handed to a Wren Dispatch Rider who starts off on her 100-mile journey over rough roads in the black-out. © IWM (A 2832)

Wanted: Photographs of women Dispatch Riders on Royal Enfield motorcycles during World War II.

Monika Zarebska in period dress.

Monika Zarebska wants to recreate the appearance of such brave women as Pvt. Joyce Preece who rode her Royal Enfield as a courier for Britain's Auxiliary Territorial Service during the war.

To do it, she needs to know what they looked like, down to the tiniest detail.

Monika is a member of the Bluszcz Reenactment Group of Poland. These women "aim at reconstructing civil female fashion from 1910s 'til the end of the 1950s" but they also get into uniform to portray nurses and women's auxiliary military units.

"My personal huge dream is to recreate a character of a woman dispatch rider, which will enable me to link my love of motorcycles with my love of history," Monika wrote.

My only suggestion was to search the excellent website of the Imperial War Museum.

If you have photos of women Dispatch Riders (on any motorcycle) please email me and I will forward them to Monika.

The Royal Enfield Bullet is an obvious candidate as a prop for reenators. To illustrate, Monika sent me a link to a recent ad on eBay for a 1999 Bullet Military that played the role of a World War II military motorcycle in a film.

The reenactors of Bluszcz.

The Bluszcz website (the group is named for a pre-war fashion magazine) is full of photos of pretty girls in the lovely outfits of the 1930s and '40s.

But a warning: the wartime recreations naturally result in startlingly realistic photos that are even more powerful because they appear to have been taken yesterday. The group recreates Axis units as well as the Red Army and one photo shows members posed on a Jeep.

History indeed seems to come alive in these pictures. They can be unsettling as well as nostalgic.

Is it real? It looks it. Reenators take a dunking to portray 1939.

A surprising Royal Enfield cafe racer from Fort Worth

A Royal Enfield cafe racer without the usual stripped down look.

You might question your decision to wait for the new Royal Enfield Continental GT cafe racer when you see this cafe racer put together by Royal Enfield of Fort Worth, Texas. It's the dealership's first effort to build a cafe racer and it's not like others you see.

And it's for sale. According to the ad:

"Originating from a stock G5 chrome and black model, this cafe was born with nearly every upgrade you could add. The gas tank and cafe style seat was special ordered to give it that special look. The rear sets force the rider in a position natural to how a cafe racer should ride. The wrapped exhaust has been upgraded to an upsweep D&D exhaust pipe with a Stage 1 K&N and UNI breather (adding a 10 per cent increase in horsepower). The bars have been flipped and bar end mirrors have been added. The fly screen windshield, bullet turn signals, and custom license plate holder were the finishing touches to contribute to the overall cafe racer look."

I like the bright fender beneath the cafe seat.

I especially liked the way the rear pegs slant to line up with the exhaust, the vintage pinstriping on the cafe tank (unexpected!) and the bright fenders instead of naked wheels. I asked Michael Baker of Royal Enfield of Fort Worth to elaborate. His response:

Pin stripping on cafe take looks classy.

1. The reason we left the rear pegs on is because when you take them off there are huge holes. A lot of my customers also use the rear pegs to rest their feet during long trips (very comfortable).

2. It still shifts on the left side and brakes on the right. The upgraded rear sets were ordered from Hitchcocks Motorcycles. (Other bits came from NField Gear and the Royal Enfield of Canada.)

And the seat looks natural.

3. There is a bracket in the back (of the seat) and it mounts to the rear fender. We had to do some fabricating to the seat to make it look that good.

Seating for one.

4. The tank came out of the box in that shape with the pinstriping already on. To match the tank and side covers we hand pinstriped the rear bump seat.

5. Believe it or not, these bars are the stock handlebars. We flipped them and drilled new holes for the switch housings.

Hard to believe those are the stock bars.

6. Price is $9,995 for the full package. Obliviously if somebody wanted (only) certain upgrades it would be cheaper. We fit the bike to the customers needs.

Bonneville Bullet makes an offering to the God of Speed

They hope to be the world's fastest Indian-made Royal Enfield Bullet.

There's no time for more than terse updates from the Bonneville Bullet team racing at the Salt Flats in Utah this week.

Dan Holmes and his DRS Cycle team are struggling just to keep their semi-streamlined Royal Enfield Bullet in the race. The Bonneville Bullet is competing both on gas alone and with a nitrous oxide system.

The first day of competition Sunday, running on gasoline, was encouraging.

"Our first run was 101 in fifth gear and our second run is 105.9 in fourth. Our (times) are really close, so we are going to make our fuel runs (Monday). We are hoping the wind stays down and we make two good passes. We made it through tech for fuel and we are ready to race today!" Dan advised Monday.

The God of Speed had other plans.

"Dan called me this afternoon so that I could pass on some news from the Bonneville Bullet effort on the Salt Flats," wrote Phil Myers from the team's home state, Indiana.

"After setting up the nitrous for a 10 horsepower boost, Johnny Szoldrak passed through the traps at 120 mph and change.

"On a return run and with another step up in NOS the piston failed and Johnny coasted home at 90 mph for a combined two-way average of 105 mph or so.

"They have figured that the mixture went incredibly lean with a possible failure of the fuel boost solenoid but that is just a guess at this point. The team is now changing engines to continue to search for more speed in both gas and fuel categories. I don’t have much more info than that and I’m certain that they have their hands full with the engine swap. More to follow. Wish them luck!"

Dan himself wrote later, no doubt after a long night. His message was a short as a telegram from the War Department:

"Went 120.9 one way today, 91.9 on return and blew it up. Switching our spare motor and hope to improve tomorrow. Dan."

The most concrete encouragement anyone can offer right now would be a donation to the team's PayPal account dch23@yahoo.com

PayPal provides a space for your personal note to the team. Include your mailing address. Dan has promised an 8x10 autographed photo of the team to all donors.

Royal Enfield to grow in India and elsewhere, CEO says

Siddhartha Lal rolls the first Royal Enfield off the line at new factory in April.

Part discussion of Royal Enfield motorcycles, part restaurant review, India's Business Standard reported Aug. 23 on its lunch with Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Eicher Motors, builders of Royal Enfields (and big trucks) in India.

As usual, the confident and optimistic Lal impressed his interviewers with his youthful attitude (he's 40) and grasp of his business.

The Royal Enfield motorcycle business is fantastic: "50 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue and much more in profitability," Lal told the Business Standard. (Eicher's truck business has slowed, with the market.)

The Business Standard interviewers wanted to know where Royal Enfield goes from here. This is where it gets interesting for a reader outside India.

First, Lal predicted that Royal Enfield will continue to grow in India.

"Motorcycles are the core of personal transportation in India and it will grow as people grow more affluent and move up from cycles," he said. Royal Enfield will offer these buyers an "evocative" mid-size motorcycle with a proud brand name they can enjoy even when not commuting.

Meanwhile, in countries where motorcycles are a leisure activity (the U.S., etc.) buyers are no longer as rich as they used to be.

"There is space for interesting, brand-led, evocative mid-size bikes. That's what we want to build," Lal told the Business Standard.

The Business Standard said Lal used the word "quirky" to describe the existing export market for Royal Enfield motorcycles.

That's an amusing term but probably accurate. Royal Enfield buyers in the U.S. likely know the history of motorcycles and appreciate the styling and "quirky" mechanical habits of British motorcycles of the 1960s.

Can Royal Enfield move beyond that (count me in) quirky market, selling "mid-size bikes" that are at the bottom edge of Interstate capability?

There's lots more in the Business Standard article. See if you can read between the lines as the interviewers attempt to draw out their subject on the Eicher partnership with Polaris and other matters.

650cc twin, leaning sidecar make this Bullet special

Leaning sidecar and parallel twin motor make this Bullet special.

Gerry from Washington State was so impatient for Royal Enfield to offer a modern parallel twin that he built his own. I wrote about his Royal Enfield Bullet powered by a Yamaha 650 twin in 2011.

"This thing buries the speedo needle with ease and accelerates like a GSXR 750 and shoots right over the Rocky Mountains like a cannonball," he told me. At the time, he predicted that he would keep "messing" with his creation.

Something tells you this will be a wild ride.

And he has done exactly that, adding an articulated sidecar. The whole unusual rig is now for sale on CraigsList in Renton, Wash. (Unfortunately, the ad has expired.)

Powerful Japanese twin powers this Royal Enfield Bullet.

According to the ad it's a "2001 Royal Enfield Bullet totally customized with '77 Yamaha XS650 motor and drive train. Totally custom bike and experimental (read, not for road use) fully articulating sidecar."

Sidecar is "experimental."

Asking price is $9,000.

The ad includes a link to a video showing the motorcycle and sidecar in action on curves.

Bonneville Bullet races for world's fastest Indian Bullet

Going racing again is the Bonneville Bullet.

"Dyno Dan" Holmes and the Bonneville Bullet will return to the Salt Flats this week in a second effort to become "the world's fastest Indian Bullet."

His DRS Cycle team, based in Indiana, will use a partially streamlined 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet with crankshaft and cams by Hitchcocks Motorcycles and "hope to do 120," Dan told the Royal Enfield Yahoo Group on Aug. 3. The Bonneville Bullet will compete both on gas and with a nitrous oxide system (NOS), he wrote. It will use a 22-tooth front sprocket.

In 2008 the team set three records with a road racing Bullet it brought along, but the semi-streamlined Bonneville Bullet was sidelined.

"Our nemesis last time with this bike was jetting. We were being cautious not to burn it up and were taking baby steps. Anyone who has jetting experience would understand that going down six jets sizes all at once is reckless! We ran out of time as many remember we were on the starting line with the engine running and they closed the track due to a fatality. In any event we are going back and we will make our best effort," Dan wrote the Yahoo group.

Dan Holmes, left, with electrical engineer Jim Myers.

The AMA Racing BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials are Thursday Aug. 24-29 this year at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Dan provided these details:

"Glen Kyle is our engine builder and Phil Myers is our tuner, Jim Myers has become our sponsor and our electrician, and tuner for the past few weeks...

"Once again we will be accepting donations to our PayPal account if anyone is inclined. We are still a grass roots race team, so thanks in advance!" The PayPal account is dch23@yahoo.com

When you donate, include your name and address in the space provided for a note to Dan.

"We will send a autographed photo of the team members and bike on a 8X10 to all donors. I will need them to include a mailing address of course," he wrote me.

Aside from money, a volunteer is needed to update the team's website.

"Many people claim to have the worlds fastest Bullet, but they increase the displacement and so it is a frivolous claim," Dan wrote. "I am hoping that DRS Cycle will prove to have the worlds fastest (500cc) Indian Bullet!"

Holmes was one of the early Royal Enfield dealers when the brand returned to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. His DRS shop in Indiana marketed a "shift kit" that cured some of the ills of the notorious left-side shift bodge on four-speed Royal Enfield motorcycles then being sold in the United States.

UPDATE: Dan asked that I add the following note to this item:

"My son Nathan who was a big help with the road racer is accompanying me, as Phil is unable to attend this year due to work scheduling. Nathan actually owns the road racer and it is on display in the Hostetler's Hudson Museum in Shipshewana, Ind. My oldest son Jason will inherit the Bonneville bike when we retire it. Both bikes will likely end up at the museum, however the partial streamliner may see more service if there is anything useful left after Bonneville!"

Why the Royal Enfield Bullet will never say die

It's a project now, but someday this Royal Enfield Bullet will run again.

"Broke and busy," Casey, a college student in Denton, Texas, put his 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet up for sale on CraigsList hoping to see it go to a good home.

"I have a (pre-June, if you know anything about Enfields) '99 Royal Enfield Bullet that has been condemned to 'work in progress' status, and it saddens me deeply," he wrote in the ad.

"I would love to have her back to her beautiful, running self; however, being the broke and busy college student I am, I'm simply unable to at this point, and I'd rather her go to a good home where she will be fixed, polished, loved, and ridden."

He set the price at $1,500, calling it negotiable. "I understand this is a project," he wrote.

Anyone who has ever had a beloved vehicle get mechanically and financially beyond them will understand his plight and sympathize.

It certainly has happened to me. I liked Pontiacs. Frustrated by problems and expense I gave up on two 1967 Pontiac Tempests. A 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix I loved was traded in and probably went to the breakers. My 1986 Pontiac Parisienne was so far gone at the end I donated it to the Salvation Army rather than try to sell it. I doubt any of these cars survive.

In the case of Casey's Bullet, someone will certainly rescue it and, with parts as available as they are, bring it back to life.

That's one of the reasons I bought my own 1999 Bullet when I did. It was a vintage motorcycle that was brand new when I bought it: no rust!

My Tempest "parts car" had been rusted and worn out in exactly the same places as the Tempest I was trying to restore. But parts, brand new, are available for my Bullet. It can always be reborn.

Best of all, there is no guilt. Bullets are still in production. They exist by the thousands, at least in India. No matter how inept I might be, if I somehow destroy my Bullet it won't be the last one.

Casey may lose his Bullet, but he can be assured someone will enjoy it.

After the Interceptor: Rare Metisse answers some questions

Originally orange, Doug Haring's Rickman Metisse looks deadly in black.

It powered the fastest standard Royal Enfield built before the company went out of business in Britain, but the Series 2 Interceptor motor didn't bow out when Royal Enfield closed down in Redditch.

Motorcycle entrepreneur and promoter Floyd Clymer saw potential in the 750cc twin — potential untapped before Royal Enfield closed its doors amid the collapse of the motorcycle industry in Britain.

In turn, Clymer's hopes to put the mighty Royal Enfield motor into a dashing Italian frame were interrupted by his death in 1970. Few "Clymer Interceptors" were built. His remaining cache of Interceptor motors went to the Rickman Brothers, who fashioned a modern frame around the Royal Enfield twin.

The Rickman Metisse was the result, a very rare prize, with only 137 and some prototypes built according to Burton Bike Bits. Starting in 1970, production continued for less than two full years.

So I was surprised when I an item I wrote about one Metisse for sale drew this comment, from Doug Haring of Virginia:

"I have a 1972 just like this. Only 3,500 miles. Needs a little work to get going again. Fiberglass has been painted black. Other than that it's original.

Doug has since sold his Metisse but, before he did, I asked him for more information. He replied:

"The bike was my dad's and I picked it up at the airport with him... The bike was imported from Canada. It has not been ridden since the late '70s and he just gave it to me as a gift.

"As stated it needs a little refreshing but is in good shape...

"It is a complete bike but not completely together in these photos. I do have the original shocks as well as the nicer ones in the pics."

Rickman frame took the Series 2 motor into a future the Interceptor never knew.

Besides its rarity, the Metisse is valued for its improved frame and forks and light weight compared to the Royal Enfield Interceptor. The foot pegs welded to the exhaust pipes instantly identify the Rickman.

With collector interest intense, there's always attention paid when a new one emerges. Doug provided the serial numbers from his bike to Graham Scarth, chairman of the Royal Enfield Owner's Club in the UK. The club possesses what factory records remain, but many gaps exists.

Clean design, foot pegs on exhaust pipes mark the Rickman Metisse.

As it happens, Doug was able to provide the club with even more Rickman information: a 1973 invoice for "Rickman Street Metisse Motorcycles" purchased by Chariot Cycles Ltd. of Winnipeg, Canada, importers of his father's Metisse.

The document "has just reduced the number of frames for which we had no engine number from 14 to seven, as well as accounting for 13 of the spare engines," Graham wrote Doug.

The 40-year-old typed invoice did contain a few apparent typos that leave some mysteries intact.

"Notwithstanding the typos, the information in this document is of incredible value to the Club and I am most grateful to you for sharing it with us," Graham wrote Doug. "I will be forwarding copies to our Archivist and Dating Officer."

Doug can be sure now that his father's Metisse will live on forever in the history books, a fond memory.

"When I was six years old, I remember riding to the airport with my dad to pick up the crate. We opened the crate at home and it was the coolest thing I ever saw," Doug wrote me.

Soldier's Royal Enfield Military looks battle hardened

This Royal Enfield Military looks rough and ready.

Here's a custom Royal Enfield Bullet Military that looks tough enough to rough it anywhere.

It's the creation of Dan Raleigh of Minnesota and a friend named Josh Hoglund (Josh also took the pictures you see here). As Dan describes it:

"It’s a 2007 Military model that I’ve messed around with quite a bit: new exhaust, air intake, custom rear fender, tail light bracket and 8 ball oil dipstick, LED tail light, solo seat, new grips, modified oil system, new tire and other stuff I’m sure I’ve forgotten. This bike is a blast and runs like a top!"

He provided these additional details, in response to questions from me:

Dan Raleigh.

"Yes, that’s me in the photo. I do live in Minnesota, married to a beautiful woman (who is doing her best to try to understand my obsession with bikes) and four kids. I am in the Army and was gone last year in Afghanistan. Chris over at Her Majesty’s Thunder sent me some patches while I was there and he posted some photos on his blog.

"I missed a whole lot back home, including an entire riding season, so I’ve been busy ever since I’ve been home messing around with the bike.

"It’s the original headlight, I’ve just cut a piece of vinyl film and placed it over the headlight. I saw someone do it with yellow vinyl to their old BMW (to give it that French look that seems to be popular with café and bobber bikes lately) at a bike event here in Minneapolis and it got me thinking about what else was out there. Looked on eBay and found this sheet of black and thought, why not? I think it looks pretty cool and adds to the ‘tough’ look of the bike. Who knows, next week I may get tired of it and in that case I just peel it off.

Lights ride under the seat, a spingless solo.

"Yep, that’s the tail light (under the seat), as well as turn signal. It’s all integrated in one. My best buddy Josh Hoglund, who does fantastic metal fabrication, dreamed up that bracket under the seat after I showed him the new tail light that I bought (again, eBay). He also made up the custom rear fender and brackets as well as the 8 ball dipstick. Very talented guy.

"I debated using springs for the seat, but decided against it. First, for the look. I was going for something more non-traditional on this bike and springs made it look too ‘vintage’ and, second, I found out that when I had them on there it really didn’t make too much of a difference in ride.

"I commented on the Royal Enfield Forum to a guy how much I liked his bike with a similar exhaust and how I’d like to find something like that. He asked where I was located; told him I was getting ready to deploy (I was on the coast for pre-deployment to Afghanistan at the time) and there was a new exhaust waiting for me when I got home. He sent it as a gift. His name is George TOOSEEVEE on the Royal Enfield Forums and he is an old school gentleman." (Dan is "Porkchop" on the Royal Enfield Forums.)

Yes, it's loud.

"It’s loud and it gives the Enfield torque. My buddy said ‘this thing went from a lawnmower to a #%$& motorbike!'"

The chain guard came off then went back on.

"Yes, the chain guard (I found out) was essential to keep the crap that the chain spits up off my back... I kept the rear pegs to give my legs a different position on long rides (although I tell people it’s where I stand while I’m doing wheelies).

"It’s got elements of bikes that I gravitate toward: bobbers, dirt trackers, vintage, café. So I just say it’s the bike that this bike was meant to be."

From Her Majesty's Thunder: Dan in Afghanistan in 2012 fixing an abandoned cycle.
He gave it to the Afghan Army.

Royal Enfield USA shows off 2014 colors

Here's the 2014 Royal Enfield Classic in silver.

Royal Enfield USA's The Buzz blog is showing photos of new 2014 model colors for the Bullet Classic.

They include a tan and silver and a new paint scheme for the black model.

2014 Royal Enfield Classic in tan.

"They are starting to come to the U.S. and are available," reports Royal Enfield USA's Facebook page. The pictures have racked up a lot of "Likes" on Facebook.

If these pictures are accurate, the distinctive oval air cleaner cover, the forks, casquette and frames will be black across the line instead of body color.

This change perhaps eases production but it's still a distinguished look. And, as one curmudgeon once pointed it, it makes touch-up a cinch: black is black, at least from a distance.

The Royal Enfield USA Facebook also notes that the teal and maroon colors introduced with the first C5s have been discontinued. Both were memorable, classic colors.

So, if you want one of those, you'd better go get it.

New color scheme for 2014 black.

How to convince your wife to let you buy a motorcycle

Should a man have to ask his wife for permission to buy a motorcycle?

Of course not! If you're any kind of Man's Man you're not going to ask your spouse if you can have a motorcycle!

You're not going to ask your spouse if you can have a motorcycle because you already realize that it's vastly more effective to wheedle your way around her in such a fashion that she can't recall ever having said "no."

If you're a real pro, she ought to somehow be left with the impression that a motorcycle was her idea.

Click here to
see full graphic.

The Rubber on the Road blog recently pointed to a cute cartoon from Revzilla entitled "How to Convince Your Significant Other to Let You Buy a Motorcycle." The comic offers extensive suggestions for what might work, depending on what kind of biker, male or female, you are.

If, like most men, you have no time for extensive good advice, let me offer a much shorter list of bad advice of my own (with some inspiration from Revzilla):

1. "Honey, the motorcycle's here!" You announce this as they unload it in the driveway. Her name is on the sales receipt. Must be some sort of mistake, but nothing to do about it now. How about a test ride?

2. "No sex until I get a motorcycle." Good luck with this one.

3. "I'll let you name the motorcycle." This one only works in your dreams.

4. "Think what it will save on gas!" Again, this one only works in your dreams.

5. "I won't re-enlist if I get a motorcycle." This one is guaranteed to work, but it helps to actually be in the military at the time.

6. "If I'm not happy, you won't be happy." This is a threat and guarantees only that you will not be happy, motorcycle or not.

WWII Dispatch Rider was a slip of a girl on a Royal Enfield

Private Joyce Sargeant (her married name)
on a 350cc Royal Enfield in 1945.

She had never even driven a car, but Joyce Preece eventually would become a motorcycle Dispatch Rider, pictured astride a 350cc Royal Enfield during World War II.

Joyce was 20 when she joined Britain's Women's Auxiliary Army in 1941. She'd been thinking of joining, but the announcement that women over 21 would be conscripted made up her mind for her.

"I then became a number. W120296. The training was very tough," she wrote in a 2005 story for "WW2 People's War," an online archive of wartime memories gathered by the BCC. The archive can be found here.

Despite the tough training, Joyce wrote home "that I was having a great time. (What a fibber I was.)"

The Auxiliary Territorial Service taught her to drive but her natural pluck kept her at it, even after her car malfunctioned and overturned on her first solo drive. A kingpin had sheared.

"I didn't even feel shaken; just mad as hell, as the battery acid had tipped all over my slacks and ruined them," she wrote.

Duty behind the wheel was fine with her, even steering ambulances through the Blackout. There was never a problem with mechanics.

"Of course, being women, we could wrap them around our little fingers when it came to asking for their help; mechanical or otherwise."

She had volunteered for training as a driver and now went further still, volunteering to become a motorcycle Dispatch Rider. Her parents weren't thrilled, but she was.

Her wartime story is complete with a flinty Regimental Sergeant Major, a kindly old colonel and a pillow wet with tears when a blond officer she met failed to return from France.

Unfortunately it's missing a few paragraphs right in the middle of what must have been one very funny story. I've emailed the BBC asking that they be restored. See if you can imagine how that interaction between a "slip of a girl" on a motorcycle and a tough old soldier came about.

Royal Enfield Model RE for sale with three Harleys

Buy one, get three more? The Royal Enfield is far right.

In what must be the package deal of the (previous) century, an eBay seller in Fort Augustine, Fla. is offering to throw in a 1946 Royal Enfield Model RE and two more little Harley-Davidsons if someone will buy his 1953 Harley-Davidson Hummer.

"Sad part is, I really like (the) Royal Enfield and it's fun to play with," the seller writes.

The 125cc Royal Enfield included in the deal.

All told, the deal includes a 1965, a 1956 and a 1953 Harley-Davidson and the 1946 Royal Enfield. If you meet the reserve price on the 1953 Harley you get all four, the ad says.

It claims that all four motorcycles runs, but only two have titles.

Sidecar ride? His dog wags a precautionary tale

What dog doesn't want to ride in a sidecar? This one.

A 2012 Royal Enfield C5 and sidecar went up for sale on eBay in Santa Ana, Calif. when the owner's dog refused to go for a ride.

"Up for auction is a practically new, fresh off the showroom floor, two-week-old motorcycle," the seller wrote.

"Bought it so I could take my dog with me when I ride. We went out one day, did about 70 miles (in short sections) and now she won't go anywhere near the bike...

"I want this thing gone! It pisses me off every time I look at it. I spent a bunch of money (custom harness for the dog, side car and installation) and time with good intentions to have fun but it isn't going to happen...

"All reasonable and some not so reasonable offers will be considered.

"So if you're interested don't wait 'til the end because it might be gone, depending on the offer and how quickly it can be completed, I might take it (did I mention I want it gone!)."

Buy It Now price was $10,000 (and now has been lowered to $8,992).