Kawasaki Z1 900 retro engine cover
In a time where normality is yet to fully return to the workplace, what is the actual point of Bank Holidays? They are a great treat for those with a conventional 9-5 40-hour week, but a bit of a nark to anyone else.
My dissing of last Monday’s Bank Holiday is my lame excuse for my cock up of forgetting all about this week’s ‘Flogged It’ listing! 🙈 Having been one day out all week it dawned on me at noon on Thursday I hadn’t created an online auction. With this being week two of my new regular feature (week one is on the website), I had almost failed before I’d even started! I say almost…
So fast forward to lunchtime on a Friday, and here I am sat tapping these words into my iPhone and feeling a little bit pleased with myself. From the face of defeat, I’ve plucked a victory and hit my copy deadline too.
“What tat did you sell this week then?”
I found a bit of bling in the garage. It had been on a nail for yonks and at one point I even considered throwing it out because I had no idea what bike it fitted. I then took a good look at it and it dawned on me, it was a clutch worm gear cover for a Z900. Back in 1991, I became familiar with these covers after buying a Kawasaki Z1A that had an appetite for destruction where these egg-shaped alloy covers were concerned. I bought several over the next few weeks and each one met the same fate of being eaten by the internals behind it.
This cover, that has been hung on the rusty nail for yonks, is not an original Kawasaki part, it is a custom item. Finned engine covers were a big thing back in the day, with many of those DOHC air cooled four Zeds now either vanished for good or restored back to stock. The market for Z custom bling probably isn’t that buoyant now? Still, with a deadline looming I went to market with my 99p start, no reserve formula!
“You did what, a one-day auction?!”
Come 12 hours later and it has been bid up to £2.20, more than likely by the pair of watchers. My Friday morning came and went and with one thing and another, I hadn’t bothered to keep an eye on proceedings. Clicking in post auction and I had zero expectations of what the cover might realise. I was well chuffed though to see that it had peaked at £34. I’ll take that!
Article provided by Scottie Redmond
