Quasar on sale in 2015, sold in 2017 +2018 update

This is the original Wilson's demonstrator as used extensively by Malcolm Newell on trade plates in the early days of the project in the late 1970s.
It made memorable trips to the Isle of Man TT races amongst other events. After being reclaimed by Wilsons it languished in the Bristol Industrial Museum painted in a rather unattractive shade of brown for many years before being sold in 2008.
It has now been restored to its original colour scheme, as seen here, and has recently been put on sale by Verralls, the veteran, vintage and classic motorcycle specialists, for a cool £21,500.
Mark Crowson, Quasar expert and archivist says: "It's cosmetically immaculate but the current owner hasn't ridden it. I wonder what Verralls would say if someone asked for a test-ride? The price, (set by Verralls themselves, rather than the owner), is certainly 'ambitious' but, let's face it, there are far fewer Quasars in the world than almost any of the high-priced exotica that commands much higher prices, (Vincents for example), so perhaps this is a sign of what could happen in the future ;-)"
This is one of 5 photos of the machine on the Verralls website.
More here: http://www.verralls.com/post-war-motorbikes/958.html

2018 UPDATE: This machine was bought by Louis Thompson in 2017, after it had a reassuring going over from Mark Crowson, the world's No.1 Quasar expert. In June 2018 Louis demonstrated his own mastery of the machine, and of its roadworthiness, by riding it from England to Spain and back, taking in the 2018 Riberac Reunion, in the Dordogne on the way. He also used the challenging Port D'Envalira - La Vella road to Andorra which, at nearly 8,000ft, is the highest road route across the Pyrenees. We think this might also be the first Quasar to make it into Spain.
There's a photo of this Quasar in the Dordogne, with 5 other FFs, here: http://bikeweb.com/node/3339
PNB

Quasar on sale in 2015, sold in 2017 +2018 update

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'Some' of Malcolms Quasar for sale

To be fair, probably more of the original bits than FJ uses from 002... Malcolms original engine was replaced, after the IOM trips by the one I ran there (with Malcom's trade plates, which turned out to be illegal in the IoM), then, much later another engine was fitted and the 'no.2' engine went to Mark Verden's (RIP) "targa" Quasar (Mated to a Guzzi gearbox) and lives somewhere in Hanham, to the east of Bristol. This must be the Quasar that convinced me that they had round, not square headlights...

It's had a fairly exciting life, apart from Malcolm's various collisons with the planet and other vehicles (requiring at least one new bodyshell), it's the one I drove into a ditch, twice, (see 'Quasar Promo film' on this site) Verden put it into the wall at Waterworks after grounding a stand (New set of forks) and even while having a 'languish' (we provincials thought it was an 'exhibit') in Bristol's Industrial museum it was lent to the FF crew for their hilarious Classic Bike stand (1995? I'm too old to remember stuff like dates).

Subesequently it was filmed at length, with FJ, in the museum, by Honda R&D Europe during a brief burst of interest in FFs that've clearly recovered from; ("We do not think the market is ready, but if we decided to go this way, the engineering is almost simnple") Not sure whether that's the usual corporate cowadice or a crap marketing department but if Honda ever tell anyone they don't know about FFs you'll know they're lying.

I bet the asking price has cheered up all the Quasar owners!

Ian's picture

I bet the asking price has cheered up all the Quasar owners!

It will if it sells!

Ian's picture

Quasar Promo.

Who is 'they' at Honda?!

Royce said: "Subesequently it was filmed at length, with FJ, in the museum, by Honda R&D Europe during a brief burst of interest in FFs that've clearly recovered from; ("We do not think the market is ready, but if we decided to go this way, the engineering is almost simnple") Not sure whether that's the usual corporate cowadice or a crap marketing department but if Honda ever tell anyone they don't know about FFs you'll know they're lying."

Fascinating – would love to know who it was, what they did with their film and knowledge and whether the film still exists at Honda Europe HQ, or anywhere else.

When you say "if Honda ever tell anyone they don't know about FFs you'll know they're lying." this begs the obvious question: Who precisely is this mysterious "they" at Honda?
It makes the erroneous assumption that anything that anyone has ever done on behalf of Honda, anywhere in the world, will automatically be transferred magically, down the decades, to the brains of anyone else who subsequently works for Honda, anywhere in the world.
I can say for certain that this does NOT happen because the designer and engineer behind the Honda Vultus FF whom I interviewed in May 2014 had absolutely no knowledge of any FFs outside of Japan whatsoever. They had never seen or heard of the Quasar, never mind the Voyager or indeed, the Ecomobile or Monotracer. They hadn't even seen or heard of the Gurney Alligators which made it into production this century using brand new (and extensively modified) Honda engines!
There is no doubt in my mind that "they" were NOT lying when they told me this, quite categorically, more than once, in the course of our discussion.
Of course, they can't make that claim any more, because I did my best to give them a crash course in the history of FFs, complete with many photos and illustrations! See here:
http://www.bikeweb.com/node/2841
and here:
http://www.bikeweb.com/node/3017
PNB

That's they Honda R&D Europe

I was contacted by Honda R&D Europe. out of the blue, some time in the nineties (you think I'm going to trawl through the archives to find the actual letter? - dream on!), with a request to buy all the publications I then had available. This included the 1985 Information pack, "whatever happened", Voyager brochure and copies of all FF-related articles and digital video. This package cost Honad over 100 Euros. Most of the communication was done through the office secretary on headed notepaper. Contact Honad for further details - Good luck with that...

Subsequently two nice young German people from Honad, based in Stuttgart, turned up with an expensive video camera and filmed FJ and Malcolm's Quasar in the industrial museum. Panels were removed to reveal internal details etc.

A little after that Honad explained that they "never used ideas from outside Honda" (Cue hysterical laughter from NSU, Cosworth, Piaggio et al), and they didn't think "the market was ready" for FF's and that in any case, if they decided to go this route, the engineering was "almost simple". I'm glad we agree on that last at least.

Make of this what you will. I don't know at what level this contact was authourised, although I know the digital video infected the Honda system in Stuttgart. I'm also very well aware that large corporations are just collections of people mainly trying to avoid making mistakes, or much else, with minimal collective memory or intelligence. I hope it's pretty obvious that I have very little respect or concern for the Honad motor company or it's products. Indeed, I regard this contact, and others I've had with the industry generaly, as evidence of a lack of any concern for the interests of their customers, especially safety, or the usefullness or relevence of their products. They're just clutter in the way of a better future.

Price

It seems a lot but realistically a road worthy Quasar must be worth over £15k and can only go up as being so rare.

Roadworthy? That is the question!

John said, above,
"It [ie £21,500] seems a lot but realistically a roadworthy Quasar must be worth over £15k and can only go up as being so rare."
I agree, if it really is 'roadworthy'. Those of use who have ridden several different Quasars, and the same Quasar in different conditions of roadworthiness, know that these extremes can span a very wide range of conditions! If I wanted a Quasar to ride rather than to display, I wouldn't dream of paying even £10K without a test ride, or at the very least, seeing someone else ride the machine properly, with confidence, on the road. As far as I'm concerned, this machine is dramatically overpriced without any evidence of recent roadworthiness! PNB
July 2018 Update!
As will be gleaned from my update to the main post above, this Quasar is clearly roadworthy now, having just been ridden from the UK to Spain and back, by its new owner, Louis Thompson!