Sellin' Da Deuce

Sellin da Deuce to fund da bagger:

Lemee feed a fist full of quarters in the juke box and get some crying in yer beer music playin' ... Shirley, better set up a pitcher or three!

Well ... I was thinking ... Mary and I had put quite a few miles on the Deuce over Memorial Day Weekend, and the bumps in the road about did her in. Then too, I had taken a long, lean softail, added a windshield, saddlebags and a big old Mustang seat to make her comfortable for the long runs I was making. I clearly needed a bagger. If I could get a good price for the Deuce, I could afford an Electra Glide Classic.

I found these data points to help me set a selling price:

NADA low retail 14,365
NADA Avg Retail 18,900
NADA Avg Retail w/ Accys 19360
Median 'tween low and avg: 16632

Original MSRP for an '03 Gunmetal Blue Deuce w/ESPFI and factory security: 18,285

Completed eBay auctions on relatively stock 2003 FXSTDIs, for which there was at least one bid, ran like this (read final price, # bids,disposition):

14200 3 Reserve not met
15610 2 Reserve not met
16000 1 Sale completed
16000 17 Reserve not met
16125 6 Sale completed
16650 15 Sale completed
16700 15 Reserve not met
16900 13 Reserve not met
18350 20 Reserve not met
18475 18 Reserve not met
19000 2 Reserve not met

Average bid: 16728
Std Dev: 1412

To get a few pictures, I stripped off the windshield, pax seat, sissy bar and luggage rack, she was lookin *good.* Started feeling that old lust again ... Mary suggested I keep the Duece and finance the Bagger (God bless that woman!) But the fiscal reality was that I couldn't be incurring any more debt. So, to take possession of the Electra Glide, I needed to get a good price for Il Duce.

Two weeks in the Washington Post want ads didn't yield a single interested buyer. And, so I went to eBay. Set my "Buy It Now" price at NADA avg retail, set my reserve at a grand less. Started my bidding at NADA low Retail. Got a few bidders. One guy from Albany kept raising his max bid, apparently trying to find my reserve price, and finally did so the last day. But, with 2 mins left in the auction, a local guy swooped in and snagged it for 18k.

So, [sniff] I got the money I needed for the bagger, and [sniff] turned the keys to my Deuce over to the gent ...

To Il Duce! [clink!]