Rotary from Portugal

[gbcastro]

Hello enthusiasts. I bought a few months ago my RE5. I had been looking for one for some time in Ebay, came across a few but the registration process is Portugal is so painful and costly that it was keeping me from bidding. And one evening last week, i was bored and just typed Wankel on portuguese OLX and suddenly one add came up ! I called the owner and learned it was probably the only one imported to Portugal. In 1975 and stayed in the hands of the Suzuki dealer's family until recently. They even attended the Suzuki RE5 model launch in Japan, and have some original brochures and a clock.I picked it up yesterday, it was really in a barn, and part of the engine was in several buckets- So it’s a bit of mix feelings here…The previous owner assured me it was complete, except for 2 oil pipes, but the radiator grill I noticed is badly damaged.Apparently the engine was running fine a few years back, until some coolant got into the chamber… is this a common problem?I took it straight to Doug, an (English by the way) mechanic in Portugal, so I didn’t have much time for a closer look…This bike has covered 53.000 Km, and it’s first registration is from 1975, frame #10613 and engine #10326. Anyone knows more details by serial no?I was told the original colour was red, but now i found some paint under and its blue, although someone painted it black, including the chrome mudguards, maybe Mad Max style.After some thinking i decided to get a complete engine from Fonny. Hopefully i will hear it running in a month time.

[johnbirchjar]

Welcome to the club, Sounds like you have a fair bit of work to do on your purchase, ,good luck,rgds,J.B.

[gbcastro]

Thanks J. B., this forum was already quite helpfull.And last month i bought a Norton Commander i came across, also originally imported to Portugal, now i learned from bill that 5 units came in 1993.Mines frame number is 4291, and it has done 8.800 KM but needs some TLC and a paint job.Its a huge and heavy bike , has anyone transformed a Commander into a Cafe Racer? Just joking...Gonçalo