Rare Royal Enfield sold for $1,000; seller wanted it gone

It looks decent, and it's a mighty rare Royal Enfield.

A rare Royal Enfield-engined motorcycle sold on eBay recently in, Decatur, Ill., for only $1,000.

Advertised as a "1969 Royal Enfield 750 twin with Indian frame," it apparently was one of the few Clymer Indian Interceptors built just as Royal Enfield was closing its doors in Britain.

"A rarity slips through the net!" wrote Mark Mumford, who alerted me to the sale.

"Somebody got a bargain!" wrote another Royal Enfield fan.

Some bodywork is missing but not all.

The seller, who is new to eBay, may not have known what he had. All he wrote in the ad was:

"This bike is in pieces but I have all the parts. It has an Indian frame with a Royal Enfield 750cc twin engine. It could be a parts bike or restored. I am just looking to get rid of it." The seller listed the motorcycle as having a clear title.

The Buy It Now ad closed on April 19. There was only one bid, for $1,000.

Even the seat doesn't look too bad.

Royal Enfield production in England came to an end as the 1970s came in. The colorful magazine publisher Floyd Clymer ordered about 600 1969 Royal Enfield Interceptor Series II engines, planning to have them inserted into an Italian frame in Italy.

These were to be sold in the United States in yet one more revival of the Indian motorcycle brand.

Clymer died in 1970 with few motorcycles built with the Enfield 750cc engine (one source says 75). Some of the engines he ordered went into Rickman Interceptors.

Here's a textbook shot of what a Clymer Enfield should look like.