Quote:
Originally Posted by SoTxButler
Very nice car. Wish more folks knew just how good the Butlers are !!
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Yes perhaps Russ, but sometimes it's nice to be among the few who know of and appreciate something special that the great majority either don't know or don't care about.
I ride a Suzuki VStrom 1000. As a touring bike both on and off road it is a marvel. The Stroms cost a fraction of what you pay for the various BMW adventure touring bikes as well as the Ducati Multistrada, Yamaha Tenere, Triumph Tiger 1200 etc, and the cost of upkeep is similarly frugal compared to the euros. Yet while they are a terrific inexpensive tough comfortable reliable bike, for some reason they are overlooked by many as just another Jap bike and therefore not worthy of consideration when choosing their next bike purchase.
My 1979 Arntz has been on the road here in Australia for just on eighteen months and in that time it has given me far more enjoyment than it has a right to. People blink in astonishment when I tell them it was built in San Francisco over thirty years ago. It looks sensational, it sounds superb with its live pipes, its old BB Chevy grunts along at a stately pace but can surprise the unwary when pressed, and I just love cruising along beside other guys far younger than I am in their Mercs and Beemers and Volvos, while their kids go nuts in the back seat falling over themselves to give me a wave or grab a pic on their cellphones.
We Arntz/ Butler guys know we're on a good thing. I like the old school feel of mine and I like knowing that it's built like a tank underneath that super strong body. The scarcity of our cars probably accounts for their low profile among the ranks of owners of other Cobra replicas, but you know what? I don't care.
I truly don't know that I'd swap mine for any other. I'd probably like a CSX or a Kirkham if one became available, but only as an addition, not a replacement.