Wish I was closer, I'd love to house something like that!
Im curious though, is there any more to the story? Why was that ski just sitting in a barn?
So the owner of this ski told me he was very involved in various charities throughout his life. He bought this 550 at a charity auction in 1998, a powersports dealership donated it to the auction. I would assume the 550 wasn't as desirable at the time since the 750 had been in production for a few years, hence why the dealer still had it. The title I have from him says 1998 was the year it was transferred to his name. He bought it thinking that one of his three daughters would like to ride it on the lake and river by their home at some point but they had zero interest in it. He then decided to keep it for the day that he had grandchildren. He eventually had grandchildren but they too have no interest and would much rather play video games etc. The owners wife passed away a year ago and he is just selling off all of the things he doesn't need. This 550 was sitting in a garage full of collectibles. A few examples are old schwinn bikes with original brown leather seats, like new. A few hundred "Prince Albert" metal tobacco/cigarette cartons that are a collectors item, amongst other old school tobacco things. Also had some Coca-Cola signage etc. Original OEM Buick car parts like hub caps, hood ornaments etc. He was a collector to say the least and probably rarely sold anything. I'd assume this 550 sat back in the corner under its bedsheet for years and years and he never gave any thought to it at all until he started to clean house.
A former coworker of mine loves flipping trucks, trailers, motorcycles and anything in between, also loves swap meets and listens to AM 66 (Yes thats AM radio, haha.) The program is called Swap Shop radio or something. He heard the owner of this ski call in one day and gave me the guys phone number. I didn't believe it, almost too good to be true. I called and left a voicemail and didnt hear back for 2 or 3 days which further proved it was too good to be true. I was bummed. I even found the radio station and called to double check the phone number and it was correct. Lo and behold my phone rang on day 4 at 7:00am and it was Bob, the owner. We set up a time for that following Saturday and I drove only an hour and change north of me. I arrived and there it was sitting in the garage door. Dusty but otherwise perfectly perfect. Loaded up the ski, gave Bob the money and I headed home. Now she sits in the garage awaiting her future.
