Restoration
Both the 380 and the 750 are far more popular restoration candidates and each of these models still commands a comparatively large following of faithful enthusiasts when compared to the 550. One drawback to the desirability of the 550, then and now, is its lack of a racing heritage. This is due, in large part, to the 550's unique engine displacement (actually 543cc) which prevented it from competing in the very important 500cc class. Equally, the 550 could not compete in the 750 class because it would not have been competitive against the 750s of the day. Most collectors/restorers are drawn to bikes with a claim to racing fame in one form or another. Consequently, there are relatively few nice original or restored examples of the 550 around today, some 30+ years after the last 550 rolled off the assembly line in Hamamatsu.
Read more about this topic: Suzuki GT550
Famous quotes containing the word restoration:
“Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“The 1990s, after the reign of terror of academic vandalism, will be a decade of restoration: restoration of meaning, value, beauty, pleasure, and emotion to art and restoration of art to its audience.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“The King [Charles II] after the Restoration accused the poet, Edmund Waller, of having made finer verses in praise of Oliver Cromwell than of himself; to which he agreed, saying, that Fiction was the soul of Poetry.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)