I have succumbed to my XS 650 accumulating demon again and bought this 1974 TX650A from a fellow who had planned to do a complete restoration of it. He is unable to proceed with it, so once I get a few other items out of the way, I will try to finish the journey that he started. The allure of this is that it was such a limited production run, 12,150 or so, that they are quite rare. Plus they have had most of the significant frame and engine improvements done the year before.
Only got the head pipes, missing the mufflers and the tank has some small dents, but lots of other new and NOS parts were included. Funny thing, the only cinnamon factory paint part that came with it is a headlight mounting ear, the other one is I think 76 blue. I am thinking that I should research and try to duplicate the factory variant Vegas Green colour. I don't dislike the root beer colour, but the green would pop. The provided gas tank is a different shape than the later Standards, I think that shape was shared with the 72 and 73, a bit more curved than the 75 onward. Anybody got any knowledge of this?
The engine has had the head and barrels dismounted and the base looks to have gotten a bit of storage dust in it, so it looks like a complete dismantle.
Seller told me that his po suffered a heart attack and died while changing the oil on it, so it has a bit of a story too.
I will catalogue and store the bits for a while until I get a couple Specials running well enough to sell. Gonna be a busy summer!