Ted,
I've owned it for over 40 years having bought it from my parents old neighbour in my teens.
He'd bought it new in 1955, ridden it daily then dumped it in the garage.
Took a few years to convince him to sell it rather than leave it rusting in peace in his damp garage.
Got it running after a bit of work but then got sidetracked by japanese bikes and the poor blighter hasn't had a lot of attention since the eighties!
Stripped it down again a while ago to assess what needs doing and almost started to restore it but then couldn't decide what route to take.
It's all original and complete with lots of original paint and patina (and quite a bit of wear / rust as well).
There are quite a few shiny examples around and I think maybe it's worth keeping it as original as possible rather than strip, replate, repaint etc. etc.
That's as far as I got before dropping back to playing with the old Honda CJ's but maybe will get on to this one again soon.
Cheers,
Andy