Sheldon Aubut is selling his Moto Guzzi, Riviera and Eagle

2002 Moto Guzzi Stone Metal Sidecar Rig Sold!		Sold!
1995 Buick Riviera - Supercharged 225 hp V6 Sold!		Sold!
1983 AMC Eagle SX4 Sport 5-Speed		No longer For Sale! Sorry!
All are located in Houlton Wisconsin USA You must arrange pick-up or shipping - No warranty implied as these are used vehicles and anything can happen. I've tried to describe the good as well as the bad to the best of my abilities. I will accept Cash, Certified Check drawn on a U.S. or Canadian Bank in U.S. dollars, or PayPal. Deposits can be made using your credit card or PayPal account at http/www.paypal.com if you so choose but payment must be made by Cash or Certified Check.

You probably are thinking, "Why is he selling off his beloved toys?" The answer is a bit traumatic for me. When I was a small child I had Polio, in 1953 at the age of 3, and had my last surgery when I was 18 years old. For a long time it was not believed that I would ever walk, but I fooled a bunch of people and with the help of some experimental surgery at Gillette State Hospital for Crippled Children in St. Paul Minnesota I not only walked but did many of the things that the Doctors told me I should never even try. I've had an incredible life having raced cars, motorcycles and snowmobiles, run racing teams, headed up a large portion of one of the biggest civic festivals in the U.S. and worked my way up in business till I was the Director of Transportation for a multi-billion dollar, multi-national publishing giant. I've been chased through the jungle by witch doctor's henchmen, I've acted on stage, in movies and television and I've had books published. Because of my disability I've always challenged myself and I feel that I've had about as full of a life as anyone could have. A handicapped person who served on a fire-department for some years, ran out of air in the basement of a burning building, fallen through the fire destroyed roof of another and survived many adventures. I've traveled extensively in all of North America and some in Central America, done white-water canoeing, and even did a 10 day "solo" in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, portaging and paddling almost 100 miles without seeing another human. And this is only touching the surface of all the things I've done in my life.

Handicapped? I'm afraid I've always looked on the rest of the world as the "handicapped" ones, as they've not had the push that being different gives to one to truly experience life. I've never regretted the Polio or any of the downturns in my life and now I have something called "Post Polio Syndrome" or "Post Polio Sequelae" and the nerves that control my muscles, especially in my arms, legs and lungs appear to be dying. I believe it started about ten years ago but it was 1991 before I was diagnosed. If you'd like to learn more about Post Polio please click on the link to the right.

http://www.post-polio.org/educa.html

Once of the biggest joys of my life has been my love of vehicles and motorsports. Having had Polio I could never really compete at "stick and ball" sports but put an engine on just about anything and put it in my hands and watch for my grin. I've had well over 50 cars and 50 motorcycles and ridden motorcycles for 42 years. About the time the first symptoms of Post Polio started to pop up I realized that I was having trouble holding up a two-wheeled motorcycle any time I had to stand with my feet on the ground. I also didn't realize but I was getting less physical exercise because of the pain and started to gain weight and as I hadn't realized anything was going on, so I was still eating as if I were a very active person. In 1998 I finally bought my first sidecar rig and loved it. Since then I've slowly withdrawn from the solo motorcycle world and been riding mostly sidecar rigs.

Recently my Post Polio has advanced to the point that even riding the rig 30 miles brings on excruciating pain in my arms and legs. There is not much one can do, although losing weight should help some and I'm now losing about 2 pounds a week, but that can only provide a very small amount of relief. One of the problems with Post Polio is that the more exercise you get the faster the deterioration progresses and the folk getting Post Polio are often the ones who have led the most active lives. I quit drinking many, many years ago and have never been much of a drug user. I've always had some pain but about the strongest thing I ever took was 4 aspirins maybe twice monthly for when the pain got bad. Now I'm on some very powerful narcotic drugs and even they have little effect on the pain. So with no relief in my future and being stuck in a kind of "Catch 22" of; if I take the drugs I can't drive or ride at all, but if I don't the pain of riding is so bad that it is incredible torture to ride, I finally had to make the decision that has been coming for some time. After 42 years of riding motorcycles it has come to an end. But... not being one to say that is the end of all things I have a plan...

For several years, as I knew this has been coming, I've been looking at two-seat sports cars and other options for fun vehicles. When we moved from Esko Minnesota to Houlton Wisconsin four years ago I cleaned out most of my other toys, and even shipped my incredibly rare Corvette Wagon to Son the Elder (Aaron) in Phoenix. I bought the Eagles with the thought that they might work as kind of a bridge, but it turns out that the pain also makes it almost impossible for me to continue to work on cars or bikes. So even the Eagle has to go and I've finally found a car that I can comfortably drive, truly enjoy and at a reasonable price. In the last few years I burned up all of my savings, and even my retirement funds until Uncle Sam finally decided that I qualified for Social Security Disability so they could return some of the money I've paid in Social Security taxes for all those years. I'm still able to do a little bit of computer and Internet consulting when the pain meds aren't kicked in, so I have a very small income from that, but by selling my Moto Guzzi sidecar rig, the Riviera, the Eagle and even selling some of my old magazines and collectables on e-Bay I'm hoping I can scrape together the money to buy a 2000-2003 Mercedes Benz SLK 230 Sport Kompressor which is the 2.3 litre supercharged 4 cylinder that gets 30mpg, not exceptionally fast but fun to throw around and they can be had for $15,000-$22,000

The doctor bills are piling up but if money weren't tight I'd really prefer the 2002-2003 Mercedes Benz SLK32 AMG convertible hardtop roadster. This is a two seat sports car with an automatic transmission and a massively supercharged and intercooled V-6 pushing out 349hp. Blazingly fast, the things run 0-60 in 4.8 seconds and the quarter mile in 13.0 seconds at above 110mph. Mighty supercars, and cheap! New these were $55,000 vehicles but used low-mileage ones with 20,000-50,000 miles can occasionally be snagged for $23,000-$28,000. That is the price of a moderately-priced family sedan and this for a extraordinarily fast retractable hardtop roadster.

Once I've raised the money I'm going to be patient so I can find the perfect one. Perfect for me would be black or red with the black leather interior and either red or cream seat inserts and door panels. The carbon fiber trim would be a plus, but any trim would do. There are literally hundreds of them for sale at any given time but the majority of them are silver as that is the German racing color and silver has been an exceptionally popular car color for the last ten years or so. Personally I'm not fond of it so I'll hang in there till I find the perfect one for me.

Gads, listen to me... "Poor crippled boy selling his toys to buy an old used car". Sounds like the perfect scam for the Internet. A new urban legend???? <grin> Heck, if you can't buy my vehicles maybe a nice cash donation would help???? <chuckle>

I was married and divorced young, have two truly great sons and lived, and loved, the single life for many years, but I've now been married for 4 years to the most wonderful woman to whom I could ever have imagined hitching my wagon. She's great, and I'm hoping that with this car her and I will be able to do some traveling (she can always drive) and road rallies. She usually encourages my lunacy and really has become an anchor in my life. I do so still want to enjoy life and I believe this will be my toy through the next segment of it. Trouble is that with my income as it is I cannot afford to finance and I really want to pay cash, which means some overdue changes in my toy box, therefore the toys for sale.

August 21, 2006 Update:
After 42 years, and just shy of a million miles of riding, I no longer own a motorcycle. A gentleman from Chicago came and picked up my beloved Moto Guzzi rig a couple of weeks ago.

The day he came to get it was tough, but it really hit me the next day when I was driving Patti's 2006 Buick Rendezvous SUV into town. We live just off a scenic road and there were hundreds of bikes just in that short distance, and there I was driving an SUV. I actually broke down in tears, BUT... All is not lost, as the next Monday I picked up my replacement and as I can't ride a bike I can still drive a car a bit. My limit in a car is about 120 miles, so I decided I had to have something fun and needed to roll the money from the Guzzi into it fast, before it could be spent on flooring or other things that can suck a "fun fund" dry in a moment. We now have a 2000 Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 Sport. It is an awesome ride, with the AMG "sport" package, a retractable hardtop, only two seats and enough luxury to live up to the Benz name. As long as I'm able to drive we will be out tearing up the roads. I've had an incredible life and just because I have to slow down a bit doesn't mean that I have to roll up in a ball, so let the fun begin...

We've decided to keep the Eagle SX/4 Sport as my winter driver, and I've now listed the Riviera on e-Bay.

Because of my situation it is doubtful that you will see me at any more motorcycle rallies unless they are quite close but I'll continue to attend the SKUNK (SideKars Up Nort' Klub) rallies in Cameron WI as long as I can. See you on the road. -- Sheldon

Sheldon Aubut
38 Peterson Street
Houlton WI, USA 54082
(715) 549-6131
E-Mail: sheldon@sheldonaubut.com