Hello everyone! I have 3 questions/info I hope some of you can help answer for me. Recently I won a 1950 version 773 on ebay. Was going to cheap to pass up. When I received it I found out why it was going cheap. It had been repainted, super job as the painter didn't just paint over old paint chips and such. Nice and even, the only reason I figured it out was he kept the original numbers on the cab by putting a small piece of tape over them and I could just make out the paint edges. So first question.. what is the value of a repainted 773 these days?
Second question.. the additional valve guide on the front steam chest which tells you it's a 1950 model has a 1/16th inch hole horizontally not quite in the middle of the guide. I've looked at other pictures of 773s and can't tell if they have this hole or not. Has anyone else come across these small holes and what were they for if anything?
Third question.. and this is the big one. The seller I bought it from was inexperienced in shipping manners of our present day USPS and shipped it Standard Economy ship instead of Expedited Priority with insurance so guess what happened... it came with a hole in the side of the box and the original cowcatcher broken. The seller already stated he'd pay for a replacement so my question is does anyone know of or have an original cowcatcher for sale? I know there are reproductions for sale for 24.95 on ebay but I would like an original.
Thanks for reading this and for any replies on my questions! -Tim in SD
