As an eight year old thug my arch rival on the estate had a PURPLE RALEIGH CHOPPER and a hot sister that loved the Bay City Rollers. But I knew my day was gonna come when I could trade the 3 speed Puch for the Raleigh Grifter at Christmas. Turned out to be as likely as my sister getting a Pony. Never did get that Grifter- the first BMX/mountain bike- and how much does a 1975 Purple Chopper go for now?
Anyone else still lusting after something from way back, no not his sister!

LOL I grew up in Montana when I got my first 10 speed, an Azuki, the shop had a racing fuji tubular tires and all in crisp white at 400 dollars or so it was wildly out of my budget (paid $160 for the azuki) and impractical.

I still have a fantasy of going back home and finding it NOS at a garage sale or similar

It's worth more than your Garlatti.

Got a big scar in my chin from dropping the front wheel of a chopper into a pothole many many moons ago .
Still remember vividly ,walking up the road holding the flap of skin shut on my chin while blood poured down my arm ( 40 plus years ago ! )
I remember lusting after annodised bmx parts back then .
Lost the lust when I moved on to road bikes

Ahh those were the days !

In case you did not know, the answer is, approximately $3k.

~1980 I had a Mongoose with steel wheels, coaster brake, some sort of cast-iron/steel quill stem and if I saw a PK Ripper or an SE Quadangle I would turn green with envy. That PK seemed hyper-exotic since it was made of aluminum and the Quad was from another planet. I don’t want either now since a 50+ y/o guy riding a BMX bike looks absurd but back then, a Quad and holding hands with flaxen-locked Stacie H was the stuff of dreams.

FWIW - last I heard, an SE Quad frameset was around $4k. No idea what it would take to hold hands with Stacie H…

…a brief scan of the interwebz informed me that the original Quads were Reynolds 531. Pat myself on the back for my discerning taste even in my youth. 🙄

similar to OP's objects of "desire" from the other side of the iron curtain (Hungary)... many kids didn't have bikes, hose who had any we already cool... those with these were supercool, and those with "Western"-foreign bikes were politicians' kids.
The manufacturer CSEPEL was bought by Schwinn, but these days they operate again independently as a Hungarian firm if I'm not mistaken.

unbelievable 12k (UK money) for a gold one

If anyone in Ontario is looking for Raleigh Choppers, there's four Mk3s for sale and also lightly used condition in Toronto at Uncle Jacob's. No holy grail Mk2s or Mk1s unfortunately.