1962 Honda CA

C100-D023086

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The 1962 Honda Chrome Promotional you are looking at is probably the rarest of the rare collectible Honda Motorcycles. What is a "Chrome Promotional"? Honda came to America in 1959 to sell their innovative motorcycles. Some of you older viewers may remember their iconic catch phrase; "You meet the nicest people on a Honda!" What they offered was an inexpensive motorcycle that anyone could operate, and have fun on. It was an answer to the big, heavy, difficult to operate motorcycles offered by Harley Davidson, BMW, Triumph, and many others of the era.Honda's biggest seller was the venerable Honda C100, or as it was known at the time, the Honda Cub 50. In 1962 Honda was churning out thousands of these little bikes, and as an incentive to their many dealerships across America they offered a special "Chrome Promotional" version to be received after they sold X amount of motorcycles over a given year. They continued the program for five years, creating approximately 4000 to 5000 units that included the Honda Trail 55, and Trail 90. Unfortunately not a lot is known about these bikes statistically as Honda did not keep any records as such, so there is a lot of lore and misinformation about them. I am aware of only three, all Trail 55s, or C105's. Of those, One is in the world famous Honda museum in Motegi, Japan, the other in the Bob Logue Honda Museum in Williamsport, PA, and one other owned by a private party in California. I am not aware of any C100s, i.e. the Honda Cub 50s, the first model to be issued as a Chrome Promotional. I finished my restoration late in 2012, and entered it in the Del Mar Concour d' Elegance Celebration of the Motorcycle that year, and won 3rd place. My restoration of the bike was meticulous, and included a complete of rebuild of the engine. I believe the pictures of my Honda speak for themselves, and if you would like to visit my Youtube site you can see a video tour of it, and listen to it run. Just Google "1962 Honda Chrome Promotional" and it should come up in your search results. I have a good bit of provenance as well that goes with the bike, including the before and after shots that you see in my listing. Interestingly, when I started the restoration, I discovered behind the license plate a sticker on the rear fender that told me who the original dealer was, so I had it recreated as you can see on one of the close up pictures in the listing. As a matter of fact that dealer, one of the very first in America is still in business today, and I recently showed my C100 to his grandson who now runs the family business. He seemed to like it, and the bike drew many admirers throughout the day as it sat on his showroom floor. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I would also like to point out that, when I re-titled the bike here in California a couple of years ago, the year of the bike was inadvertently listed as a '61,not a '62, but it is a 1962, as the serial number of the bike proves $500 deposit via Paypal due within 24 hrs. after sale. Payment in full within within 36 hours. Cash or Certified Cashiers check only. Purchaser responsible for shipping Thank you!