1973 Honda CL

CL350-4055299

Clear

Until February of this year, if I would have seen this ad on eBay, I would have thought the seller got these tanks and side-covers mixed up with their Easter eggs. That was until I read the Flying Dragon article by Robert Kelly in the Feb 2012 issue of The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club magazine . That's when I became fascinated with the Flying Dragon Tank and side-covers. What I learned was, back in 1973, the sales of Honda's CL350 and CL450 were in decline. The faster and more powerful 2 cycle bikes of the day were outselling Honda's old standbys. To combat the slow sales, some genius in Honda's marketing department came up with an idea to spike sales of the two scramblers, offer a tank and side-cover combination of psychedelic colors that would appeal to todays youth culture that was especially fitted, and for, the 1972 and 1973 CL350 and CL450. These later model scramblers sported a chrome fork ear and only needed the tank & sidecovers to make the transformation from a "normal" looking bike to sort of a Hippie tank. Not many of these "tie die" treasures survived the 70's, as not too many of them sold in the first place. I've heard that recently a NOS tank and covers were recently discovered at an old Honda dealer in Ohio. So I doubt if many dealers at the time ordered very many of these than their initial order.The public was less than enthusiastic about the tanks, as Honda found out later, the kids that might appreciate the mod color scheme didn't have any money! It goes without saying just how rare these tanks have become today and as the word gets out to collectors the more valuable they will become in the future.This bike I bought from a lady up North that owned the bike since 1980. She and her hubby used to ride together and at the time she wanted to ride a cool bike that would stand out in the crowd. So after she purchased the stock blue and white bike from the original owner in 1980 she found the tank and side covers at a local Honda Dealer's left over stock from 1973. Been sitting in the back for several years the dealer told her at the time, she thought it was cool and bought it, at a huge discount I am sure. They rode for a few years and then, as she explained to me, they just lost interest in riding, so the "Dragon" went into a storage shed with a cover over her. Fast forward 30 years and I see her ad on Craigslist as she finally came to grips with selling the Dragon and the memories that went with it. I bought the diamond in the rough. Mostly cause I think these bikes are something special and my son and I wanted to resurrect the Dragon to her former glory as we have for so many other Vintage Japanese bikes from the 60's and 70's. Note that the tank and side-covers are in mint like new condition. No dents, dings scrapes, scratches or fading on either. When we got the bike home we tore her down to the bare frame and professionally repainted all the frame and all black parts with genuine chassis paint, as these painted parts had accumulated rust over the years and needed a re-fresh. We cleaned the engine, adjusted the timing and valves, rebuilt the carburetor, installed and set new points battery and plugs, repainted engine covers as they were when new. We also installed a new drive chain, put period correct dunlop tires on the bike, and cleaned and shined the entire bike. The chrome is all original and although not show chrome anymore, it is in way to nice of condition to ever consider re-chroming her. Just check out the photos to see what I mean. The seat is in amazing original condition with soft leather and no rips or tears anywhere. The end result of our efforts is a pristine low mileage all original collectable relic from the 70's. Who knows when you might have another chance to buy one of these? And we did all the work for you, you don't have to do anything but take it the shows, get admiring looks and who knows, maybe win a trophy or two....Besides being one of the most unusual rare and collectable Vintage Japanese Motorcycles, it runs like a new bike, hums at a perfect 1,100 rpm idle and shifts through the gears just like it was designed to do 40 years ago.We say it is original and unrestored because we did so little to it and only used the bikes own original parts plus a lot of TLC to get her to look like she does today, sort of what she looked like 40 years ago today.You can see more detailed photos and a video of the bike starting and running on our photobucket site... http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/jwalte01/73%20CL350%20Flying%20Dragon/ link . On Sep-16-12 at 08:56:38 PDT, seller added the following information: Try this link to view the photos and video of the Dragon: http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/jwalte01/73%20CL350%20Flying%20Dragon/On Sep-18-12 at 17:50:58 PDT, seller added the following information: I just have to vent, I just got off what I was thinking might be my last ride on this bike. And I will simply say it was like I went back to 1973 and snatched up a new CL350 off the showroom floor and brought her back with me and rode it today. This bike is amazing and whoever wins this auction is going to be very very glad they did. I have owned hundreds of Vintage Japanese Motorcycles over the past 30 years and I am telling you now, this is the best running bike I have owned in that time period. So bid often and bid high cause I doubt you will ever find a nicer relic from the past than this one. If she doesn't reach the reserve it will not hurt my feelings at all that I get to keep her.