1966 Honda CA

CA77E4013274

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Great rider 1966 Honda CA77 305cc Dream Frame Number: 78 1036289 Engine Number: CA77E4013274 Soichiro Honda will go down in history as the man who truly changed the face of motorcycling forever. Honda founded his enterprise in 1947, using war-surplus Tohatsu generator motors clipped to bicycles. After his supply of engines dried up, he designed his own 50cc two-stroke clip-on motor, the first Honda Cub. Sales boomed, but Honda wanted more, and in 1954 he made the unheard-of plan of visiting Europe and learning as much as he could, directly from the best motorcycle factories in the world. He met with Triumph’s Edward Turner, who was impressed by Honda, but could not see beyond his own legendary ego that the man before him would, within 15 years, come to ruin his home industry! Honda visited the Isle of Man to see the TT races, and spoke with helpful emissaries at the NSU, Horex, and DAF factories. Realizing that fine production tolerances could only be achieved using European and American tooling, Honda was granted enormous government grants and bank loans to create two state-of-the-art factories, at Hamamatsu and Saitama. He had deeply studied the world’s best lightweight racing motorcycles – the all-conquering NSU Rennfox and Rennmax and taken them as his template for a new series of production motorcycles. The result was the C70 Dream model of 1956, whose engine profile would be instantly familiar to any motorcyclist awake in the 1960s; it had a single overhead-cam parallel twin-cylinder motor with all-aluminum construction, fine pitch finning, and a slight forward cant to the cylinders. The frame was light and strong, made from welded steel pressings. And there were two series, Touring and Sports. This touring example shows what could easily be a genuine 4,200 miles on the odometer, and has just been subject to a comprehensive service and overhaul. Starting with, well, the starter motor, attention was given to all systems, including brakes, charging, electrical, etc. The result? A great running pint-sized runabout with 5-gallon fun. For additional information and photos go to ClassicAvenue.com