RECORD-BREAKING CB750 FOUR!
A rare Honda CB750 Four was auctioned in March for a record-breaking £161,000! The machine was one of four ‘preproduction’ examples that were made by the factory in 1968 for display at shows and dealer conventions in advance of the sale of what would be the first modern mass-produced superbike. Bidding for the CB750 Four at the H&H Classics auction held at the National Motorcycle Museum was dramatic with the final shout by a British buyer in the hall for £140,000 beating the gavel by a fraction of a second. The buyer, a collector who said his name was Anthony Brown, will be restoring the bike to its original condition. Estimate for the machine had been between £35,000 and £40,000. The £161,000, which includes commission and taxes, is the world’s highest ever paid for a Honda road bike. After the prototype CB750 Four was displayed at the Tokyo Show in October 1968, four pre-production CB750 Fours were shipped from Japan to American Honda in Los Angeles for the Las Vegas dealer convention in January 1969. They were identified with the engine numbers CB750E-2110 to 2113. Two were sent on to Europe where they displayed at the Brighton Show in April 1969. One, engine number 2110, was later that year sold to Lord Denbigh who had a lower handlebar fitted. Before its sale by H&H, the gold-finished machine had been in a collection for 35 years during which a higher handlebar was reinstated. Having sustained cosmetic damage to the fuel tank and side panels it was being restored by the owner until he died. According to H&H, the other green-finished machine shown in the UK went to France and was never seen again. One of the other two pre-production machines that remained in the US, no. 2113, was restored in 2014 by specialist Vic World in California and sold on ebay for $148,100. The other US machine is reported to have been crushed about five years ago. Head of motorcycle sales at H&H Classics, Mark Bryan, said: “This is one of the most historically important bikes we’ve had the pleasure to offer for sale. And the bike was the most technologically advanced production bike in the world at launch, capable of 120mph and equipped with electric start and disc brakes.” Other highlights of the auction included a 50cc Honda Z50A monkey bike once owned by John Lennon of The Beatles, which sold for £56,250, while the first Honda CB250RS off the production line with engine and frame numbers ending in 2000001 and just 52 miles on the clock sold for £4500.