1960 C77

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:52 am

Bill

The C72 is a 'domestic' bike sold in UK in 1960 - so no 'A' required.

I'm guessing here but this 1960 bikes must have been a bit of an experiment; send 'em some domestic bikes (with a bit of a makeover in the case of the US) and see what happens. The CE71 (intended for you guys) was a bit of a flop so I guess they were playing safe.

Honda were taking risks at this time I don't think that many people in US or Europe thought that anyone was going to buy Jap bikes. How wrong we all were. In the UK Hondas were sold by the Maico distributers for a while. I have the remains of a German-spec C72 which must have bypassed the import channels in 1962.

G

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:53 am

Buck

Nice to have such a low number bike. What kind of 'bars did it have? Sheet metal ones I would guess.

G

BCSANDERS · Post by **BCSANDERS** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:06 am

Graham,
When you sent me some pictures of your bike projects a couple of weeks ago I thought then this lad has a lot of work in the pipeline.
Now you have just added this major rebuild on to it, well it looks like a bike that should put back on the road due to it's history wish you all the best with it.
The wheels of my ca77 are off to be rechromed and rebuilt today this is the only job that I will not tackle myself.

Buck · Post by **Buck** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:58 am

G-man, The bike has the stamped bars,stainless steel exhaust and solo seat with seperate passenger seat with Honda spelled out in Japanese on seat rear. This should be the 6th wet sump c77 built. Buck

conbs · Post by **conbs** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:30 pm

Graham, I guess I should have said things differently. There is Honda documentation that shows frame numbers for 1960 with the "-60-" and different documentation that shows the frame numbers for 1960 with the "A". The latter was apparently for American exports and the former was for domestic and exports to everywhere else. Hence, your C72 was an export to GB and has the "-60-" in the frame number and your C77-A was originally exported to the US and after its stint here ended up in GB and ultimately in your hands.

It won't change the world much, but will change which parts manual you consult for the two bikes.

The bike Buck referred to does not appear to be an American export, so it has the stamped bars, etc. Yours still might be the oldest surviving CA77.

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:25 pm

Bill

Thanks for the clarification. I have never seen a parts book with the -60- type designation but I will keep a look out. I'm told that the 1960 C72 had many different part from the later bikes but my '72 is missing so many parts that it is unlikely whether it will ever be all original. I shall just have to keep looking . There are a couple of complete 1960 bikes in the UK which I must look at. One of them belongs to the UK VJMC Honda specialist so he should know.

Work commitments have put restoration efforts on hold for a few months but I will still be doing research and collecting parts.

G

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:27 pm

Buck

Would be great to see some pics of that C77. It will be a great reference bike of this forum. Are you in touch with the owner?

G

Honda305.com Forum

honda305.com Forum

1960 C77

1960 c72

Exports vs Domestic