1976 Honda Gold Wing Limited

By Uncle Hans
After 38 years of faithful service, my old girl deserves what many other oldsters dream of........a retirement in south Texas!! She will go into storage on South Padre Island and come out to play when someone needs a ride on a sunny day while on vacation.

She is a very rare 1976 Honda Gold Wing Limited. The Gold Wing was introduced in 1975, but was so far ahead of it's time that no one knew what to use it for. Touring bike? Cruiser? Street racer? It took several years for Honda and the motorcycling public to decide that it was a touring bike. So the 1975 did not sell well. It is my opinion that they took 800 left over 1975s and dressed them up as 76 Limited, adding new unique paint, gold spooked rims (nobody has this), and a little chrome. They gave only one to some dealers. I have never seen another one on the road, they are all in collections.

But I rode mine, so it has some dents and scratches. Still stops a few knowledgeable bikers now and then. I entered it into a Gold Wing bike show in Green Bay about 1996 and won a third place, which was ridiculous. I complained to a woman judge and she said it was in nice condition, but they marked it down for not having original paint. She did not know what a Limited was! She had never seen one! I found someone in the crowd to explain to her what a Limited was, but she could not reverse and take the trophy away from someone who had won it an hour before. "Sorry", she said. Most bikers had never heard of a Limited.
Just one of those things it was fun to own and ride. So smooth and quiet, yet 1/4 mile times in the 12 second range. Lots of memories, it's been around Lake Superior 5 times. I am glad it cannot talk, or some of it's stories would have me still in jail!!

But, it's not good-bye, only see you in a few months................