1968 Honda CD175a (Sloper)

 Open eBay affiliate auction listing

Price: 3,995.00 GBP

After 30 years of ownership I am considering selling my 1968 Honda CD175a (Sloper) motor cycle. The bike has a genuine mileage of 773 miles. When I bought the bike in September 1994, it was 26 years old, the mileage on the Speedo was 147 miles and it came with no paperwork or green log book. I was able to identify the name and address of the first owner by accessing the sales ledger of the ‘Kings of Oxford’ dealership in Stoke on Trent which had sold the bike new. I then wrote to the first owner, a Mr Dockerty, to try to track down the paperwork and received a reply from his brother. Mr Dockerty had sadly died in 1993. The brother confirmed that the mileage of 147 was genuine and that this was explained by the fact that not long after buying the bike from Kings on March 20th, 1968, Mr Dockerty had suffered health problems and was unable to ride the bike and the bike was put into storage in his barn. It was put on blocks and never ridden again. He subsequently died in 1993, the paperwork disappeared from his house and the bike was eventually obtained from his estate by a Mr Wardle. I bought the bike, dismantled, from a dealer. The condition was extremely poor with all the metal based paintwork and all the chrome work very rusty. The condition of the tyres and brakes confirmed that the bike had done very few miles. The original ‘Nitto’ tyres still had the rubber pips on the tread pattern and the brake shoes were unmarked. I have copies of all the paperwork relating to the bike’s ‘back story’ given above.

I totally restored the bike to it’s current condition in 1994 and it has had little use since then – only 626 miles under my ownership. I had all the metalwork either repainted (colour matched to the plastic components of the bike which were undamaged) or rechromed. All the alloy work was bead-blasted or polished. It has the original exhaust system fitted. It has the original seat fitted. The original Nitto tyres, fitted with new inner tubes, are fitted to the bike. The rechromed wheel rims were rebuilt using stainless steel spokes. The only non-original part on the bike is the rear axle. This was missing from the bike when I bought it and I bought a new part to replace it In the absence of the green log book, the DVLA were unable to issue a V5 for me to retain the original number. However, since I did have all the old tax discs and I was able to provide rubbings of the frame and engine numbers and I had a copy of the original sales ledger of the dealer who’d sold the bike, I was able to obtain the support of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club to register the bike with it’s original number with the DVLA and a V5 was issued in December 1994 which recognised the bike’s taxation class as ‘25 year exempt’ and acknowledged that the bike had been first registered before December 1994 and manufactured in 1968. A subsequent modern V5 issued in 2011 has the bike registered as an ‘Historic Vehicle’. The number plate is non-transferable. Since 1994, the bike has been kept in a secure, dry garage, occasionally used on the road but not used during the last 20 years except for starting the engine every now and then.

This bike must be unique in the country in that it has had such little use in the last 56 years and it appears as shown in the photographs. I do have the mirrors for the bike but have removed them for storage purposes. I have a copy of a 1967 genuine Honda Workshop Manual for the bike which will be sold with the bike.

Someone has the opportunity to acquire a ‘one-off’. I’m selling the Honda 175(a) for £3,995.

If you want any other information, please contact me.