In 1972 and 1973, Honda made a quartet of far-out, psychedelic factory custom paint jobs for the CL350 and CL450 scramblers. Influenced both by the custom motorcycle scene and the tie-dyed fabric that was all the rage at the time, these “Flying Dragon” paint schemes could be bought from Honda dealerships and came in four color combinations: gold and purple, silver and purple, green and purple, and dark blue and light blue. The designers at Honda’s Paint Department of Special Projects were sure they had a hit on their hands with these hydro-dipped beauties, but they were wrong. The custom colorways proved wildly unpopular, and most of the sets languished on dealership shelves. Only a few were sold, and the project was canned in 1973. In recent years, the resulting rarity and uniqueness of these cool customs has seen demand for them skyrocket. The 1973 CB350 offered here underwent a thorough restoration in 2019. As part of that resto, the owner replaced the OEM bodywork with a new-old-stock set of Flying Dragon tins in light blue and dark blue, AKA “Thunder Stream.” The tiny, mighty CB350 is resplendent in its swirly new paint, and obvious care went into the restoration as shown by the crisp-looking engine, fine black details and the acres of polished brightwork. The one-of-a-kind paint job really makes this bike stand out among other, more traditional CB350 restorations. Honda produced the CB350 from 1968 to 1973. In that time, they were Honda’s bestselling bike, with more than 250,000 bikes sold in the U.S. during the model’s run. Production peaked in 1972 with just over 62,000 CB350s sold. They were quick, fun, reliable, versatile, and affordable—to say they were popular is an understatement. Throughout production, the CB350 and its variants—the CL350 scrambler and the hardcore off-roading SL350—were powered by Honda’s 325cc, air-cooled, single overhead cam parallel twin. Off the production line, the engine produced 36 HP at 10,500 RPM, which gave the bike a claimed top speed of 110 MPH. The transmission has five gears, and the engine’s 36 ponies get to the laced rear wheel via a chain final drive. Other features included electric start, a 2.6-gallon fuel tank and a disc front brake (early models had drums at both ends). NO RESERVE F142 1973 HONDA CB350 FLYING DRAGON
