New Member from So. Cal.

[Sirfun]

Hi, my name is Joe and I have my dads 70 Honda 750 that's been sitting in my garage for 25 years. I recently found out it's #6816 of the original Sand cast. It's funny I see all the people with sandcast Honda's have them box stock. I used to ride on the back of this bike when I was 15 in 1971 and hardly anybody would leave their bikes stock back then. I've left it exactly how it was from back when I was a kid. It has a Vetter full fairing. I'll attach some vintage photos and one of the old dude in his current condition.

 

[Alan F.]

That's a really nice survivor, I can imagine your surprise when you found out that its value is far more than sentimental... do you have plans to get it up and running again?

 

[Sirfun]

I was going through an old box of magazines and came across the owners manual & shop manual. For fun I looked up their value and was shocked. So that got my curiosity, I went online and was looked up engine numbers only to see the info about Sandcast's and the prices. WHOA, I thought the bike was maybe worth $2000. Now, for sure no more stacking stuff up against the Honda! I'll be 64 in June and have no plans to ever ride again. I've seen a couple bad accidents over the years. And I have 2 special needs kids, with the youngest, my daughter is 20. The one thing that gets my blood stirring, is watching Video's and hearing that awesome sound of the Honda 750's. This bike has Boss 4-2 exhaust and always sounded fantastic. Not sure what I'm going to do.

 

[Alan F.]

With that much history and documentation on this one bike I'd recommend speaking to someone at one of the major auction houses if you ever decided to let it go. You can always set a high reserve and see what happens.

Pick up a copy of Hemmings Motor News or more likely check their website for useful info to that end.

 

[Sirfun]

Thank you for taking the time to come up with a suggestion. I really am thinking I'd like to see this bike go to a great home. I'm more interesting in knowing it will be fixed up by someone that cares about it than getting the most money. I'll have to do a lot more research.

 

[Kynan C.]

Wow! What an amazing bike! You don't see those Phantoms 1700's very often. If you come across more images please share for the history we keep here on the forum. Maybe even start a thread in the Phantom section and post what ya have about the Series 1700!

Be sure you put the search term Phantom 1700 that way others can find it in a Google search.

COOOOOOOL!

 

[Alan F.]

Exactly! That's a rare bike with a rare fairing in unbelievable shape with a One of a kind history to make it extra special.

Research is key but in all reality even in these times, that could be worth somewhere from a downpayment on a house to complete a College Education. Serious collector bait that is!

A good home for a bike like that isn't and won't ever be the same as the good home I'm giving the 1978 CB750K that I hauled home last Friday night for $300.

You have one rare gem of an heirloom in your garage my friend.

 

[brianinpa]

Cool stuff! Welcome!

 

[Sirfun]

Thanks Guys,
Yeah at a value of $2000, I wouldn't even begin to let it go. But now seeing crazy numbers, means someone serious will buy it and fix him up. It is kinda silly to let it just sit there gathering dust & rust in my garage, when I could do something else with that money. One thing for sure, I'm not in a hurry, I'll look around like you said. I really wish I could sell it to someone that would get it running, and let me go for a short ride, just to enjoy the sound and feel of that machine one last time. If it makes more sense for me to get it running to sell it for more. I'll do that myself. My dad sold it to me was around 91. I have the note he wrote still, he sold Henry Honda to me for $1.

 

[Sirfun]

Wow! What an amazing bike! You don't see those Phantoms 1700's very often. If you come across more images please share for the history we keep here on the forum. Maybe even start a thread in the Phantom section and post what ya have about the Series 1700!

Be sure you put the search term Phantom 1700 that way others can find it in a Google search.

COOOOOOOL!

Thank You, now I know the name of that fairing. I looked on Craig Vetter's website and there were about 650 of them made. I saw info that said that he put serial numbers under the windshield tape, but I don't plan on removing that tape to see what number it is. The fiberglass inside of the fairing is very rough. I think somewhere I have a beautiful large format Black and White photo of it, from my mom's photography class. So should I edit the first post with the photos, so it says Vetter Phantom 1700 in the text, or is there some kind of hashtag thing I should do?

 

[Sirfun]

I finally found the vintage photos of my dad and the Phantom. probably around 1975. BTW, he didn't ride in sandals.