Been resisting posting; I've allowed your remarks to get the better of me.........
Dad bought 4779 new; September 30, 1969. Later on, I remember me doing one oil change in particualr on that bike; dropping the cover into the drain pan because it was hot and slippery; unsuccessfully trying to pick the damn
round, hot, slippery thing out of the drain pan. I can still see the cover in the pan. The date was late September 1970, the place was the Union College parking lot, beside the Prescott Hall men's dorm. The men's dean was making me put my motorcycle into storage for the Winter, because i was a Freshman and Freshman men were not allowed to drive vehicles until they successfully passed their Freshman year. So i was getting ready to put my precious Honda 750 into storage, changing oil and giving it a very thorough cleaning after riding the bike all summer including the trip i made to California earlier in May (as well as gravel roads for trips home.) When i was preparing to change the oil, Ted Hansen had just parked his pea green panhead Harley and came over to watch me. When i dropped the cover in the drain pan, Ted had a small laugh at my expense. A few days earlier, i had just bought a Snap On impact driver (which i still have) I paid $32 for that driver. To give the bike a thorough cleaning, i had removed the exhaust and used the driver to remove the exhaust flanges, after i had changed the oil. I remember noting oil leakage at the head joint and burned oil around the flanges, which i wanted to clean before it got completely baked on the fins, especially since the bike was ging into storage. I remember a few days before this oil change, as i was getting ready (dragging my feet) to put the bike into storage, i discovered the flanges were held on by screws i could not remove with a common screw driver and telling the dean i needed a few more days before i could get my 750 into storage, because i was waiting on the special tool (the Snap On impact driver.) The odo on my 750, had just turned 18,000 miles. I remember telling Ted, when he was watching me change the oil, that i was putting my 750 into storage and asked him, when i was done working on the bike, if he could give me a ride to the garage that was about a mile away from the dorm. I remember Ted following me to the garage, waiting for me while i took the battery out of the bike and my heavy heart as i rode passenger behind Ted on his Harey. When i gave the men's dean the keys to my bike, i remember thinking to myself how happy i would be when i was an upper classmen like Ted. Some memories leave indelible impressions, the privilege of that "last" oil change is one first hand experience i remember well, which is mine and is what it is.
I remember when Ed Mathis brought his new red 1971 750 to college, June 1971. I had my 750 back, i successfully completed my Freshaman year. Ed and i compared features between his brand new bike and my "old" bike. We were both serious farm boy motor heads. Amongst a number of differences i remember between the two bikes, i distinctly remember wishing 4779 had a finned oil filter cover like Ed's bike. I also remember liking Ed's steel cased gauges, because i did not like "cheap plastic." I remeber not liking his plastic side cover badges, but liking the shape of his side covers. Ed and probably spent at least two to three hours on more than one occasion, comparing our bikes. I also remember 1st gear rolling "drags" with Ed, no matter i rode my bike and he his or we traded, on a number of occasions, my bike would always beat his by half to one bike length. Most probably because my bike had, by that time, had a little under 20,000 miles and his bike was still new.
Of course i don't remember every thing. Who does. But what i do remember from my experience, is nothing i've made up, embellished... or forgot. Or, will swear to or argue. I can tell you all sorts of features, details, on more than a few of the 70+ motorcycles i have owned/ridden/rebuilt/restored in my day. Certainly, some of the motorcycles and their features, i barely remember or cannot remember at all.
The Honda 750 Four is not one of those motorcycles.
For a farm boy, who's father was a mechanical engineer, successful salesman of his inventions, of which he built the first examples with his own two hands, i was taught (and expected) to pay attention to detail.
