When Honda showed the GL1000 Gold Wing to dealers in September of 1974, two of the prototypes featured fairings, but when production commenced the Gold Wing was naked. By 1976, the aftermarket had caught up with the popular new touring bike, and an assortment of fairings and saddlebags were offered, anticipating the manufacturer’s own accessories to come. Sulphur Yellow joined Candy Antares Red and Candy Blue Green on the Gold Wing’s color palette, and the price of this year’s basic model rose to $2,960.

Whispery quiet and vibration-free, the water-cooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine, which displaced 999cc, used a single overhead camshaft in each cylinder bank and used a toothed rubber-and-fabric timing belt. Bore and stroke were 72.0mm x 61.4mm, and the compression ratio was 9.2:1. Fueled by four 32mm Keihin carburetors, the flat four produced 80hp at 7,000 rpm and powered the bike through the quarter-mile in 13 seconds at more than 100 mph.

The five-speed transmission was mounted as low as possible to centralize the mass. Measuring 90.7 inches long, with a 60.6-inch wheelbase, Honda’s shaft-driven slugger weighed slightly less than 600 pounds. To observe the United States’ bicentennial, there was the 1976 Honda GL1000 LTD, which wore gold stripes and wheels, LTD badges, chrome trim around the radiator, and a quilted seat. The wheels—19-inch in front and 17-inch in rear—were also gold-colored, as were the spokes. Making the perfect complement to the era’s chest hair and Zodiac necklaces, the LTD was produced in an edition of 3,400 and carried a $3,295 price tag.