1981 Honda-Motorcycle Touch Up Paint (2 OEM Colors)

The 1981 Honda-Motorcycle Vibe

1981 was a hell of a year to be on two wheels. Whether you were carving canyons on a CB750F Super Sport or swallowing state lines on the "new" Goldwing GL1100, Honda was the undisputed king of the boulevard. While the car world was busy drowning in beige and pea-soup green, Honda stayed focused on the classics. Our database shows the survivors of the era have distilled down to the only two choices that ever really mattered: Black and... Black. It's a midnight aesthetic that says you're either a weekend warrior or someone the local sheriff should probably keep an eye on.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Single Stage Era. Back in '81, we didn't have robots spraying three microns of paint to save a nickel. This is old-school, solvent-heavy stuff where the color and the shine live in the same layer. It's durable, sure, but it has a mortal enemy: Oxygen. If your vintage Honda has spent the last forty years sitting in a garage-or worse, a driveway-you're likely looking at Oxidation. That deep, mean black has probably turned into a chalky, grey haze. It's not "dead" paint, it's just sleeping under a layer of environmental filth.

Restoration Tip

Since this is single-stage paint, you can actually bring the dead back to life. You'll need a decent rubbing compound and a lot of elbow grease to cut through that chalky surface and find the pigment underneath. But remember the Golden Rule of 1981: It needs wax or it dies. Without a modern clear coat to protect it, that fresh finish is naked to the world. Once you buff it back to a mirror shine, seal it immediately with a high-quality carnuba or polymer wax, or you'll be back to "Chalkboard Grey" by next season.