Up for Auction: 1970 Honda CB750 Police Bike

Honda’s CB750P Police Special: A lesser-known chapter in the story of the SOHC CB750…

When we think of police motorcycles in the United States, Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki tend to loom largest in the imagination: big Harleys on parade duty, KZ1000Ps on highway patrol, and a thousand TV memories of motor officers in boots, helmets, and mirrored sunglasses. However, there was a time when Honda’s “Original Superbike” also wore a badge.

Shortly after the launch of the CB750 Four, Honda developed a police version of its landmark SOHC inline-four: the CB750P / Police Special. It was a rare and purposeful variant of the motorcycle that had just rewritten the rules of the production bike world — a 736cc four-cylinder machine equipped not just for speed and refinement, but for official duty.

The Superbike with a Shield…

The Honda CB750 Four was introduced at the end of the 1960s and quickly became one of the most important motorcycles ever built. It was not the first four-cylinder motorcycle, nor the first fast road bike, nor the first machine with a disc brake. Its genius was that it brought so many once-exotic features together in a reliable, affordable, mass-produced motorcycle: a transverse inline-four, electric start, five-speed gearbox, front hydraulic disc brake, four carburetors, four chrome mufflers, and the smoothness and dependability that would become Honda signatures — all for an affordable price. In 1969, that was nothing short of revolutionary.

The CB750 made many of its contemporaries look suddenly old. British twins still had romance and character, Harley-Davidsons still owned their world of American authority, and BMWs still carried the touring-police image in parts of Europe. But Honda’s new four-cylinder machine was fast, refined, and modern in a way that changed expectations almost overnight. So it’s not surprising that the CB750’s talents were soon considered in a law-enforcement context. A police motorcycle needed speed, stability, reliability, electrical capacity, and day-long usability. The CB750 had all of those qualities in abundance.

A Police Bike Helped Inspire the CB750

 

There’s a pleasing symmetry here: a police motorcycle was part of the CB750’s origin story from the very beginning. According to Honda’s own history, Soichiro Honda was in Switzerland when he saw a policeman arrive on a white Triumph 750. Honda was struck by the sight. The motorcycle seemed small beneath the officer, despite being a large-capacity machine, and the moment helped convince him that Honda needed to stop thinking only in terms of Japanese domestic-market displacement norms. If Honda wanted to compete seriously in foreign markets, it needed a bigger motorcycle.

American Honda had already been urging the development of a larger machine for export markets, and the company understood that riders abroad wanted torque, presence, comfort, and long-distance performance. The CB750 Four was Honda’s answer: not merely a bigger bike, but a machine that would establish a new benchmark for production motorcycles. Before long, Honda would give that big four its own police uniform.

The CB750P Police Special

The CB750P / Police Special was Honda’s law-enforcement version of the original superbike. Rather than turning the bike into a bulky full-dress machine, Honda kept the underlying CB750 largely recognizable. That was part of its charm. The Police Special still had the same essential mechanical character as the civilian CB750: the 736cc SOHC inline-four, five-speed gearbox, chain final drive, front disc brake, rear drum brake, electric and kick starting, and that unmistakable four-pipe silhouette.

The changes were functional. Depending on market and specification, CB750P equipment could include a solo saddle, rear brief or radio box, auxiliary warning lights, front and rear crash bars, police switchgear, and a mechanical siren system. Some examples used a cable-driven friction siren activated by a second lever beneath the clutch lever. Pull the lever, and a friction drum pressed against the rear tire, driving the siren mechanically. It was a wonderfully analog solution from the pre-LED, pre-electronic-siren era — and exactly the sort of detail that makes early police motorcycles so fascinating today.

The CB750P also had its own visual language. Instead of the candy colors and chrome flash of the civilian CB750, the Police Special wore a more official identity: white paintwork, black striping or lettering, warning lamps, a solo seat, and a rear box in place of the standard passenger arrangement. It was still unmistakably a CB750, but the personality was different.

Honda’s Rare Police Four

In the United States, the CB750P remained extremely rare. Auction sources have reported that fewer than 25 U.S.-spec CB750 Police Specials may have been brought over for testing by the LAPD, with U.S.-market examples identified by a U.S. DOT VIN tag on the steering neck. The CB750P reportedly followed Honda’s earlier attempt to enter the American law-enforcement market with CB450-based police motorcycles.

The big four, however, never became a common U.S. police-fleet machine. Harley-Davidson remained deeply entrenched, and Kawasaki would later make its own major push into the police market with the KZ-series machines, culminating in the long-running KZ1000P. That makes the CB750P a fascinating “what if?” in American motorcycle history.

The civilian CB750 became one of the most successful and influential motorcycles of all time. The police version, by contrast, became a rarity — a machine that showed Honda was thinking seriously about official-duty use, even if it never displaced the dominant police-bike players in the U.S. market. It may not have rewritten the police-bike market the way the civilian CB750 rewrote the showroom, but it remains one of the most compelling offshoots of the SOHC 750 story.

The Bike You See Here

That brings us to the machine now heading to auction. There is an important distinction to make at the outset: Neither H&H Auctions nor the seller claims that this machine is a documented ex-service police motorcycle. Rather, it’s an early 1970 Honda CB750 presented in period police-style specification. In other words, this is best understood as a police-style or believed police-specification CB750, rather than a proven former patrol bike.

Even with that caveat, it opens the door to one of the most interesting and lesser-known side stories in CB750 history: the moment Honda’s first superbike was considered not only as a performance machine, but as a working police motorcycle.

The bike is finished in white and fitted with the visual cues that make these machines so distinctive: auxiliary lighting, crash protection, and a rear-mounted radio-style box. It carries registration SVR 463H and frame number CB7501027248. It is MOT exempt and displays 45,045 kilometres, or approximately 28,000 miles. The engine number is listed as CB750E-1027840.

As a 1970 model, it belongs to the early generation of SOHC CB750s — the machines that established Honda’s reputation in the big-bike class and helped define the modern superbike. The mechanical ingredients remain deeply appealing: air-cooled inline-four, four carburetors, four-into-four exhaust, wire wheels, broad saddle, upright riding position, front disc brake, and both electric and kick starting. Add the police-style equipment, and the bike becomes something much more unusual than a standard early CB750.

Restored, Stored, and Ready for Recommissioning

In 2015, this example received around £3,000 of work from restoration specialists in 2015 by JMC Classics & Restorations of Bassingbourn, who put the bike into good running order. It is currently fitted with Boyer electronic ignition, though the original ignition components are supplied with the sale. It also comes with a current V5C and a selection of invoices.

Since that work, the Honda has reportedly been stored in a dehumidified environment. H&H notes that it will now require light recommissioning before road use. That is sensible wording for a classic that has been cared for but not necessarily exercised regularly. 

The Auction

This 1970 Honda CB750 Police Bike will cross the H&H Classics auction block at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull on July 22, 2026. The estimate is £7,000–£9,000. In today’s market, that seems like an approachable figure for an early example in such rare trim. It’s not a concours sandcast unicorn or a documented ex-service police machine, and the estimate reflects that. But as a visually arresting, historically interesting early CB750 with police-style equipment, V5C, invoices, restoration history, and strong display presence, it has obvious appeal.

For the right collector, this would be a fine showpiece. For the right rider, once recommissioned, it could be even better: a white-gloved reminder that Honda’s original superbike was not merely fast and advanced, but practical, useful, and quietly authoritative.

Auction Details

Model: 1970 Honda CB750 Police Bike
Manufacturer: Honda
Registration: SVR 463H
Frame No: CB7501027248
Engine No: CB750E-1027840
Mileage: 45,045 km / approximately 28,000 miles
MOT: Exempt
Specification: Period police-style / believed police specification
Equipment: Auxiliary lighting, crash protection, rear-mounted radio-style box
Ignition: Boyer electronic ignition fitted; original components supplied
Recent History: Circa £3,000 spent with restoration specialists in 2015
Storage: Kept in a dehumidified environment
Documents: Current V5C and invoices
Auction House: H&H Classics
Sale: National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull
Auction Date: July 22, 2026
Estimate: £7,000–£9,000

Auction Listing

H&H Classics: 1970 Honda CB750 Police Bike
Auction Photos: H&H Classics

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