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eBay Find of the Day: Why this motorcycle's a deal at $135k

There can be no doubt that Soichiro Honda left a lasting legacy by lending his engineering talents to the company that bears his name. This can be said particularly of motorcycles, and the company outdid itself when it introduced the 1969 CB750. Widely considered the world's first superbike, it combined a then-powerful 67-horsepower, 736cc, inline four-cylinder engine and cutting edge tech for motorcycles at the time like an electric start and front disc brake. It is simply one of the most important motorcycles ever made, and now one of four handmade prototypes is up for auction on eBay Motors.
According to the seller, Honda had an idea that it had something special with the CB750 and built four preproduction models to be shown off to American media in 1968. Each one was hand-built by Honda technicians from bespoke components, and this blue/green model was photographed by magazines and for promotional material at the time. The seller believes that one of the four prototypes was destroyed, one is in Europe and one is unknown, which means this may be the only chance for collectors to get their hands on one.
The bike has prompted quite a bidding war with 97 bids registered as of this writing. With about seven hours left to go in the auction, the top big currently sits at $135,300. At this rate, things could get very exciting at the end. Although to own a prototype for the first super bike, it might be worth it.

Honda safety campaign hunting for faulty Takata airbags in junkyards

Honda has been working for months to recall about 5.5 million vehicles to replace their faulty Takata airbag inflators. With many of these models dating back over a decade, some of them aren't on the road anymore; instead they're sitting in salvage yards across the country as a possible source for inexpensive, recycled parts. There's a serious risk for injuries and fatalities if these bad components end up in cars still on the road, and the automaker is on the hunt to track the dangerous parts down. According to Automotive News, Honda thinks there could be over 24,000 recalled Takata airbags in the company's vehicles in junkyards in the US. The automaker has been working with an outside business to find them and issued notices to salvage lots around the country about an offer to buy the parts back. So far, it has tracked down around 3,900 inflators. Bizarrely, Honda is facing pushback on this safety campaign from the Automotive Recyclers Association. "The buyback program appears to be offering recyclers a price for airbags materially lower than the fair parts value," organization CEO Michael Wilson said to Automotive News. Although, under federal law it's illegal to sell faulty components to people. The trade group also has a pending lawsuit against the automaker for alleged lost value in buying vehicles with Takata inflators. In addition to getting the word out to auto recyclers, Honda had a nationwide advertising campaign for people to get their cars fixed. However, the company and Takata are facing many lawsuits for injuries and deaths related to the faulty inflators.

Honda exec says US market near capacity, could hurt subprime buyers

Is there a point in the US auto industry where companies should start considering the welfare of their customers ahead of selling more cars? American Honda Executive Vice President of Sales John Mendel thinks that level exists, and we may be getting very close to it.
According to Automotive News, Mendel believes that finding more customers in the market could require pursuing subprime buyers and offering longer-term loans. However, he refuses to use those tactics. While selling models this way can improve things briefly, the strategies hurt resale prices and lower vehicle profits over time. The company won't do "stupid things in the short-term that damage the person who bought yesterday," he said to Automotive News. "It's a very, very short-term tactic especially in the subprime area."
American Honda, which combines the Acura and Honda brands, has seen market share decline from 9.7 percent to 9.1 percent through July 2014, according to Automotive News, and Autoblog's By the Numbers stats showed it posted falling sales in five of the seven months with data this year. Though, Mendel claims that was partially because the company focused on retail sales over fleets. The delays of the launches for the Honda Fit and Acura TLX likely didn't help either.