1965 Dream with questionable numbers

[Boscoe123]

My husband recently bought a 305 Dream from a friend of a niece. It seemed to be a reasonable deal for a bike to restore. All the parts are there, but it does not run and hasn't for some years according to the seller. As he was in the process of cleaning it up, taking it apart and so forth, he noticed the number plate on the engine block was hammered so that you cannot read the numbers. This made him think it was possibly stolen!!

The seller says this bike was bought new in 1965 by a family member and there is no way it was stolen. The title he received with the bike has a VIN number on it of CA77E###### (6 numerical digits). The number stamped on the frame is CA78####### (7 numerical digits).

The local DMV says the bike has never been reported stolen, or anyway, no bike with either of the numbers mentioned above has ever been reported stolen.

So the first question is does the CA77E number refer to the number that is (or possibly was) on the engine case? Also, was it common that a 305 would have numbers on the frame starting with CA78 while the engine number started with CA77 ?

The seller is willing to take the bike back and give a full refund so my husband is not going to lose money but he has been looking for a 305 to restore and would like to keep it if there is a reasonable explanation. Any thoughts out there?

[Eljeef]

Hi. The numbering with the C78 and C77 is normal. 6 digits on the engine and 7 digits on the frame seems to be normal also. My bike is like that. Why the numbers are hammered is highly disconcerting.

[mike1969]

The only thing you need to be concerned about is that the frame number matches your title.
The motor number is irrellevent. I owned a Dream that had no engine number.

From what I hear Harley Davidson is a different matter,the engine and transmission have title numbers.
JMO

[Hahnda]

I have had quite a few bikes where the title matched the engine number rather than the frame number. It is actually quite common to find bikes here in WI that way. That practice was common up until about the mid 70's. Never had any problems because of it.

[ahenthus]

My 1955 Harley 165 has no frame number. The old Harley lightweights were titled with their engine numbers. Not sure about the big Harleys of that vintage.

[OldStan]

I guess it all depends on where you are. California checks both numbers on bikes that have gone out of the system. Both numbers were listed on my registration.

[Michael Stoic]

OP: Enter your bike into the Honda305 Dream Registry and I'll let you know whether you have something consistent with a matching Frame/Motor numbers ...and a pretty accurate assessment of the actual Madel Year.

Honda Dream Registry: www.honda305.com/registry

--
Michael Stoic
honda305.com