Buy These Awesome Celebrity-Loved Hondas

You can own the great vintage Hondas favored by Elvis, McQueen, and more

Steve McQueen astride a Honda Super Hawk.American Honda

We're so used to seeing McQueen in jeans, a sweatshirt, and lineman boots while riding his Husqvarna in On Any Sunday that it's jarring to see him on a Honda with a funny little windscreen. This is a man who loved exotic metal, and yet this backlot photo captures him astride Honda's excellent, though decidedly mass-market, Super Hawk. These days, the CB77 can be found for $2,000 to $5,000, depending on condition. If you're shopping for a solid McQueen-style Triumph 650 from the '60s, be prepared to spend about $8,000 for an acceptable unit, and up to $20,000 for a nice one. His personal, fully documented 1971 Husky 400 Cross sold for $144,000 back in 2011, making a little Honda like the CB77 seem like a serious bargain.

McQueen wasn't alone in his affinity for cheap, excellent bikes. Paul Newman, an accomplished driver, also had a soft spot for Hondas. This photo catches him on location with a 305 Scrambler that's nearly as cool as his sombrero. It's a perfect machine for bashing through the desert between takes. These bikes tend to run a bit higher than their standard counterparts. A good one can fetch $6,500.

In 1963, Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret were co-starring in the film Viva Las Vegas when a photographer caught the two playing around on a couple of bikes. An established Harley-Davidson enthusiast, the King could have thrown his shaking leg over any bike he pleased—and here he is fooling around on a CA100 step-through. Today the scooter can be found for $1,000 to $3,000, depending on condition.

The Jackson 5 knew a good time when they saw one too, which is why we see the whole family gathered around a collection of two-wheel contraptions in the photo above. That's Michael Jackson front and center on a Honda Z50A "Monkey Bike". Even back then, he had good taste. John Lennon had a nearly identical bike that sold at auction for $80,000 this year. A pristine example without a pedigree will set you back a much more reasonable $3,000 or so. Michael would go on to spend a lifetime collecting luxury and exotic cars—a passion that may have been ignited by one perfect little Honda in the California sun.

There’s something earnest about seeing these titans of Hollywood on bikes that we not only know and love but can afford to stick in our own garages. It’s a connection to the personalities that dominated our popular culture for so long, and a hint that—should we ever see their ghosts strolling around Los Angeles at night—we’d have more to talk about than the characters they played and the roles we adored. We can talk about our Hondas.