Just something I thought I would mention: my recollection of the black-sided gas tanks was that the black panels were not clear-coated from Honda. They were a semi-gloss black, regardless of the candy color, so it was obvious (literally "out of the box") that those were done last, and then the decals applied around the black panels. Many people (mostly customers) remarked about it on the 500 when it came out. One even asked our salesman if "we did it" to the 500. The gloss difference between the candy and the black was pretty obvious back then.