For Rick Alvarez, a 1985 Honda VF1000R Interceptor is a straight line back to the moment his era of motorcycling began. He’d grown up around his father’s Honda CBs—all earthtones, saddle seats and chrome—but everything changed when Mr. Chatterton, his art teacher at Webb Junior High, rolled into the lot on a new 1983 Interceptor.
With its angular fairings and vivid colors, it looked fast and alluring, like the subject of a Nagel painting.
The VF1000R was the beauty and excess of the 1980s made metal—a street-legal machine built to satisfy European racing rules, and the fastest production motorcycle in the world at its release. It carried a steep $5,700 price in 1985, so few were sold and fewer survived. Alvarez hunted his down in Los Angeles about a decade ago and keeps it nearly all-original. Possibly the last motorcycle on the streets of South Tampa, riding it makes him feel like the coolest kid to ever attend Webb Junior High.
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