Were the black XJ 550 Secas rare in the States?

Were the black Secas rare? I never see anyone post pictures of them and parts for this model are almost non existent on eBay. All I see are the white and red models.

 

I believe they were European models. They had 2 front disks and an oil cooler. Europe didn't get the Maxim model.

 

The 1983 models (North America) were black, and they were probably the lowest production of the 3 years. Black XJ550 models (not called "Seca",just "XJ550", although they are the same as our Seca models) in the rest-of-the-world were fairly common.

 

@dkavanagh and the sweet 18” rear swirly wheel

 

Wow, I always thought the red 550R's were 82/83 where the 83 dropped the front cowling.

 

You could have the 1983 Seca models in any color you wanted, as long as they were black........

 

Drumming up my old post. I went out into the shed today and saw that it has a manufacturer date of 82. Does that make it an odd duck 82 or an 83? I attached a pic of the bike

 

81 was white with chrome front fender
82 was red
83 was black

date of mfg can be earlier than the model year

 

Just like automobiles, the 1983 model-year bikes would have shown up in dealer showrooms starting in about the Fall of 1982. Generally, anything with a manufacture or build date or 08/1982-onwards, shown on the VIN decal on the steering headpipe of the frame (perhaps even July) will be a 1983 model year bike.

 

FWIW US Black and Euro Black also had different decals. The stripes on the US models were like the ones we had on RD250/RD350LC's. It does beg a question - Why?