I wonder why such low survival count for the GL's?
Seems that the situation for GL 650 is a little different. Not many sold but a higher percentage (3 times) still "alive".
I´ll dare a wild guess why so many GL 500 vanished from the crowd:
Used motorcycles in Germany lose their value rather quick. Top heavy as the GL:s are (no naked GL version in Germany) I suppose many of them were spilled and written off. Too expensive to repair. We see the same thing with modern "plastic rockets" and tourers today. Plastic costs....
I owned a couple of fully dressed GL 500s many years ago. Managed to do three spills (almost standstill) with them. None at all, so far, with any of my CX 500s, in spite of 4-5 times as many kms.
Maybe many unexperienced riders tried their "wings" on a GL. And dropped it.?????
I own a copy of this "CX bible" with lots of "nerdy" info about our bikes (German language only - sorry):
http://www.amazon.de/Motorräder-Geschichte-machten-Honda-Reihe/dp/3613014149
From that book I have these numbers for
July 1, 1990:
15855 CX 500 standard, 12321 CX 500 C, 3339 CX 500E, about 1200 bikes with 650 engines + 230 CX 500 T. Registered and roadworthy. Almost 33 000 altogether, 7 years since Honda stopped making them. Out of 44000 sold.