Achieving a milestone more than 65 years in the making, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced production of its 300-millionth motorcycle. The milestone bike is a Honda Gold Wing produced at the company’s Kumamoto Factory in Japan. Honda will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the iconic Gold Wing in 2015.Two of those 300 million are in my garage.
Honda began mass production of motorcycles in Japan in 1949 when it built the Honda 98cc Dream Type-D. Today, Honda produces motorcycles, ATV’s and side-by-sides at 32 plants in 22 countries, including two plants in North America.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Honda ships 300 Millionth motorcycle
Wow:
Thank you, Honda.
ReplyDeleteI worked my way through four years of engineering classes spinning wrenches on a LOT of different bikes, but mostly Hondas.
And, had it not been for Honda cracking the American market, there probably would not have been enough Yamaha, Kawasaki, Benelli, Moto Guzzi, Bridgestone, Suzuki, BMW, BSA, Triumph or Norton motorcycles to work on that allowed me to pay tuition.
Nor would there have been a well-used, decrepit, clapped-out, damn near unbreakable, Honda Civic that (barely) dragged my tired, aching ass from place to place for years while struggling through grad school.
Not to mention the ST1100 that's been in my garage as my Personal Therapy Machine, for over the last decade (yes, there were BMWs before it, but the ST has lasted longer).
And, a special thanks to Soichiro for climbing out of the ashes and creating the empire. I owe you one, buddy.
What is the 300,000,000th bike? That should go into the Honda Museum or something.
ReplyDeleteHondas are pretty easy to work-on, except the damn XR400 carburetor.
ReplyDeleteThe timing chain tensioners on the xr bikes were a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and a ticking time bomb to boot. I replaced mine with a tensioner bolt that I had to lash from time to time.
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