November 24, 2003 - Soichiro Honda was born in 1906 in central Japan and was the eldest of nine children.  His father repaired bicycles and Soichiro could often be found wondering the shop, fascinated by anything mechanical.  Honda’s passion began at the age of eight when he saw his first Model T Ford and after finishing school he became an apprentice in a garage in Tokyo.

Honda’s passion soon moved from the garage to the road and he began to build and race cars.  Unfortunately his racing career was cut short when he crashed while competing in the 1936 All Japan Speed Rally.  Honda reached a top speed of 75mph that day, a Japanese record that would not be broken for 20 years.  After his accident Honda founded his own company, supplying the military with piston rings.  He continued his business for the next several years before selling to Toyota towards the later part of World War II.

After World War II transportation in Japan was desperately overcrowded and gasoline was severely restricted.  Honda’s visionary thinking and entrepreneurial spirit drove him to look for a solution to the ever-increasing problem his country faced.  He discovered several hundred two-stroke motors designed to power electrical generators and was able to purchase them for almost nothing as they were viewed as having little worth.  Honda adapted the motors to bicycle frames and by October 1946 had a small factory in Hamamatsu manufacturing makeshift motorbikes. 

Because gasoline was severely restricted, Honda adapted the motors to run on gas thinned with turpentine, which he distilled from pine trees.  The fuel mixture was not a very effective and required the motorbikes to be pedaled for a long distance before the motor would generate enough heat to fire on its own.  Even so, the motorbikes were so popular that Honda ran out of the motors he had purchased after just a few short months.

The overwhelming success of his motorbikes inspired Honda to manufacture his own motor using the surplus motor as a model.  In November 1947 the 50cc, ½ horsepower, A-Type Honda engine was being manufactured and sold as a complete motorbike.  In 1948 Soichiro Honda founded the Honda Motor Company at the age of 41.  Soon after he enlisted the financial support of Takeo Fujisawa and together they built a dynasty.

In 1948 the new Honda Motor Company introduced its first engine, a 90cc version of the A-Type engine.  By 1949 the Honda Motor Company developed the D-Type engine with Soichiro overseeing every step of the two-stroke engines design and manufacturing.  This would be the Honda Motor Company’s first motorcycle named by Honda himself as “The Dream”, an appropriate name as it had been his dream to build a complete motorcycle.

By 1951 Honda produced a 146cc four-stroke E-Type Dream.  The new engine produced 5 ½ hp and reached speeds of 50mph.  The new motorcycle and an all steel frame and suspension in both front and rear.  By October of that year Honda was producing 130 units per day.

1952 saw a dramatic leap in the Honda Motor Company’s size and sales.  This dramatic increase was based on a new F-Type ½ horsepower, 50cc two-stroke engine.  The engine was sold stand-alone to mount on a pushbike or it was included as part of an “Auto Bai”, a red and white “scooter” to accommodate the masses.  In less than a year the Auto Bai was in production at the rate of 6,500 units per month, 70% of Japan’s two-wheel market.

1953 Honda produced the 90cc, four-stroke single, a motorcycle with even greater sophistication. This was known as the Benly, in Japanese this means "convenience". The J-Type Benly had a three-speed gearbox, produced 3.8bhp, a pressed steel Frame, rear suspension with the engine and swinging arm on a sprung pivot, and telescopic front suspension. Before long they were selling at a rate of 1000 units a month.

1957 Honda introduced their first twin-cylinder motorcycle, the sophisticated 250cc OHC four-stroke C70 Dream. It was the forerunner of Honda's high-performance 125 and 250cc twins.

1958 Honda fitted an electric starter to the 250cc Dream and named it the C71 and, in 1959, the latest Benly an incredibly sophisticated 125cc OHC four-stroke twin, capable of 70mph was introduced as the C92.

1958 Honda introduced in Japan what became the world's most successful motorcycle, the C100 Super Cub.

The Super Cub was developed over three years to be a cheap and practical motorcycle that literally anyone could use. It used a 50cc four-stroke OHV motor and centrifugal clutch with three-speed transmission. It was so easy to operate that even new riders could ride it as easily as a pushbike. Its innovative frame without a crossbar made it popular with the ladies and set a new trend in commuter motorcycling.

1959 saw the first Honda motorcycle sold in the U.S., eventually becoming the world's best-selling vehicle.

1961 two years after Honda started selling Super Cubs, Honda stunned the racing world with "Mike the Bike" Hailwood's twin victories at the Isle of Man. It was the first of an unprecedented string of victories that was only the beginning of Honda's racing tradition.

1965 Honda, always eager for a new market, jumped into the big leagues with their first big, fast production motorcycle, the innovative 43bhp CB450 twin. This was a double overhead-camshaft machine with torsion bar valve springs that would do a genuine 104mph, a machine to challenge the 500cc-plus bikes.

1967 Honda had their first big off-road win in the "first" Baja 1000.

1968 Honda stopped production of the CB72 and CB77 and produced a new line of high performance SOHC twins with five-speed gearboxes, called the CB250 and CB350, with the CB350 able to hit 106mph.

At the Tokyo Show of 1968 Honda, after months of tantalizing rumor, unveiled a landmark achievement that would change the motorcycling world forever. A 750cc bike with four cylinders and a disc brake that was so fast and powerful a new word, "superbike", was coined to describe it. The CB750F four was the biggest bike out of Japan, proving that a high-performance motorcycle could also be very reliable.

1969 Honda set the motorcycle world on fire with the introduction of the CB750. Performance was staggering, easily hitting 120mph and at the time it had better acceleration than anything else on the road.

In 1969 the first Honda automobile sold in the U.S., leading Honda to become a preeminent automotive power.

The CT70 was Honda's biggest seller for a single year, with nearly 100,000 CT70s sold in 1970 alone.

Around the mid '70s Honda produced a two-stroke moped known as the Amigo. It was cheaper to manufacture than the four-stroke bikes and started a whole new generation of lightweight Honda two-stroke mopeds.

In February 1970 Honda jumped into the three-wheel off-road market with the introduction of the ATC90, Honda once again reached out to new consumers by inventing a whole new category, the ATV or "All-Terrain Vehicle".

After years of winning in Europe, Honda's CB750-based Race bike won there first big event in the U.S., serving Notice that Honda was going to be a dominant force on tracks all across America.
 

In the 1970s 250 and 350CC motorcycles were constantly being modified to keep pace with the other manufacturers and fashions. Both were given disc brakes and the 350s were eventually upgraded to 360cc.
 
Late in 1970 Honda introduced a "semi-serious", four-stroke trail bike, the SL125 four-stroke single in Japan, and followed with the more serious SL250 in 1972. The SL250 had long travel suspension, lots of ground clearance and performed well both on and off road.
 
1975 Honda again dared to think big, creating the first long-distance touring machine, the GL1000 Gold Wing, a sophisticated, water-cooled, flat four. In the process, Honda didn't just create a new motorcycle; they created a whole new touring culture. Here was a touring bike that set the standards of comfort and sophistication. It had a shaft-drive, disc brakes and to keep the weight low a 4.8-gallon gas tank under the seat.
 
1977 Honda announced the completely new and re-styled CR250 and CR400 twins with three-valve per cylinder heads to replace the aging 250 and 400 twins.
 
1979 brings in the first full-scale Japanese motor-vehicle production facility on U.S. soil.
 
1982 Conquering yet another sophisticated technological challenge, Honda introduced the industry's first production turbocharged motorcycle.

1983 Perhaps the biggest single leap in the sportbike industry, the Interceptor instantly elevated the level of both technology and performance available in a production motorcycle.

Honda's first "traditional" V-twin custom motorcycle, the Shadow combined modern features like liquid cooling and shaft drive with a classic look and style, and helped build the modern custom market for Honda.  Unlike other customs, this one was built for performance, reigning as the most awesome production motorcycle of its day. Together with the Interceptor, the Magna showed the explosion of technology from Honda.
 
1984 Honda Research of America was established in September 1984. This think tank was created specifically to develop new products for the American market and to keep Honda on the cutting edge.

1986 Honda led the way by creating the first Japanese luxury car.

1989 Soichiro Honda was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame (USA) in October 1989. The "Old Man," as he's affectionately known, received worldwide recognition for his enormous accomplishments and contributions.

1996 By combining a hot-rod Gold Wing engine in a custom chassis, Honda again defied conventional limitations, and the Valkyrie clearly established itself as the ultimate power cruiser.

1997 Using a surprisingly stock GL1500 motorcycle engine, Kenny Lyon broke a land-speed class record. He hit 232.4 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats aboard his 33-inch-high, 24-foot-long bullet-shaped bike.

2002 Honda introduced the VTX 1800, the biggest and baddest V-Twin motorcycle on the planet

Honda’s first 50 years have been nothing short of remarkable.  There is one thing of which you can be certain: Honda will continue to stand for what has made the company special and successful.