In 1946 Soichiro Honda began strapping surplus WW2 generators to bicycles to create the first Honda motorcycles. In a new series of videos issued by Honda Japan, excerpts of the Honda origin story come to life in videos narrated in English and Japanese.
The stills appear to be sourced from the Shogakukan manga series 「本田宗一郎本伝 飛行機よりも速いクルマを作りたかった男」(loosely translated as Soichiro Honda: The Man who Wanted to Build a Car Faster than an Airplane).
Thus far two of the six-part series has been released, though not in order. Vol 01 tells the story of how Honda Motor Corp. came to be.
Vol 05 tells the tale of how Honda won its first F1 race. Future episodes will detail the development of the Dream motorcycle, Honda’s Isle of Man TT campaign, and the company’s entrance to the US market.
OK Honda, but don´t forget the 80´in car and bikes, don´t fool around the history. talk about the NR 500 and the NSR history too. Is hard recognize when you fails but that make you great.
im sure that will covered in a future installment daniel
Hey Donnie, the history with the anouncement of the NR500 from Sōichirō Honda, the development of the bike from Soichiro Irimajiri, it´s a lot important in the history, the line from the F1 car and the bikes they come later….Jesus, many chapters of the manga can be write.
Reminds me of Project X – Datsun Fairlady Z. Also manga, but probably one of the more accurate stories of the development of the Z. Matsuo-san was kind enough to sign his manga picture in my book at ZCON last year.
Wonder if there is anybody in Honda’s upper executive, who is like Soichiro ?
Good question!
Since Honda went through all the trouble…..
I just want to see this manga published in English. 🙂
… or I could try to learn Japanese as some friends might suggest.