Since Monday was Presidents’ Day here in the States, we thought it’d be a good time to find out which captains of Japanese industry you admire most. From Mitsubishi founder and real life samurai Yataro Iwasaki to current Toyota head and sports car champion Akio Toyoda, history is littered with men without whom the cars we know and love would exist. Therefore we ask:
Who’s the baddest president of a Japanese car company?
Our pick goes to Soichiro Honda, who started his motorcycle company in 1955 and within four years tossed them into the world’s most grueling two-wheeler race, the Isle of Man TT. Two years after that, he won it. However lest you think that was a fluke, Honda also won a Formula 1 race only two years of producing his company’s first real car. Add to that the fact that Honda-san built his first race car at age 16 out of a discarded aircraft engine and has been photographed wearing a muthaeffin’ jetpack, we can think of no one badder.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What year was the peak of Japanese car design?” Continue reading →
