Tag Archives: honda

A Quiet Greatness is a gorgeous, must-have book about Japanese cars

As much as Japanese cars have permeated automotive culture, they’ve been lacking in one important aspect: the coffee table book. Walk into any bookstore (if you can still find them in your town), and you’ll see gorgeous volumes on Italian, … Continue reading

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Toyota Camry vs Mazda 626 in 1983: History keeps on repeating

Motorweek was just two years old in 1983 when it decided to do a four-way test of five-door family hatchbacks. It’s not a format that stuck around — we’re talking about both the show’s comparo and the body style — … Continue reading

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The Honda Legend is Han Solo’s preferred transport on this remote backwater planet

The Millennium Falcon might be a fast ship, but when Han Solo visits a primitive Outer Rim world that has yet to develop repulsor technology the galactic smuggler needs to blend in with the locals. That’s why he chooses the … Continue reading

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The Honda Del Sol proves how important succession can be

The Honda del Sol is yet another car that was universally maligned by enthusiasts in its time, but is now endearing and legit. What octane-blooded driver today wouldn’t sacrifice a finger or two to have a car like the del … Continue reading

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Honda Motocompo and Cub EZ90 revived by Chinese EV bike company

At the 2023 Tokyo Motorcycle Show this week a Chinese company showed off two new products that pay tribute to Honda designs. Manufactured by Felo, their styling appears to be modernized takes on the Honda Motocompo and Cub EZ90. They’re … Continue reading

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Please help find this stolen Honda Beat

Friend of JNC and past contributor Darren Brooke unfortunately had his Honda Beat stolen on March 3. It’s bright yellow, has a Washington license plate of BWG3102, and is quite unique in that it has a hardtop. It was taken … Continue reading

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The ten most expensive Japanese cars sold on Bring a Trailer

Auction site Bring a Trailer is celebrating its 100,000 listing, and it’s a special one. The milestone car is the company’s own 1973 Datsun 240Z. Maintained by Z Car Garage of San Jose, California and fitted with a Rebello 2.7-liter … Continue reading

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Honda co-founder Takeo Fujisawa to be inducted into Automotive Hall of Fame

Soichiro Honda may have been the genius engineer behind Honda Motor Company, but brains alone can’t sell products. For that, Honda-san relied on his friend and business partner Takeo Fujisawa (from left to right: Kiyoshi Kawashima, Soihciro Honda, Takeo Fujisawa), … Continue reading

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Abandoned Japanese cars of the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone

The Fukushima plant meltdown following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011 was one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. Today, there’s an area of about 143 square miles that’s still part of the nuclear exclusion zone deemed unsafe … Continue reading

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Honda debuts electric bike versions of iconic Cub, Dax and Ruckus

We’ve spilled much digital ink here at JNC singing the praises of Honda bikes. Now three of the most popular designs from the company’s two-wheeled history have been transformed into electric bicycles for a new generation of riders in the … Continue reading

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Retro motorcycles keep winning the Japan Bike of the Year award

The Honda Dax 125 has won Japan’s Bike of the Year for 2022. The mini-bike, which is short for Dachshund, was released back in March and inspired by the original Honda Dax from 1969. Notably, years before the Motocompo, it … Continue reading

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This McLaren-Honda MP4/4 model costs $1,100 and has insane detail

One of the greatest Formula 1 machines ever made, the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, is the latest car to get the 1/8-scale subscription model treatment. Not only does it have full engine and suspension detail, bodywork on the model can be changed … Continue reading

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This Honda Civic EF wearing Advan Oni 2 wheels was our SEMA favorite

We’re still compiling the hundreds of photos from SEMA into a digestible gallery (and intermittently washing our eyes out with bleach), but we wanted to give credit where credit was due. Our favorite car at the 2022 SEMA Show was … Continue reading

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Casio’s Honda watches are a tribute to historic machines

We don’t really know a lot about watches here at JNC, but our recent article about an Initial D and MF Ghost Casio took us down a bit of a rabbit hole. Turns out Casio is an official partner of … Continue reading

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Jay Leno drives a couple of Z cars from opposite ends of the spectrum

Jay Leno doesn’t have a ton of Japanese cars on his show, but the last two were both Zs. And they couldn’t be more different. One is a 1970 Honda Z600, a 2-cylinder front-wheel-drive compact making about 36 horsepower; the … Continue reading

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Hot Wheels has a tsunami of Japanese cars coming

Our friends at Hot Wheels recently shared with us some previews of upcoming cars. For fans of Japanese diecast, there will be no shortage offerings infiltrating every series the company makes. Here’s a couple dozen peeks at what’s coming down … Continue reading

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50 YEAR CLUB: How Honda’s CVCC beat its rivals and made the Civic a household name

Fifty years ago today, at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo, Honda revealed the CVCC engine to the world. The engine was still over a year off from mass production in a road car, but Honda was eager to get … Continue reading

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Tadashi Kume, former president of Honda, 1932-2022

It was announced today that Tadashi Kume, the third president of Honda Motor Co., had passed away. The engineer turned businessman died on September 11, 2022 at age 90. The influential leader guided the company from 1983 to 1990, a … Continue reading

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Nissan Skyline tops Japanese survey about dream cars

Monday, September 19, was Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. To mark the occasion Kinto, a car sharing service, held a survey to ask drivers of three generations about their motoring habits, including what their dream cars were when … Continue reading

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Collect the 100 most significant Japanese cars in 1/64 scale

By now JNC readers are probably familiar with large-scale subscription model kits. Iconic cars like the Nissan Skyline GT-R or Toyota AE86 are common subject matter, with a few pieces mailed to you each week over a period of about … Continue reading

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