Honda’s founder – Soichiro Honda – would have been 102 years old on 17th November 2008. Born in 1906, the son of a blacksmith and a weaver, Soichiro was fascinated by machines and what made them work. One of his earliest memories was being enthralled by the first motor car he had ever seen. With a passion for engineering in his blood, Soichiro was soon working as an apprentice at a garage, working as a car mechanic before starting his own auto repair business in 1928.Racing was an early passion. Soichiro built his first racing car with parts including a V8 aircraft engine, but he left racing in 1936 after a serious accident. After selling his first company, on 24th September 1948 Honda Motor Co was formed. The first Honda motorcycle – the A Type – was an early success, proving to Soichiro that motorcycles could be the answer to cheap transportation. Early machines were refined until the development of the legendary 1958 Super Cub.
A passion for racing was still in our founder’s blood and soon the Isle of Man TT races would provide the pedestal to advertise the quality of Honda’s motorcycles. In 1961, just two years after Honda’s debut on the Island, Mike Hailwood won the Ultra-Lightweight and Lightweight TTs. Other dreams have since been chased and realised: Formula 1 wins, a Formula 2 championship and countless motorcycle titles.
Since then, Honda has diversified into road cars, All-Terrain Vehicles, engines, generators, outboard motors, personal watercraft, water pumps, scooters, snowblowers, robots and now jet aircraft. Soichiro Honda died on August 5th 1991, but dreams never die. From the HondaJet down to the humblest lawnmower, all our products have been infused by the DNA of the dreams of our founder, Soichiro Honda.
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