It was on June 12, 1959, when American Honda opened their headquarters on Pico Blvd, in Los Angeles, less than two miles from Cruiser's current headquarters. Honda is thought of primarily as a Japanese motorcycle and automaker, but their roots in the USA are deep, as the first Japanese company to build bikes and cars here in the US, as well as export cars back to Japan. Although primarily an automaker today-motorcycle manufacturing was shifted back to Japan a few years ago-Honda will always be a passionate motorcycle manufacturer at their core. Here's a few moto-centric dates in Honda's American history provided by the company:
. 1959 Honda arrives in America and sells 1700 Super Cub, Benly and Dream motorcycles.
. 1962 Honda launches long-running "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" campaign, to remake the post Wild Ones motorcyclist image.
. 1963 Crosses 800 dealer threshold
. 1968 Sells one millionth motorcycle
. 1969 Starts selling cars in US. Honda motorcycles start to drop to the background.
. 1975 Establishes American R&D department, and releases GL1100 GoldWing long-distance touring bike.
. 1979 begins manufacturing motorcycles in Marysville, OH.
. 2007 Releases first motorcycle airbag system for GoldWing.