Honda In the early 1960's the tide began to turn in Britain and Japanese imports began to make their mark. Within a decade they had all but taken over and the British bike became the minority. Soichiro Honda, born in 1906 dreamed of creating practical, affordable motorcycles. His first endeavour the model C was launched in 1949 as a 96cc 2-stroke motorcycle, but it was in 1954 that the J1 was launched with a 90cc 4-stroke engine. The hall mark of Honda for years to come was small capacity 4-stroke engines. His early models were called Dreams and Benly when translated means "convenient". While styling was important it was only part of the equation, as reliability and functionality were also paramount. At the Honda factory a sign stated, "We are dedicated to supplying products of the highest efficiency at reasonable prices for worldwide customer satisfaction." Soichiro Honda's legacy was to propel the Honda Motor Company and the Japanese motorcycle industry to worldwide success. Honda's reliability and manufacturing quality soon saw the Japanese motorcycles become the icons of motorcycle history. Use of lightweight materials, revolutionary manufacturing processes and advanced design made the Honda name renown not only in the motorcycle arena, but as manufacturers of cars and portable power generators. From the mid 1960's came a new range of large capacity machines with refinement that spelt doom for the European manufacturers. While the opposition tolerated oil leaks, vibrations and mechanical failures, Honda produced bikes that had luxuries such as 12v electrics, indicators, over-head-camshafts, die-cast alloy engine parts, combined engine & gearbox units and pressed steel frames. The rest is history, as they say. Soichiro Honda, an excellent self-taught engineer with high dreams, at his death in 1991, had turned the manufacturing world around and left a heritage that stands with others such as Triumph and Vincent.

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1954 Benly J1  90cc	1959 CA95 Benly 150cc	1960 CE71 Dream 250cc	1960 C76 Dream 300cc
1961 C110 50cc	1962 CLl72 250cc	1963 C92 125cc	1965 C200 90cc
1964 CB92 Super Sport 125cc	1965 C102  50cc	1965 SS90 90cc	1965 CA160 160cc
1965 CB160 160cc	1965 CA77 Dream 305cc	1965 CB77 Super Hawk 305cc	1966 CB450 Black Bomber 450cc
1967 S65 Sports 50cc	1967 CD175 175cc	1971 CB350 350cc	1972 CD175 175cc
1972 CB350 357cc	1973 CB350T 350cc	1973 CB750K3 750cc	1974 CB250T 250cc
1975 SS50 50cc	1976 CB500T 500cc	1977 CB400F 400cc	1977 CB500K2 500cc
1978 CB750A Hondamatic 750cc	1978 CBX1000z 1047cc	1979 CX500A 500cc	1980 CX500C 500cc
1982 CBX550F 550cc	1984 CB900FD 900cc	1986 CX500E 500cc