2019 HONDA C125 SUPER CUB
FIRST REVIEW
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American Honda is founded
on September 11, 1959, its head-
quarters located at 4077 West
Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles.
Thirty-nine-year-old Kihachiro
Kawashima is assigned the posi-
tion of general manager, and he
personally sets the goal of selling
1000 units per month, with the
lineup comprising the Honda
Dream and Benly street bikes,
and a new machine set to revo-
lutionize personal transportation
around the globe.
One year prior, in 1958,
Honda releases the first Super
Cub C100 in Japan. Powered
by a 49cc, three-speed motor
producing 4.5 horsepower, the
Super Cub presents the key to
the American market, a key that
will open the motorcycling door
to an entirely new generation of
people.
Honda and his team know
they've hit on something big.
When Fujisawa sees the final
mockup of the first Super Cub
in Japan in 1957, he proudly
exclaims, "We can sell at least
30,000 of these!" Little did his
subordinates know the ambi-
tious Fujisawa means 30,000
units per month, not annually.
The first Super Cub goes
on sale in the U.S. in the Fall
of 1959 but it isn't initially a hit.
Numbers are slow, and by the
end of 1959 only 170 new Hon-
das, a mix of all three models,
have been sold to American
customers.
Honda's used the
smart key option
for the new Super
Cub—no more
ignition key.
Yet Kawashima, Fujisawa and
Honda are undeterred. They
embark on a ruthless advertising
strategy over the next five years,
aiming the $250 Cub at college
students who could buy with
their savings or simple-interest
loans. Ads in LIFE Magazine
and eventually the iconic You
Meet The Nicest People on a
Honda campaign put Honda
motorcycles at the forefront
of youth culture, and in 1964,
