HONDA 50

Honda 50
1964, so what did I know about motorcycles?
Nada!
6 years old and eagerly excited to get on one of these never-seen-before kind of machines.
All I knew was that it looked terribly exciting and I could not wait for Dad to put me onto it.
It was purely economic transportation for him, in the absence of his car which was undergoing a complete engine rebuild at that time.
Of course this fact I found out several years after the fact.
So my only impressions were that of me as a young kiddo, for the first time in my life, experiencing the wind in my face and through my hair whilst aboard this scooter, being taken to school.
I know for a fact that I was already keenly aware of how envious my friends at school would be, seeing me “astride” a motorcycle arriving at school.
The Honda 50 was and is a very successful machine.
So successful that it is still being produced today.
It is the world’s most produced machine to date … I daresay due to its simplicity of design, resulting in an extremely reliable machine.
It was first produced in Japan during the post-world war 2 era as a means of inexpensive transportation for the masses, allowing the country to begin collectively rebuilding not only the obliterated economy but also getting life back together - a perfect example of the description: “movement of people, goods and services”
Growing up in a former British Colony, I have some very specific memories of the era when Honda had begun to make a global presence with this wildly popular gem of a machine.
Growing up in a former British Colony, I have some very specific memories of that era.
The video I share with you via the following link is very reminiscent of that era … the Honda 50 being a very big part of that … and yes, we were still driving on the left hand side of the road!
So permit me to share a tribute to this legendary machine with you.
It embodies a lot of my affinity for this machine and says it all for me.

(copy and paste this link into your web browser search window to access)

https://youtu.be/IoGkIjMfgoY?list=RDIoGkIjMfgoY

…. to Mr. Richie Kavanagh, thanks for the memories