Red and white are two essential colors for Honda fans. From the single-spot simplicity of the company’s first F1 car to the Ferrari-challenging crimson color chosen for the debut of the mid-engine NSX in 1989, Honda Racing’s red and white livery is the brand’s identity. It is tied to So when Soichiro Honda chose a bright, cheerful red for the company’s prototype S360, you might be surprised to hear that he had a problem with it. Red cars were illegal in Japan.
According to Japan’s traffic laws in the early 1960s, red and white were reserved for emergency vehicles. Fire trucks and ambulances could be painted peppermint, but passenger cars could not. There were concerns that painting cars red would confuse people who were just starting to adopt cars. It will cause chaos and confusion on the streets. Dog and cat lie down together!
At that time, the Japanese government had tremendous influence and control over the nascent automobile industry. Along with Honda, dozens of Japanese car, truck, and motorcycle manufacturers emerged during the postwar reconstruction period. The Japanese government prioritized national unity over domestic competition and encouraged large companies to acquire small and medium-sized companies. Nissan acquired Prince and acquired the Skyline nameplate. Toyota swallowed up Hino and got the Hilux. Honda was a scrappy little company, but expectations were smooth sailing.
Soichiro Honda was not an extraordinary man. Honda’s company started as a manufacturer of mopeds using war surplus 50cc radio generator engines and quickly grew to become the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer in a decade, a title it has enjoyed ever since. Masu. Red was already associated with the brand thanks to its motor and mechanics, and Honda wanted its first passenger car in the same cherry shade.
He took up an entire column in one of the major newspapers. Asahi Shimbun, Complain about restrictions. Red is the basic color of the design, he claimed. How can it be prohibited by law?
At the same time, Honda, perhaps in a slightly more diplomatic manner, sent a top official to the Department of Transportation to get color approval. The pressure worked, the government backed down, and Honda released Japan’s first red car, the mass-produced S500.
The S500 is rarer than the Countach, but the later S600 and S800 sold well enough to be seen at Japanese classic car shows. The former was sold at Honda motorcycle dealers in Canada, and the latter at a small number of dealers in the United States. These are great little cars to drive, no matter what color they are, basically his four wheel motorcycle with chain drive and he 9500 rpm redline.
Japan’s first red car spawned a variety of red and white Hondas. Motorcycle enthusiasts even call Honda “Big Red.” Honda officially adopted Honda Red as its corporate color in 2001 and as part of its corporate colors in 1975.th To commemorate our anniversary, we have released a special Honda Red colored pencil as a novelty item.
If you drive a red Honda, be proud of it. Soichiro Honda fought hard for the right to his primary colors. In a way, red is his personal signature.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He grew up obsessed with British cars, came of age during the golden age of Japanese sport compact performance, and started writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection of humans and machines, whether it’s racing. The career of Walter Cronkite and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with Citroëns and his 2CV. He teaches his two young daughters how to shift his transmission manually and is grateful that they provided him with an excuse to buy Hot His Wheels permanently.