To celebrate the launch of the 2019 Super Cub American Honda Motors rented out the site of its original California headquarters and decked it out to look exactly like a production photo from 1959.

2019 marks 60 years that Honda has been in America and to celebrate that and the re-launch of literally the world’s most produced vehicle, the Honda Super Cub, Honda did something super special. According to @kokoro_honda who actually works for Honda on an Instagram post earlier today (Feb 6, 2019) he showed off a special launch event for the Super Cub, as mentioned, at the original AHM Pico building at 4077 Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, Calif.

Check out the awesome photo below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Ok HONDA fans, this is the event we have been anticipating for six decades. Here is today’s US press launch for the new Honda #supercub! Powersports division went to the original AHM HQ Pico building in downtown LA and decorated it to replicate the first storefront from 1959. And then taking it to the next level, they even trimmed a new #hondaridgeline in period-correct livery with a bike in the back to replicate the historic distribution photo. Thanks very much to @honda_powersports_us for the special photo and their permission to post it. Suffice to say, the original nifty, thrifty HONDA 50 (Supercub) revolutionized the MC marketplace with numerous innovations such as large wheels, leg guards, automatic clutch, available self starter and plastic body/fenders. This model is the world’s best selling motorized transportation product, moving more units than all the “bugs” and “T’s” together – times two! That’s over 100 million units for those counting. And now, it’s time has come again. 80s scootermania, get ready to honor the original icon, now, new and much improved. I can’t begin to articulate the significance of this model, both for Honda, and for kickstarting the popularity of smaller displacement bikes. So l’ll defer to our 1960s Hawthorne, CA neighbor, Brian, who once documented the following de facto transcription: “First gear, it’s all right. Second gear, lean right. Third gear, hang on tight. Faster? It’s all right! It’s not a mean motorcycle just a groovy little motorbike.”

A post shared by Charles (@kokoro_honda) on Feb 5, 2019 at 10:12pm PST

This particular storefront setup was meant to mimic a photo taken in 1959 complete with a truck and Honda Super Cubs in the back bed. Here’s that photo below.

As you can see, today, Honda actually has a truck of their own, which is, on its own, pretty amazing considering Honda is only six decades in America. Just like the original photo, Honda’s 2019 Ridgeline is decked out with decals meant to look like the GMC pickup above.

4077 Pico Blvd. is still used as a business today, home to Village Health Foundation, a non-profit that specializes in holistic healing, acupuncture, and homeopathic remedies. I’m sure American Honda has a special relationship with Village Health Foundation, making sure that everything is copacetic from time to time.

Here’s what the front normally looks like, not a far cry from its 1959 look. I imagine a couple of die-hard Honda fans stop by from time to time to annoy its current tenants.

In 1959, Honda’s first American store only sold motorcycles including the Dream, Benly, and of course, the Super Cub. The store only had eight employees and in their first three months of operation, American Honda only sold 170 motorcycles. Talk about humble beginnings.

Now, sixty years later, Honda has firmly established itself firmly in America with manufacturing facilities across the United States, dealerships in every state, and headquarters in California (among other locations.) How fitting, then, is it for American Honda to set up a modern recreation of the photo above.

Source: Kokoro_Honda