American Honda celebrated its 60th anniversary this month with the help of a Chevrolet pickup.
Shortly after bringing its motorcycles to Southern California in 1959, Honda began using a fleet of Chevy Apache 10 pickups to deliver the bikes to its first dealers to sell on consignment. To mark the anniversary, the company found and restored a 1961 Chevy half-ton pickup, replicating the paint scheme that was on the trucks driven by Honda's salesmen.
"These trucks helped American Honda quickly establish a U.S. market foothold," Honda said last week. "By 1965, Honda was the best-selling motorcycle brand in America with market share of almost 72 percent."
Honda is displaying the restored Chevy at its Torrance, Calif., headquarters, loaded with two vintage motorcycles — a Honda 50 and CB160 that it says run perfectly.
The company plans to take the display to the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show in Las Vegas in November and eventually to the American Honda Collection Hall in Torrance in front of a replica of Honda's original Los Angeles office.
