I think most of us can agree these are difficult times. Part of that difficulty is just how divided the world feels right now, and at this time of year especially. I’m sure you’ve seen the social media posts from the Toyotathonians and the Happy Honda Days adherents, and seen how petty and cruel and adversarial things have gotten. Well, I’m here to ask all of you, whatever you celebrate – Happy Honda Days, Toyotathon, Lexus December to Remember, Mercedes Winter Event, Chevy Red Tag Sales Event, Mitsuokamas – to take a moment and reflect on the deeper meaning of these holidays, and why we celebrate at all.
With that in mind, I’d especially like to implore you to help us all to return to the real meaning of Happy Honda Days.
It seems like today Happy Honda Days has become just some cynical reason to sell brand-new Hondas at amazing prices. And, sure, for many people this is a valid way to saleabrate, but I can’t help but think it misses the true meaning of Happy Honda Days, praising The Great Engineer Soichiro Honda and his bold works, using them as a guide to live a better, fuel-efficient life.
Now is not the time for crass negotiations on a new CR-V; now is the time to gather ’round family and talk about the incredible air-cooling system of the Honda 1300, how it was The Great Soichiro’s Dream and yet how, despite the novel air-cooling system (Duo Dyna Air Cooling, (DDAC) being an engineering marvel, was also not the path that the future of engine cooling would take.
This, of course, is known as the Parable of The Dead End, and is one of the hardest and most misunderstood lessons of Happy Honda Days, which is why it is so important to remember.
To a casual observer, an unbeliever, Happy Honda Days probably seems just like some way to get as many people as possible into Honda dealerships to buy cars, but of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, of course we want people to visit Honda dealers, to bask in Soichiro’s legacy, to feel the glow and warmth of the spirits of VTEC (just kicked in, yo), and to hopefully hear the inspiring tale of Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion (CVCC) and how The Great Soichiro made fools of the General of Motors during the 1973 No-Catalyst Smackdown.
There’s also the inspiring tales of the Honda Super Cub, the most produced motor vehicle ever, the machine designed to make anyone and everyone mobile.
I beg of you all, don’t be taken in by the crass commercialism of the season; try to remember why we saleabrate Happy Honda Days in the first place, and please do your part to spread the Good News of Soichiro and his healing engineering. And, I would also ask that you do your best to heal the rifts between the Happy Honda saleabrants and the Toyotathonians; after all, we all have the same goals in the end, a world of reliable and efficient motorized transportation.
In the name of the Cub, Civic, and Compound Vortex, I bid you all a wonderful holiday, free from crass commercialism and relentless salesmanship, just the pure joy of good engineering and Meeting the Nicest People.
All hail Soichiro.
I just got my Civic EG hatchback a few months ago. It’s been over 20 years since I owned a Honda. I forgot just how good the golden era Hondas are.
Even Mighty Car Mods are getting into the spirit of Hondamas with their film this year, “Kei to the (Honda) City Turbo 2”
(With bonus Motocompo and Beat)
Japan makes the best stuff because their engineers – engineer. They Complete the design- with the best performance – and the lowest cost. Mottainai !!! runs through every single thing they do. The CVCC -gm story – tells you a lot. The fact that gm learned ZERO – nothing – zippo from joint ventures with Honda, Toyota, Isuzu and partial ownership of Subaru. They had the code to the secret books. And they still make utter total rubbish. The entire GMC line of products (reskinned Chevrolets) are the lowest rated brand of 20 as tested by CR.
Although I hated my charcoal gray metallic Accord, I have to give much love to Honda-san for the Super Cub.
https://youtu.be/YbxJV9SEiks?si=YQBCMcDnwFTSNI38
Soichiro Honda has always been an inspiration – from the time he threw a geisha from a second floor window to the time when he went in a septic tank to retrieve a supplier’s false teeth, the guy was dedicated both to testing the rebound characteristics of different materials and people, and to his suppliers. Kudos.
I used to dismiss these holidays as a cynical marketing ploy.
Then one night I got visited by the ghosts of Kiichiro Toyoda, Soichiro Honda and Jujiro Matsuda.
Now my driveway is full of Japanese classics and I’m about to go bankrupt.
A wealth well spent! Happy Honda Days Óscar!