HONDA - Once an underdog, now an icon

I heard a story one time about the man named Honda who started the car manufacturing business that we now know. In brief, it went something like this. Mr. Honda had machinist experience and wanted to sell his piston rings to Toyota. They refused his piston rings numerous times. Mr. Honda built a motor for a bicycle. The idea caught on and before long he was building motorcycles and was becoming well known. Then war broke out and his factory was destroyed. Mr. Honda got his people together and gathered up useable materials to rebuild with. They gathered gasoline cans and other materials that were left behind in the war. Before long the business was back up and building motorcycles and then broadened out to build small cars. It is a remarkable story and I'm probably doing it no justice. To hear the story makes you think of a success story of an immigrant to America.

I have been a Ford guy all my life. I learned to drive in a '56 Ford F-250 Truck. I drove a '72 Ford Gran Torino in H.S. and I performed all of my firsts in my Gran Torino. I remember seeing the little Honda's buzzing around. I didn't care much for them. Of course my Father was and still is a very big Union Pro guy. So, to drive an import was quite scandalous in his eyes.

Later in life I got a job at an auto parts store and began to notice that people who came in for parts for their Honda were only replacing wiper blades and light bulbs. I ended up buying an old '87 Honda Civic hatchback. It was a 4 speed and I taught my wife how to drive the standard transmission in that car. We would get 40 - 44 mpg in that little car and it only once left us stranded. That was because I failed to have the timing belt replaced on time. I bought another Honda, this time a '92 Accord. I've had the car for over 12 years and it now has over 220k miles on it. I love the car and wouldn't give it up if you paid me.

Shweeeew!  Sorry. A little windy. What typeface is used for the logo / word-mark?

 

What the font had two versions of Clarendon in it's lineup of potential matches. I tried it out and it is pretty darned close. It wouldn't take much to make it right. Add the tab to the top of the "A" and probably squash the height of the letters and you've pretty much got it. The logo letters appear to be a little fatter too. I don't know if altering the letter height would change that too or not.