Honda bike was the setting for mental love
 | John Marin |
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In the very early '60s, it became my good fortune to be the individual at SI responsible for the then-just-beginning-to-come-to-the-U.S.A. Japanese companies.
I probably was the initial media representative to regularly call on those then little-known firms. It later became my privilege to host Mr. Honda here a number of times at Bel Air for golf, and on one occasion our family was asked if we would provide a 'typical American family dinner' for him, which we did at our home.
At that time, I had a Honda Scrambler motorcycle. When Mr. Honda visited our home, we went out to my garage in our blue suits. He asked me if I had ever looked up at the bottom my motorcycle engine.
So in my best blue suit, I got down on my back to look. To my astonishment, the fins had been buffed. I asked him, "Why do you polish the cooling fins?"
He said, "We want our owners to go out to their garages at night to make mental love to our machines."
You can reach Charles Child at cchild@crain.com.
