In 1946, a Japanese mechanic named Soichiro Honda began bolting surplus Imperial Japanese Army radio generator engines onto bicycles in post-war rationing-era Japan — and the small company he founded two years later is now the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world

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In 1946, Soichiro Honda had absolutely nothing left except the idea that powering a bicycle with a leftover army engine was going to work. The destruction of his prior business had been comprehensive. Honda’s previous company, Tokai Seiki (Eastern Sea Precision Machine Company) — which he had founded in 1937 in his hometown of Hamamatsu [...] The post In 1946, a Japanese mechanic named Soichiro Honda began bolting surplus Imperial Japanese Army radio generator engines onto bicycles in post-war rationing-era Japan — and the small company he founded two years later is now the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world appeared first on Space Daily .