2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640

Specifications

Engine

Type : V12
Displacement cu in (cc) : 396 (6496)
Power bhp (kW) at RPM : 640(471) / 8000
Torque lb-ft (Nm) at RPM : 487(660) / 6000
Redline at RPM : 8500

Brakes & Tires
Brakes F/R : ABS, vented disc/vented disc
Tires F-R : 245/35 ZR18 - 335/30 ZR18
Driveline : All Wheel Drive

Exterior Dimensions & Weight
Length × Width × Height in : n.a.
Weight lb (kg) : 3670 (1665)

Performance
Acceleration 0-60 mph s :3.3
Top Speed mph (km/h) : 211 (340)
Fuel Economy EPA city/highway mpg (l/100 km) : n.a.

Base Price : 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 - £190,000 (last update: 3/27/2007)

Biography of Ferruccio Lamborghini

Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in 1916, his parents were farmers but Ferruccio soon decided he wanted to do something related to mechanics. Lamborghini started working on his father’s tractor out of interest and was able to attend a technical school in Bologna.

During the second World War he was enrolled into the Italian Air Force, working for the transport sections, after 1944 he became a prisoner of the British military forces who put him to work in their motoring department.After the war he returned to his hometown and started converting old war surplus material into much needed tractors for the local people. Lamborghini began his tractor business in a small garage but he got really successful and had to move into larger premises soon thereafter.

During this time he also started tuning Fiat cars, he built a Fiat Topolino for himself and competed with it in the 1948 Mille Miglia, unfortunately the car was wrecked in an accident. By 1949 he was able to start building tractors from scratch, without using any leftovers, his own Lamborghini Trattrice factory was founded and the production soon took off. Soon after the venture Lamborghini tractors became known as the best in Italy and Ferruccio started organizing tractor-pulls in his hometown just to show the superiority of his machines.

The tractor business made him a very wealthy man, and he started a second factory to build air-conditioning and central heating equipment. This enterprise made Ferruccio even richer and soon he was one of the wealthiest men in Italy, his love for fast cars became known and Ferruccio owned several exotic cars back then, a Mercedes SL300, a Jaguar and a Ferrari among other cars. But his Ferrari ran into problems with the clutch and Ferruccio went to visit Enzo Ferrari to complain about it, but Enzo refused to meet with him but that didn't stop Lamborghini. He noticed that the clutch fitted to his Ferrari wasn't any different from the ones he mounted in his tractors so he drove the Ferrari to Cento and fitted a Borg & Beck clutch of his own in the car, the problem never returned after that.

Ferruccio Lamborghini decided it was time to start a new business and the Grand Turismo cars seemed like a good idea, so he built a completely new factory at Sant'Agata and started building probably the best GT cars of that time. The company went fine and did prosper for quite some time.But things weren't always that simple and during the early Seventies he decided to sell most of his companies related to Lamborghini and retire at his estate near Perugia, further South in Italy were he began making wines known as 'The blood of the Miura'.

His son Tonino went to Japan and started a few shops over there selling designer clothing under the Lamborghini name, while Ferruccio married his second wife Maria Theresa, together they had a daughter.

This large estate La Fiorita near the Lake Trasimone now held a state of the art winemaking facility producing over 800,000 bottles of wine each year. This estate also housed small private museum of Lamborghini cars Ferruccio owned, and the vineyard and golf terrain were open for visitors by appointment only, in his car museum you would find Ferruccio's favorite Lamborghini, the Miura. There were rumors that Ferruccio was involved in Paolo Stanzani's attempt to take over the Bugatti Automobile Spa factory but this was never officially confirmed. There are different models of Lamborghini available now like Diablo,Countach, Murcielago, Gallardo, KitCar, Replica etc. Ferruccio Lamborghini died in February 1993 at the age of almost 76.Tonino Lamborghini created a tribute to his father, he contacted the architect Diversi in Imola to design a kind of 'arch' to hold just about everything Sig. Ferruccio Lamborghini ever did during his life.

This museum was constructed on the grounds of Lamborghini Calor, at Dosso di Ferrara, the official grand opening occurred on May 13th, 1995. This project was named the Cento Polifuzionale Ferruccio Lamborghini and reached great popularity the moment its doors opened for the public. All visits were by appointment only, but still during 1997 over 4000 pilgrims arrived at Sant'Agata to visit this spectacular space-like museum. If you ever have the opportunity to visit it, don't hesitate it is surely worth it, I was able to visit it during the summer of 1998 and it was overwhelming.

History of Lamborghini

Beloved by enthusiasts everywhere, Lamborghini cars are built for speed and to look the part. Extreme style and extreme performance are the chief characteristics of Ferrari's national rival. Unless your zip code is 90210, you're not likely to see a scissor-doored Lamborghini ahead of you in the Starbucks drive-thru or parked next to you at the mall; these are exclusive automobiles designed to cater to a small, very specialized audience.

During World War II, company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini served with the Italian Air Force's mechanics corps, where he became proficient at working with engines. After the war, Italy was plagued with scarcity; one such shortage involved tractors. Sensing an opportunity, Lamborghini purchased surplus military machines and reconfigured them as tractors. It was a canny move that resulted in a thriving business for the young entrepreneur, one that quickly made him a very wealthy man.

By the 1950s, Lamborghini's business had become even more successful, expanding to include heaters and air-conditioning units. As a car enthusiast, Lamborghini drove the best sports cars of the day. Somewhat disappointed with the Ferraris, he vowed to build a better car. Armed with millions of lira in investment money, he retreated to the small village of Sant'Agata to build a state-of-the-art automotive factory. On his payroll was noted automotive engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, who'd previously worked at Ferrari.

Automobili Lamborghini SpA. was officially founded in 1963. That same year, the very first Lamborghini, the 350GT, made its debut at the Turin Motor Show. The car's name came from its engine size, a 3.5-liter four-cam V12. Then came the 400GT, which was produced until 1968. But it was the stunning midengine Miura, produced from 1966-'73, that catapulted Lamborghini to worldwide acclaim.

Lamborghini's tractor business suffered hard times in the early '70s, which led him to sell a controlling interest of Automobili Lamborghini SpA to a Swiss industrialist. The Italian's problems were worsened by that decade's oil crisis, and he wound up selling the remaining amount of his shares. The company invested millions in the development of a new vehicle, the military truck-style Cheetah, but its sales were disappointing. By the end of the decade, the automaker had declared bankruptcy.

The company got back on its feet in the 1980s. The key was Lamborghini's over-the-top Countach. Though introduced way back in 1974, the Countach, now fully styled with angles and vents, was the perfect exotic sports car for that's decade's mentality. Perhaps hoping to cash in on the firm's revived popularity, the company's managers sold Lamborghini to Chrysler in 1987.

Another change of ownership took place in 1994, when Lamborghini was acquired by three Far Eastern companies. Megatech was the largest of the trio and the primary shareholder. By the late 1990s, Lamborghini was in financial hot water once again. As before, the lack of a diversified product lineup was hurting the company's ability to compete globally. It was acquired by Volkswagen (which also owns other luxury marques such as Audi and Bentley) in 1998.

Lamborghini has rolled out models such as the four-seat Espada and various V8 sports cars, but it is the midengine supercars that identify the marque. Models like the wild Countach and the Diablo of the 1990s are instantly recognizable as Lamborghini cars, with their sinister styling by Marcello Gandini promising equally outlandish performance. Though some may question the current German/Italian marriage, the products of this merger, the 200-mph Murcielago (the Diablo's successor) and the equally breathtaking Gallardo, leave no doubt as to its benefit.

Honda Accord Coupe HF-S Concept

Honda just revealed a "world debut" concept car here at SEMA, and it basically represents what you can do with a new 2008 Honda Accord if you really put your mind to it. Also, you've got to use up every option possible in the Honda Factory Performance catalog -- from ten years from now. It's called the Honda Accord Coupe HF-S concept, and it's got every piece of Honda kit you'd never want and you couldn't even get -- even a "Cadmium Orange Pearl" color coat, which we think may be what happens when you combine an orange and cadmium at a really hot temperature. It's got LED driving lights, a wrap-around front bumper which creates a "vortex effect" to enhance high-speed aero and engine cooling.

Making its world debut, the Honda Accord Coupe HF-S Concept represents a radical vision for customizing the all-new Accord's design and performance through stylish and functional modifications. A dual-port exhaust system can provide additional performance when needed while retaining low noise output during relaxed driving. Purely a concept, the Accord HF-S Concept is a creation of Honda Access America, Inc., the U.S. accessory development division.

The 2008 Accord Coupe equipped with dealer-installed Honda Factory Performance™ (HFP™) components melds a distinctive, custom appearance with an enhanced level of handling performance. All of the HFP components except the suspension kit (available Spring 2008) are currently available as dealer-installed accessories. All HFP products carry the same 3-year/36,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty as the rest of the vehicle, when installed at the time of new vehicle purchase, and are engineered to be fully compatible with the vehicle.

"The Accord HF-S Concept provides a glimpse into the future of vehicle customization," said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda. "The Honda Factory Performance-equipped 2008 Accord Coupe demonstrates the best of what the company offers today."

In addition to the Accords on display, fifteen more unique vehicles filled out the Honda booth, including the all-new S2000 CR and the recently-introduced Civic Mugen Si Sedan. A specially-prepared S2000 CR has been modified by Team Honda Research to compete in the 2007 National Auto Sport Association's (NASA) "25 Hours of Thunderhill" endurance race in December. Another racecar, the "One Lap Odyssey" modified by Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC made its SEMA debut after winning its class in Car and Driver magazine's 2007 Cannonball One Lap of America.

Honda Accord Coupe HF-S Concept
Honda Access America, Inc., Honda's U.S. accessory development team designed and built the HF-S Concept to demonstrate how the customized use of technology could allow vehicle owners to fine-tune performance while adding their own senses of style. Key exterior and conceptual powertrain modifications represent functional performance and driving-experience enhancements.

Unique LED driving lights, placed on the fore-most corners, wrap around the front of the bumper providing increased visibility both forward and side for the driver while also creating a unique appearance. The shape of the front bumper is designed to create a vortex effect to enhance high-speed aerodynamics and engine cooling. On the sides of the vehicle, the shape of the carbon fiber panels decreases negative speed force around the wheel arches. The rear bumper diffuser is designed to reduce drag. The trunk spoiler is a prototype design engineered for high-speed down-force. The metallic color of the exterior is accented by Cadmium Orange Pearl - a color derived from super-heated metal. The use of this color for the brake calipers, badges, grille accent, and interior details underscores the vehicle's high-performance appearance.

Key to the concept is the use of technology to electronically customize throttle response, suspension settings, steering boost, and traction involvement to the driver's taste. Additionally, the exhaust is a two-stage design. It is engineered to be exceptionally quiet during relaxed cruising, and provide elevated levels of performance in high performance driving situations.

Honda Factory Performance (HFP) Accord Coupe
As a dealer-installed accessory, Honda's in-house HFP products carry the same 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty as the rest of the vehicle, when installed at the time of new vehicle purchase, and are engineered to be fully compatible with the vehicle. The Accord HFP package includes a wide range of performance- and style-enhancing products. The Sports Suspension package (available Spring 2008) reduces ride height by about 25 mm, lowering the vehicle's center of gravity, and enhancing the Accord Coupe's sporty road-handling characteristics. Larger wheels and tires include 19-inch, 10-spoke alloy wheels designed for high-performance 245/40R-19 tires (sold separately). A full aerodynamic body kit (front, sides and rear) further elevates the style quotient of the entire vehicle. Interior and exterior HFP emblems complement the package. All of the Accord Coupe HFP components except suspension can currently be purchased individually, and the full HFP package including suspension will go on sale in the spring of 2008. American Honda launched its performance accessory program in 2002 with the introduction of a Honda Factory Performance package for the Civic EX Coupe, and currently offers HFP products for the Civic, Accord and Fit.

GPS navigation in NEW 2007 Cars ! luxury in 100 %

Whatever your needs, you must find professional impressions and opinions about the new truck model 2007. Try to find information about the options and features, test drivers and exterior and exterior analysis. Famous brands, such as Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Honda, Isuzu, Nisan and Toyota are present on the Internet and you must only select the truck you want; search the qualified dealers and ask for more information if necessary.

The Chevrolet Avalanche has been redesigned for 2007; the new version is awesome; it is one of a kind because combine the capacity of a pickup with the luxury of the five passenger car. The Midgate is a removable rear bulkhead situated between the pickup bed and the passenger component. It is removable, allowing the truck to be configured as a sport vehicle with a short bed or a pick up with an eight foot bed. You need to fold down the rear seats and open the Midgate to obtain the pickup able of securing gear from unexpected visitors or shielding drywall from rain or snow. You can also remove the rear glass and the tonneau panels to obtain a sporty, open-air vehicle. The truck has a clean and stylish look. The new Chevy Silverado is another dream truck of our days, featuring a new design to confirm its reputation as the longest lasting truck on the world. Its suspensions are designed to meet every requirement.

The new Ford 2007, the Explorer, has a longer pickup bed, more room inside and generates 292 horsepower with a new, strong six speed automatic transmission; there is also a five speed automatic version. Both vehicles are available with four or two wheel drive. The Ford F-150 is easy to drive, well designed and the cabs are really comfortable. 2007 Ford f-150 offers a quiet, smooth drive over rough pavement, a controlled handling, with a minimum of vehicle roll on corners. This truck comes in six versions, with four cab choices, four bed lengths, with an amazing cargo capacity. Ford prepares also a new truck, the 2008 Ford F-250, still in tests.

2007 Toyota Tundra is a truck that raises the competitive bar; almost everything is new in Toyota Tundra. The new 381 horsepower V8 truck comes in three styles: a double cab with secondary rear side doors, a four door version and a two door regular cab. The truck is available in three wheelbases and three bed lengths; a five or six speed automatics and a standard rear wheel automatics. If you need a four wheel drive, you can have it too. 2007 Toyota Tundra has also a DVD based navigation system with camera, GPS linked. The stability is improved using fully suspension new design, to make your ride smoother; a better stability is due to a standard electronic stability control.

The full size pickups are changing dramatically; Nissan is offering the awesome Titan, Toyota has a large scale of models, and power trains. Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge are presenting new attractive models; it is really difficult to find the truck of your dreams!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/trucks-articles/new-trucks-for-2007-160084.html

History of Honda Part 2

The CT70 was Honda's biggest seller for a single year, with nearly 100,000 CT70s sold in 1970 alone.

Around the mid '70s Honda produced a two-stroke moped known as the Amigo. It was cheaper to manufacture than the four-stroke bikes and started a whole new generation of lightweight Honda two-stroke mopeds.

In February 1970 Honda jumped into the three-wheel off-road market with the introduction of the ATC90, Honda once again reached out to new consumers by inventing a whole new category, the ATV or "All-Terrain Vehicle".

After years of winning in Europe, Honda's CB750-based Race bike won there first big event in the U.S., serving Notice that Honda was going to be a dominant force on tracks all across America.

In April 1971 Honda introduced the 500CC four and in 1974 It was replaced by a 550cc version.

In the 1970s 250 and 350CC motorcycles were constantly being modified to keep pace with the other manufacturers and fashions. Both were given disc brakes and the 350s were eventually upgraded to 360cc.

In April 1972 the CB350F was introduced, a beautiful 350CC SOHC four.

In 1970 Honda entered the off-road market with the two-stroke motocross bike, the Elsinore.

And later in 1973 with trail versions, known as the MT125 and MT250.

Late in 1970 Honda introduced a "semi-serious", four-stroke trail bike, the SL125 four-stroke single in Japan, and followed with the more serious SL250 in 1972. The SL250 had long travel suspension, lots of ground clearance and performed well both on and off road.

Honda produced XL versions of both bikes in 1973 with improved off-road performance.

1973 was also the year that Honda entered into motocross with a revolutionary two-stroke, winning right from the start. Honda's been a dominant force ever since, winning more than 70 titles.

Up to now, off-road bikes were just modified street bikes. The XR75 was Honda's first XR, a true off-road motorcycle right off the production line.

In 1974, after several years of selling B75 and B45 outboards, Honda dedicated itself to being the technological leader not only on land, but also on water.

In 1975 Honda again dared to think big, creating the first long-distance touring machine, the GL1000 Gold Wing, a sophisticated, water-cooled, flat four. In the process, Honda didn't just create a new motorcycle; they created a whole new touring culture. Here was a touring bike that set the standards of comfort and sophistication. It had a shaft-drive, disc brakes and to keep the weight low a 4.8-gallon gas tank under the seat.

Also the original CB400F introduced the world to cafe-bike styling on a modern production machine. Its graceful four-into-one exhaust made it an instant classic, and while it looks mild today, in its time it was a radical departure from the standard models.

In 1976 yet another technical innovation from Honda, the CB750A was the first modern motorcycle with an automatic transmission.

In 1977 Honda announced the completely new and re-styled CR250 and CR400 twins with three-valve per cylinder heads to replace the aging 250 and 400 twins.

Also that year Honda pushed the envelope not only in motorcycle design, but also in alternative product concepts, like the three-wheel scooter and the one-man dune buggy.

In 1979 brings in the first full-scale Japanese motor-vehicle production facility on U.S. soil.

Also that year The CBX. Powered by an incredible 1047cc, 6-cylinder engine, the CBX harks back to Hailwood's RC166 that won the Isle of Man.

Debuting in 1979 Honda's NR500 race bike, oval pistons eventually found their way into production in Honda's exotic NR750.

1981
Honda's first two-stroke ATV, transforming a fun utilitarian vehicle into a high-performance machine.

1982
Conquering yet another sophisticated technological challenge, Honda introduced the industry's first production turbocharged motorcycle.

1983
Perhaps the biggest single leap in the sportbike industry, the Interceptor instantly elevated the level of both technology and performance available in a production motorcycle.

Honda's first "traditional" V-twin custom motorcycle, the Shadow combined modern features like liquid cooling and shaft drive with a classic look and style, and helped build the modern custom market for Honda.

Unlike other customs, this one was built for performance, reigning as the most awesome production motorcycle of its day. Together with the Interceptor, the Magna showed the explosion of technology from Honda.

Honda made riding scooters cool, creating edgy advertising with hip celebrities like Grace Jones. This marketing blitz paid off and scooter sales soared.1984

Riding the wave of demand for scooters created by Honda, the Spree became the best-selling scooter of all time.

Honda Research of America was established in September 1984. This think tank was created specifically to develop new products for the American market and to keep Honda on the cutting edge.

1985
Unbelievably, Spencer won Grand Prix World Championship titles in both the 250 and 500cc classes in the same year. This feat had never been done before, and hasn't been done since.

1986
Honda led the way by creating the first Japanese luxury car.

1987
With the introduction of the Hurricane in 1987, Honda began an 11-year domination of the 600 Supersport class, with five championships on the track, and dozens of enthusiast-press best-bike awards.

1989
Soichiro Honda was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame (USA) in October 1989. The "Old Man," as he's affectionately known, received worldwide recognition for his enormous accomplishments and contributions.

1996
By combining a hot-rod Gold Wing engine in a custom chassis, Honda again defied conventional limitations, and the Valkyrie clearly established itself as the ultimate power cruiser.

1997
Using a surprisingly stock GL1500 motorcycle engine, Kenny Lyon broke a land-speed class record. He hit 232.4 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats aboard his 33-inch-high, 24-foot-long bullet-shaped bike.

The first production of aluminum-framed MX bikes. Once again, Honda pushed the technological envelope.

1998
We have indeed traveled a long road since Mr. Honda began to chase his dream 50 years ago. Which may leave you to wonder--what of the next 50?Where will they take us?

There is one thing of which you can be certain: Honda will continue to stand for what has made the company special and successful.

Our racing teams will still be the force to be reckoned with around the world. We'll constantly push the technological envelope, ensuring that radical ideas you can only begin to imagine today will find their way to the showroom tomorrow. And Honda will build revolutionary new machines that capture the imaginations and the hearts of new riders.

And most of all, you can be certain that our competitive fires will continue to burn. Keeping Honda at full throttle and leading the way into the next century.

History of Honda Part 1

The Honda story is the story of one man, Soichiro Honda, and his unparalleled achievement of bringing motor cycles to the masses. Soichiro Honda was a racer, a businessman, and a manufacturer. But most of all he was a dreamer. He dreamed of a better way of making piston rings, founded a small company, and began production. He dreamed of giving people everywhere an economical form of transportation, and began producing small motorcycles, including one built in 1949 called the D-Type Dream.

He also loved racing too. So his company built bigger and faster machines, two, four, five and six-cylinder race bikes and won the Isle of Man.

Honda Motor Company is by far the world's biggest motorcycle maker. Honda's first motorcycle was born out of necessity in immediate post World War II Japan, where public transportation was desperately overcrowded and gasoline severely restricted.

Looking for a solution to his, and thousands of others', personal transport problems, Honda came across a job lot of 500 war surplus two-stroke motors designed to power electric generators; nobody else wanted them so Honda picked them up cheap.

His aim was to adapt them for attachment to push-bikes and, by October 1946, his small factory in Hamamatsu was making complete, makeshift motor bikes using proprietary cycle frames. Because gasoline was in short supply, Honda adapted his motors to run on turpentine, a fuel that he himself distilled from pine trees and sold throughout Japan. Turpentine (or gas thinned out with turpentine) was not the best thing for powering motorbikes, and required a lot of strenuous pedaling to warm the engine up enough before you could get going.

Honda's first bikes were very successful and supplies of the surplus engines ran out after a few months. Business was good by then, so he decided to manufacture his own motors. Using the surplus motor as a model, Honda designed and built his own 50cc engine.

In November 1947, the 1/2 horsepower A-Type Honda was being manufactured and sold as a complete motorbike. Because the motorbike gave off a lot of smoke and a stench of turpentine it was known as the "Chimney".

Soichiro Honda started Honda Motor Company in 1948, at the age of 41. Soon after he hooked up with financial whiz Takeo Fujisawa and together they built an empire.

1948 saw Honda introduce a 90cc version of the A-Type known as the "B-Type".

By 1949 Honda came out with the "D-Type". Mr. Honda was involved in every step of the two-stroke D-Type Dream's design and manufacture. This was Honda's first motorcycle. This was far from simply slotting a motor into a pushbike frame. Honda called his machine 'The Dream', because his dream of building a complete, motorcycle had come true. Soichiro Honda was an engineer and was always looking to produce better and more sophisticated machines.

It turned out to be the 146cc, OHV, four-stroke E-Type Dream. A powerful machine producing 5 1/2bhp capable of 50mph. It had a steel frame and proper suspension front and rear. By October 1951 the new Dream was in production at the rate of 130 units per day.

In 1952 Honda produced the first "Cub" F-Type, a 1/2 horsepower, 50cc, two-stroke engine that was produced in huge numbers. You could get one to fit to your pushbike or buy the complete red and white Honda "Auto Bai". Less than a year after its Introduction, production was 6500 units per month, at that time it was 70% of Japan's powered two-wheeler market.

In 1953 Honda produced the 90cc, four-stroke single, a motorcycle of even greater sophistication. This was known as the Benly, in Japanese this means "convenience". The J-Type Benly had a three-speed gearbox, produced 3.8bhp, a pressed steel Frame, rear suspension with the engine and swinging arm on a sprung pivot, and telescopic front suspension. Before long they were selling at a rate of 1000 units a month.

In 1954 a 200cc scooter, the Juno, was introduced to capture some of the sales from the Vespa scooter copies that were being built in Japan. Honda produced different versions of the Dream and Benly motorcycles over the next few years incorporating different size engines (up to 350cc) and other refinements.

In September 1957 Honda introduced their first twin-cylinder motorcycle, the sophisticated 250cc OHC four-stroke C70 Dream. It was the forerunner of Honda's high-performance 125 and 250cc twins.

In early 1958 Honda fitted an electric starter to the 250cc Dream and named it the C71 and, in 1959, the latest Benly an incredibly sophisticated 125cc OHC four-stroke twin, capable of 70mph was introduced as the C92.

In July 1958 Honda introduced in Japan what became the world's most successful motor cycle, the C100 Super Cub.

The Super Cub was developed over three years to be a cheap and practical motorcycle that literally anyone could use. It used a 50cc four-stroke OHV motor and centrifugal clutch with three-speed transmission. It was so easy to operate that even new riders could ride it as easily as a pushbike. Its innovative frame without a crossbar made it popular with the ladies and set a new trend in commuter motorcycling. The word "scooterette" was coined to describe this step-through style motorbike which sold in 50, 70 and 90cc versions.

In 1959 it was the first Honda motorcycle sold in the U.S., eventually becoming the world's best-selling vehicle (30 million to date). As proof the original concept and design was perfect is the fact that today's C50, C70 and C90s have only detail changes to set them apart from the machines of 25 years ago.

That same year, 1959, Honda introduced the 250cc C72 Dream in Amsterdam. This was the first Japanese bike to be officially shown in Europe. It surprised the crowd with its unusual pressed steel frame, swing arm and front leading link forks, sophisticated OHC all aluminum engine, electric starter and indicators.

In the UK learners had just been restricted to motorcycles of this size and wanted the fastest bikes they could legally ride. The Honda's were the fastest 250s around, and the C72 with its improvements like 12-volt electric's and wet sump lubrication, successor of the C71, was capable of 80mph and could still get 66 miles per gallon.

The CB92 retained the pressed-steel frame and leading link forks while the CB72 received a tubular style frame and telescopic front suspension.

In 1961 two years after Honda started selling Super Cubs, Honda stunned the racing world with "Mike the Bike" Hailwood's twin victories at the Isle of Man. It was the first of an unprecedented string of victories that was only the beginning of Honda's racing tradition.

From the beginning, Mr. Honda dedicated his company to racing, racking up over 100 major motorcycle championships around the world. What was learned from building high-performance racing machines later led to the development of groundbreaking production motorcycles.

The classic CB72 and CB77 helped fuel interest in riding, got America on two wheels, and established Honda as a serious player. The Hawk name has appeared on Honda models CB72, CB77, CB400T, NT650, VTR1000F ever since, the latest being the 1998 VTR1000F.

In 1962 this breakthrough advertising "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" shattered the myth that motorcycles were only for tough guys and rebels. It reached out and made Honda and motorcycling in general, appealing to everyone.

The C77 a 305cc version of the Dream and the CB77, a Super Sports motorcycle producing 28.5bhp were introduced in 1963.

In 1964 the C95 a 154cc version of the Benly and a 161cc version Of the CB160 was also offered.

The Hondells recorded "Little Honda" in 1964. Honda entered the American pop culture as the subject of this hit song.

In 1965 Honda, always eager for a new market, jumped into the big leagues with their first big, fast production motorcycle, the innovative 43bhp CB450 twin. This was a double overhead-camshaft machine with torsion bar valve springs that would do a genuine 104mph, a machine to challenge the 500cc-plus bikes.

Despite its performance, sales of the CB450 worldwide were Poor. A number of engineering changes were made, in 1967 a five-speed gearbox was added.

In 1967 Honda had their first big off-road win in the "first" Baja 1000.

In 1968 Honda stopped production of the CB72 and CB77 and produced a new line of high performance SOHC twins with five-speed gearboxes, called the CB250 and CB350, with the CB350 able to hit 106mph.

At the Tokyo Show of 1968 Honda, after months of tantalizing rumor, unveiled a landmark achievement that would change the motorcycling world forever. A 750cc bike with four cylinders and a disc brake that was so fast and powerful a new word, "superbike", was coined to describe it. The CB750F four was the biggest bike out of Japan, proving that a high-performance motorcycle could also be very reliable.

In April 1969 Honda set the motorcycle world on fire with the introduction of the CB750. Performance was staggering, easily hitting 120mph and at the time it had better acceleration than anything else on the road.

In 1969 the first Honda automobile sold in the U.S., leading Honda to become a preeminent automotive power.