Word of the Day: Honda City

David S.
By David S. Wallens
Jan 6, 2020 | Honda City, Word of the Day

Photographs Courtesy Honda

The original Honda City–built from 1981-’86–was cuter than a button, shared the stage with ska legends Madness, and featured its own dinghy. 

What’s that last item on the list? Optional was Honda Motocompo, a 49cc scooter featuring retractable seat, pegs and handlebars. The value statement: Park the City just outside said city and scoot the rest of the way to the office. Once folded down, the Motocompo fit inside the City.

The Motocompo might have been able to overcome traffic, but it couldn’t beat gravity: It weighed almost a hundred pounds.

 

 

 

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Comments
aw614
aw614 Reader
1/6/20 8:52 a.m.

First time I saw the Honda City and Motocampo was in the anime You're Under Arrest! that the main characters used. That reminds me I need to finish up that series. 

Duke
Duke MegaDork
1/6/20 9:11 a.m.

I read an interview with the guys from Madness about that.  Apparently Honda flew them to Tokyo and they wrote the song, recorded it, and did the video in something like 36 hours.  They mentioned how difficult it was to communicate "we need more treble on the bass drum" to a non-English-speaking Japanese recording engineer in the middle of the night.

 

kudzu
kudzu New Reader
1/6/20 9:26 a.m.

There's a "'85 Honda City Turbo II" included in the Hot Wheels "HW Race Day" 10-car collection. The City is car 5 of 10. The collection also includes some significant race cars from past and present: 

'16 Mercedes-AMG GT3    
'76 Greenwood Corvette
Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
Ford GT-40
Volvo 850 Estate
Formula E Gen 2 Car
 



 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/6/20 10:17 a.m.

The Lane museum has the pair in their collection as well. 

spacecadet
spacecadet GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/6/20 11:48 a.m.

My buddy got a motocompo. they are so weirdly awesome.

NickD
NickD PowerDork
1/6/20 11:52 a.m.

The Honda City Turbo was the first boosted Honda. The second was the obscure Honda Legend Wing Turbo.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/6/20 11:53 a.m.

And this dealer is fairly local. We need to go hang.

 

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
1/6/20 2:16 p.m.

You can still get them, new, for about a buck.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/6/20 6:47 p.m.
Duke said:

I read an interview with the guys from Madness about that.  Apparently Honda flew them to Tokyo and they wrote the song, recorded it, and did the video in something like 36 hours.  They mentioned how difficult it was to communicate "we need more treble on the bass drum" to a non-English-speaking Japanese recording engineer in the middle of the night.

 

There's more than one Madness commercial for the City. And how come we didn't get ads like this?

 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/6/20 6:52 p.m.

Something I just learned about Madness: Despite being formed back in 1976, the entire current lineup was there for their heydays in the '80s. Madness.

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