History of the Honda Wing logo
The Honda Wing logo started life in 1947, just prior to the formation of the Honda Motor Company, by Soichiro Honda himself as a symbol of his dream for the future success of his business.
Soichiro was inspired at the time by the Greek goddess ‘Nike’ who personified Victory.
In most paintings and sculptures of Nike she is depicted with wings, the most famous being the ‘Winged Victory of Samothrace’ seen today in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
1947
The first design of the Honda Motor logo is seen on the 1947 model A-type fuel tank and incorporated a part of the Nike wing shape.
1948
The company logo was enhanced to feature the Nike figure and first appeared on the 1948 models of B-type and C-type. This logo design continued on the 1949 D-type and 1951 E-type models.
1953
For the new Benly range of models, the Wing was designed into a double layout which created this special, Benly only, wing logo as seen on the fuel tanks of the Benly model range, 1953 J-type to 1958 JC-58.
1950s/60s
During the late 1950s Honda created a new single Wing logo and promoted ‘HM’ for Honda Motor from which the design evolved throughout the 1960s, as seen here.
This design was first seen on a Honda product in 1957, on the fuel tank of the 250cc twin Dream C70.
The earlier versions were prominent on the companies 1960s RC racing bikes which publicised the Honda brand strongly across the globe as their racing successes were highly recognised.
1973
The wing logo design was further enhanced at this time and incorporated the full name of HONDA as well as introducing the yellow colouring.
However, nearly all 1970s road bike models just featured ‘HONDA’ (no wing logo) on their fuel tanks.
The exception being Motocross off-road models where this latest Wing design was introduced on the 1973/74 CR250M and CR125M models.
This 1973 Wing logo was then prominent on many CR and other off-road models.
1980s
It wasn’t until 1981 when the wing logo re-appeared on the fuel tank of a production road-bike model, the CB1100R!
Throughout the 1980s variations of the 1973 Wing logo, with minor enhancements, appeared on many models including this tri-colour (red/white/blue) version.
1988
To coincide with the 40th Anniversary of Honda Motor Co. a new Wing logo design was created and introduced to commemorate the special occasion.
2000s
The 1988 version of the Wing logo continues today albeit with some very slight variations.
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