GM @ 100, A Look Back: Bob Lutz The Honda Distributor?

[Perian]

Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/2008...310039943/1215


James R. Crate - Automotive News - October 3, 2008


In the summer of 1958, Marine Lt. Bob Lutz and Lt. Pete Defty were trying hard to come up with $100,000.

The two pilots, both stationed in Japan, wanted to start importing and distributing an up-and-coming motorcycle brand, Honda, in the United States. By 1958, Honda was the world's largest motorcycle maker, but it had not begun exporting to the United States.

Company founder Soichiro Honda, in a meeting that the 26-year-old Lutz somehow managed to set up, had agreed to sell exclusive North American distribution rights to the two Marines.

Defty does not recall whether the $100,000 — equivalent to $730,000 in current dollars — was the proposed franchise fee or the total going-in investment.

Lutz and Defty had been burning up phone circuits asking their parents to back them. Lutz's father, a wealthy and connected Swiss investment banker, could easily finance a deal. Defty's family wasn't so well-off but also could raise seed money.

Both sets of parents refused.

"Well, motorcycles, fighter pilots and parents ... you know right away that's not going anywhere," the 73-year-old Defty, a long-retired pilot for Pan Am and United, said in a telephone interview.

What if the families had backed the venture? What if the nascent product and marketing ace Bob Lutz had been a key part of Honda's growth and diversification in the United States, and the world, from the beginning?

Who knows? What is always trumps "What if?"

But Defty, tongue firmly in cheek, thinks he knows how things would have turned out.

"I doubt that Honda would be the great company it is today if we had done the deal," he quipped. "We definitely would have screwed things up royally."



Article continues at link.

[Perian]

Originally Posted by Perian

But Defty, tongue firmly in cheek, thinks he knows how things would have turned out.

"I doubt that Honda would be the great company it is today if we had done the deal," he quipped. "We definitely would have screwed things up royally."

A tough week needs a fun ending.

[roteague]

Off topic: for an interesting book, read Soichiro Honda's autobiography - he has some interesting things to say about how Toyota tried to stop Honda (by lobbying the Japanese government) from entering the US market.

[ericmvest]

Originally Posted by roteague

Off topic: for an interesting book, read Soichiro Honda's autobiography - he has some interesting things to say about how Toyota tried to stop Honda (by lobbying the Japanese government) from entering the US market.

Did Mr. Honda mention in his autobiography throwing Geisha girls out second story windows, throwing wrenches at workers, or retrieving business associates dentures from out house holes? I read “Honda Motor: The Men, the Management, the Machines” by Tetsuo Sakiya which chronicled some of Mr. Honda’s strange behavior. Oh well, I guess some of Henry Ford’s behavior was strange too.

[eurohazard]

Crazy stuff!

[roteague]

Originally Posted by ericmvest

Did Mr. Honda mention in his autobiography throwing Geisha girls out second story windows, throwing wrenches at workers, or retrieving business associates dentures from out house holes? I read “Honda Motor: The Men, the Management, the Machines” by Tetsuo Sakiya which chronicled some of Mr. Honda’s strange behavior. Oh well, I guess some of Henry Ford’s behavior was strange too.

I believe he does mention the Geisha girl incident, but it has been a few years since I've read it.

I only mentioned this because, Honda has also been at the receiving end of Toyota's arrogance - imagine that upstart Toyota supplier, piston-ring manufacturer, who dares to make their own cars.

[Ambalanche]

What if indeed! Great find!