® A Day in the Life: The First V65 Commercial

I was employed with American Honda when the V65 Magna was introduced to the public. Honda Canada created the first TV commercial revealing the bike. A rider walked up to the machine and after throwing a leg over, throttled up and actually spun the tire slightly taking off, spewing rocks and dirt while the voiceover said something about the bike's performance. Thus was a bold and new thing in Japanese brand U.S. commercials at the time. Even today, U.S. distributors of Japanese brands' lawyers prevent that sort of thing showing up in marketing materials. Videos I later did on Kawasaki's KX450F had to be edited to remove scenes of the rider's legs splaying outward, and though some Kawasaki videos of the Z1000 and other models had a houligan flair, these were Euro-produced and were not approved for exposure in the American market. Back to that Canadian commercial. For some logistical assistance provided to the film crew, I was gifted a VHS copy of the commercial that I kept as one of many momentos for decades, only a few years ago selling the tape on eBay.

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© 1996-2018 Mike Nixon