After several years in Honda dealerships, in 1980 I was accepted for employment by American Honda (AHM), Honda’s U.S. headquarters. I was with them for about three years. The company was much smaller then than it is now, and was at that time located on Alondra Blvd., in Gardena, California, a largely Japanese populated, Los Angeles suburb. We were situated between Russ Collins’ shop and that of the Arias piston company. My primary task was to interact with customers about their concerns, most of them in connection with warranty. I also dealt with customer complaints about dealers, and was one of the in-house contacts for the company’s technical field personnel. Honda gave me many other interesting projects as well. Such as when I hauled two of Honda’s largest, 6500-watt portable generators to a hillclimb event to power the broadcasting of the event via radio. I also conducted tours for rider groups wishing to get an inside look at Honda, and was involved in an after-hours, unofficial, employee roadrace effort centered around the then-new VF750 Sabre.

There was much more to my tenure at AHM. I was a part of a lot of interesting things and was welcomed into what for a 20-something was hallowed ground and made privy to a lot of technical understanding that helps even today in my vintage Honda work. For more, go here and here.