The first production automobile was the T360 and was a mini pick-up truck. It went on sale in August 1963. As it was powered by a small engine, it was classified under the Kei car tax bracket, which was the cheaper tax bracket. The first car from Honda was the S500 sports car, this followed the T630 into production. It had chain-driven rear wheels.
Honda aided the war effort by assisting other companies in automating the production of aircraft propellers for the military. Their plant in Yamashita was bombed in 1944, and their Itawa plant collapsed in the Mikawa earthquake of 1945.
Soichiro Honda sold what was left of the company to Toyota, and used the proceeds to found the Honda Technical Research Institute in October 1946.
They started to build and sell improvised motorised bicycles, using war surplus generator engines. When these engines ran out, they began building their own copy of the engine and supplying these to customers.
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