American Honda Motor Co. has recently debuted a small but soon-to-grow collection of apparel that was inspired by the cars, bikes and scooters of the automaker’s glory days of the 1970s and 1980s.
They offered this insight (get it, Honda’s Insight? ha!):
“Honda is excited to celebrate its heritage by recreating styles and accessories from the past,” said Steve Center, vice president of American Honda’s national marketing operations. “We hope that fans of Honda and vintage clothing will celebrate with us through the Honda Heritage Clothing Collection. American Honda was founded in Los Angeles in 1959, and the fact that these pieces are being designed and produced by partners in Los Angeles is a perfect fit for these historic pieces.”
The initial items to be offered include a selection of three tee shirt designs that will feature the heritage-inspired logo from Honda’s 1959 storefront and logo, a graphic featured on the 1974 Honda Civic sales brochure and a page from a 1973 Civic hatchback catalog. These tee shirts will be priced at approximately $40 each. Future Honda Heritage Clothing Collection items may include cafe racer leather jackets, nylon racing jackets, windbreakers, vests and casual wear.
This got us thinking about some of the other automakers who are both celebrating and cashing in on their heritage. We’ve pulled together a few to give you an idea of the wide range available.
As you can see above, Dodge has a nice selection of merchandise that takes us back to the good old days, at Dodge Life.
Volkswagen has their Nostalgic line on the VW DriverGear website.
Fiat has barely set foot back into this country, and they’re already here in full merchandising force, even offering a Bocce lawn bowling set!
Ford has a great variety of materials in The Ford Collection – they even offer a wonderful line of vintage reproduction posters and advertising art prints.
Chevrolet has the Heritage section of their online ChevyMall, where you can find officially licensed clothing, collectibles and even bar stools.
The Jaguar website sports a nice selection of Heritage merchandise that features vintage Jaguar branding.
The Lotus Originals online store splits its surprising amount of merchandise into four categories: Original, Heritage, Performance, Lifestyle.
While they don’t have much in the way of heritage-inspired clothing or accessories, Nissan does offer a neat 40th anniversary Z-car poster.
And posh Bentley offers some lovely Historic scale models.
Why not do a little online digging to see if your favorite current automaker offers anything to allow you to celebrate their past?