Cub Stories
The Super Cub’s Famed Reliability Becomes Legendary in Vietnam
There was one country, however, that witnessed an entirely unexpected turn of events. This was Vietnam.
Vietnam has long been known as a ‘Super Cub Paradise.’ However, it wasn’t until the late 1960s that the Super Cub began to be seen in significant numbers. The United States’ military, which was supporting the government of South Vietnam in the Vietnam War at the time, purchased 20,000 Super Cubs as part of its economic support for the South.
Massive quantities of Super Cubs crossed the ocean to wartime South Vietnam in the 1960s and early ’70s. Its excellent durability and reliability laid the foundations for Vietnam becoming a ‘Super Cub Heaven.’ (photo from in-house Honda publication ‘Pole Position’)
It was easy to imagine why the Americans selected the Super Cub. Many American soldiers belonged to the generation that had grown up with the Super Cub boom in America. It was also easy to see that the Super Cub was the most convenient choice for city commuters in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), the tropical capital of South Vietnam.
However, as a former colony of France, Vietnam was also a country with many European 2-stroke mopeds and scooters, and numerous troubles occurred when the 4-stroke Super Cubs were refueled using a 2-stroke’s standard mixture of gasoline and oil.
Honda responded to these troubles by opening a representative office in Saigon in 1967. Sending personnel to war-torn Saigon in order to maintain the quality of the Super Cub for customers was typical of Honda’s determination at the time to put its customers first.
Moreover, the five or so resident officers of the Honda Saigon office not only worked diligently on service activities, they also extended the retail network and directed advertising and promotion. They even went so far as to launch a Vietnamese version of the ‘Nicest People’ campaign.
As a result, it was no surprise that approximately 750,000 Honda motorcycles were exported to South Vietnam over the three years between 1967 and 1969. Almost all of these were Super Cubs. One of Honda’s resident officers of the time recalled: “Some days we received orders for more than 10,000 units, and our head office in Japan had to check to make sure that we had the right number of zeros.
Further Proof of Reliability in Era of Economic Embargo
As an integral part of daily life, Super Cubs old and new can be seen still going strong as they travel urban streets and country highways all over the world
Doubts arose concerning whether South Vietnam had the economic capacity to absorb 750,000 motorcycles over three short years. However, South Vietnam at this time was playing host to up to 550,000 American soldiers at any one time. A total of 2.6 million American military personnel were sent to South Vietnam over the period of 10 years starting from 1965.
Figuring in both military and civilian personnel—who were being paid salaries in American dollars, then the strongest currency in the world—just how many Americans were in South Vietnam at this time? Needless to say, at a cost of around US$300, the Super Cub represented a cheap and convenient way to get around the country. The economic context behind the sales of 750,000 Super Cubs can be found here.
However, the story behind these 750,000 Super Cubs had one more historical twist.
When Saigon finally fell and the South Vietnamese government collapsed in 1975, the defeated American military was forced to withdraw entirely from Vietnam.
As a result, a massive number of Super Cubs were left behind for the local populace in the newly unified country of Vietnam. This was the start of Vietnam assuming its position as a ‘Super Cub Paradise.’
In 1979, the United States government imposed an economic embargo on Vietnam, and demanded that its allies fall in line. This embargo was to last for approximately 16 years. Naturally, as a result, Vietnam was unable to import either Super Cubs or its service parts.
However, over this 16-year period, the Vietnamese people came to experience the rugged durability and steadfast reliability of the Super Cub over an extended period of time. That is to say, the Super Cub got a chance to demonstrate its excellent fuel economy and resistance to breakdowns over these long 16 years. It is said that several small manufacturers sprouted up locally to make parts for the Super Cub at this time. Another story claims that around 20,000 Super Cubs per year entered the country through obscure means during the embargo.
Thus the people of Vietnam came to be convinced of the Super Cub’s value as a dependable mode of transport in their everyday lives. The Super Cub became an irreplaceable and trustworthy form of mobility for everyone.
And this is how Southeast Asia’s ‘Super Cub Paradise’ was born.
