Honda. Master Of Mechanical Complications.

Everything that you see happened in real time exactly as you see it.  The recording required 606 takes and in the first 605 takes there always was something, usually of minor importance, that didn’t work. It was necessary for the recording team to install the set-up time after time and it took several weeks working day and night to achieve this effect.  The recording cost 6 million dollars and it took 3 months to finish, including the engineering design of the sequence. The duration of the video is only 2 minutes, but every time that Honda shows the commercial on British television, they make enough money to support any of us for the rest of our lives. By the way, about the shield wipers in the new Honda Accords, they are sensitive to water and designed to start working as soon as they get wet (thanks Troy).

22 Responses to “Honda. Master Of Mechanical Complications.”


  1. 1 steveb Jan 7th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    lol – brilliant, perfect, captivating – the windshield wipers are a masterful touch

  2. 2 Jeremy Jan 7th, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    The best ever auto commercial?

  3. 3 BadMonkeyMW Jan 7th, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    That was flat out awesome. Only the Japanese have that level of masochistic dedication to create something that’s so complex for the simple purpose of advertising a car. Once again, awesome.

  4. 4 Jeff Nicklus Jan 7th, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    OUTSTANDING!

    Over & Out,

    Jeff

  5. 5 Rusty Knuckles Jan 7th, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Actually it was the British who had that level of masochistic dedication back in 2003, when it was created by the Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency out of London.

  6. 6 fuji Jan 7th, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    Never owned a Honda but maybe I should look closer. Honda just launched a commuter motorcycle. Honda India Launches 164 mpg, $900 Twister. 100 cc.

  7. 7 J Jan 7th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    That was awesome!!

    Maybe GM should do their own version- the Senator comes out of the closet, writes a check to the fake financing arm to keep the chain going…….

  8. 8 nicker Jan 7th, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    Looks like there’s more than one “stop-action” frame in there(??).
    Did they never actually say they got the entire thing to play out, from start to finish, in one complete sequence.
    (not on this clip)

    -nicker-

  9. 9 nicker Jan 7th, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    And in what alternative universe do wheels roll up hill like that?

    -nicker-

  10. 10 Arie Jan 7th, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    Rube Goldberg would be proud!

  11. 11 nicker Jan 7th, 2010 at 8:15 pm

    Well, OK,
    So, the video feed probably caused the skip in some of the frames.

    -nicker-

  12. 12 B2 Jan 7th, 2010 at 11:30 pm

    This is old. Not new news, but neat.

  13. 13 Woody's Jan 8th, 2010 at 12:19 am

    Nicker-after that commercial first came out I remember seeing a thing on PBS about how it was made. The wheels/tires were heavily weighted in one spot so that they actually did roll uphill. Pretty neat trick, huh?

  14. 14 Woody's Jan 8th, 2010 at 12:24 am

    “Making of the commercial.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh4zWeUDW-E

  15. 15 Boss Hawg Jan 8th, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Great….Honda is ahead of their time.

    Boss Hawg

  16. 16 aft customs Jan 8th, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    I became a registered Honda technician in 1978.I’ve seen first hand the evolution of the company since then .Their contrabutions to all the industries they’ve entered is amazing.I know there are a lot of metric haters out there but you can’t argue that the motorcycle industry as a whole hasn”t benefited from Honda Motor Co. That commercial says it all.

  17. 17 Jeff Nicklus Jan 8th, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    Nicker,

    The tires and wheels are known as “ObamaRides” …. they not only defy gravity and roll up hill they can also roll (walk on) on water …. it is called hydroplaning ….. !

    Just thought you should know.

    Over & Out,

    Jeff

  18. 18 Just a thought Jan 8th, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    Just a thought………….. would the people that be on this forum write the exact same comments on here if this was the same (very similar) commercial, but at the end it was a Honda VTX 1800 motorcycle? (or other Honda motorcycle)

    Would we here the same comments ?

    Very cool I think, just wondering if it would still be a cool commercial, and cool advertizing, a bike that was not ‘American’ . Would you like it just the same ?

    I dont think anyone said they like the car in the end, just would your feelings change about the ‘cool’ if it was a Honda Motorcycle at the end ?

  19. 19 Conrad Nicklus Jan 8th, 2010 at 6:36 pm

    That was amazing

  20. 20 Gina Woods Jan 8th, 2010 at 8:20 pm

    Brilliant! Love the creativeness & engineering!

  21. 21 Andy Hornsby Jan 11th, 2010 at 10:28 am

    I’ve gor a Honda cog like the one on the right in the thumbnail … slightly smaller, it fits into the starter motor gear train on an FT500. The thing is, though, the teeth shouldn’t be missing on mine and if I hadn’t got another engine lying around, it would mean the simple kicker-less 500 single would be laid-up.

    Wonderful ad though: points out just how much electronic frippery there is to go wrong. Excellent technology until it fails. Keep it simple.

  22. 22 @DKLEEFARNSWORTH Jan 12th, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    GET WELL ARTIE. HOWARDSTERN RULES. BABABOOEY

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Cyril Huze