I love everything about this old marketing video for the Honda 1962 CT Trail 55. It's just the best. And it goes to show you that since the advent of powersports machines, folks have been using those machines to go further into the deer woods and go hunting. Even when those bikes are pint-sized motorcycles like the CT Trail 55.
I also love that the title card reads, "Presented as a public service by American Honda Motor Co." I mean, who else would it be presented by when the film's title is literally Hunting with Honda? Harley-Davidson?
But the whole film is such a product of its time, as well as a testament that you don't need a full-sized ADV or 450cc dirt bike to get out into the woods to go hunting, that you can't help but love it. I mean, hunting with a CT Trail 55 seems hysterical, especially when you see the rifle holster strapped to the front of the bike and not on the hunters' backs.
Check it out.
First off, strapping a 300 Weatherby Magnum to the front of a 54cc scooter/motorcycle is freakin' hysterical. That's so much rifle, as in it likely has more power behind it than the Honda it's strapped to. Folks take down grizzlies with a 300 Weatherby Magnum. And it's more than enough to take deer, elk, or moose. So seeing it on the CT Trail 55, I'm legit rolling around laughing in my office.
Second, the conceit of this whole film is an aging middle manager is tired of his 9 to 5 and so he leaves the office early, tells his secretary to deal with whatever issues come up, heads down to meet up with Roy Weatherby—the founder of the eponymous rifle company—gets a new gun and scope, flies to Idaho, and then learns to ride the Honda CT Trail 55 to get into the woods with his old war buddy.
"As strong as five horses, and ready for action with just the twist of your wrist!" the narrator exclaims.
How can you beat that? They even pull a wheelie, albeit without a rifle in the holster. SAFETY FIRST, FOLKS! But what this film desperately has me yearning for is to recreate it. To get a new Honda Trail125, strap a new Weatherby rifle to the front, go off into the woods for a deer, and then come back and narrate it doing my bed Mid-Atlantic affect I can muster. Where's my Cary Grant films?
Maybe I will though? Maybe. I. Will.
