Do Honda Destroy Redundant Stock?

[AshimotoK0]

Don't think there's any interest in motorcycling within BBC programming at all.

Additionally, anyone that's worked for a Japanese company will recognise an extreme aversion to public scrutiny of something that has gone wrong. A very serious view and not to be underestimated how powerfully avoided if possible.  To keep that trust, even as employee from a different nation is a valuable attribute in their eyes. Probably low chance of co-operation all round.

The reason I know about it was that DS asked me if I knew anything about the green p.p bike (which I didn't as this was pre- the Wollaton Road story anyway). He also asked me for any other ideas on features to include,  to improve the programmes general appeal.  So I sent him an article on Lord Lichfield (who also had a Ken Ives special Bomber 450 and an early CB750 as Lord Denbigh .. who owned the Brighton Gold bike). Lichfield had a fleet of Honda monkey bikes and during a postal strike ... 1971? .. he had a bevvy of girls evidently clad in hot pants, plus his mate  delivering mail for a company he had set up called 'Rickshaw Ltd.'. After dinner parties he evidently had races around his grounds on the monkey bikes at Shugborough Hall, in Staffs. and whenever Princess Anne attended she always won.

I just noticed that one of  the Monkey bikes Lord L had was one number down from Dick Emery's CB750 i.e BYU761H (Emery's was 762H) so must have come from Tippets in Surbiton.

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[Multiman]

When I worked as a freelancer in the TV business I would get to demonstrate post production kit for a Japanese manufacturer at trade shows.
This company developed a really useful solid state disc recorder/player that was revolutionary at the time.
I demoed it at a couple of shows and around London.
Then they let us have to use at the place I worked at most of the time to beta test it.
Sadly they decided they couldn't sell it for the price they wanted to and cancelled the product.
We wanted to keep the one on beta test as it was so useful and offered to buy it.
Nope, it went back to them and was crushed.

When I questioned this I was told the following story.

When this manufacturer imported kit into the UK, it went into a bonded warehouse so they only paid import duties and vat when it left the warehouse to go to the retail wholesaler.
If there was left over stock in the bonded warehouse when a new model came out the old stock was crushed under the watchful eye of a HMCR official so no vat or import duties were liable on the old stock.
ie perfectly good brand new kit is crushed to avoid competing with new models and paying the import duties.
I'm sure it still happens today.

[AshimotoK0]

To supplement his income (as a rookie pharmacist in the 70's) my mate used to assemble crated Suzuki's for a main dealer but not at the shop itself. He told me that the Heron Suzuki delivery bloke dropped of the crates of bikes to be assembled and asked him if he wanted a dodgy deal on a crated  RE5 as Suzuki had instructed remaining stock to be destroyed. He always regrets not taking up the offer.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

That's a blast from the past. Heron had a Petrol Station in Burton onTrent. Founder Gerald Ronson managed to recover from his imprisonment after the Guinness Trial to become a very rich man as well as earning a Knighthood.