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1964 Honda SM600 roadster gets elemental in Jay Leno's Garage

Honda has made a handful of sports cars in the past, with examples like the Acura NSX and Honda S2000 standing as noteworthy examples. But before either of them came along, there was the Honda S600. And Jay Leno has a beautiful example from 1964 in his garage for this latest video installment. The inspiration for the new JDM S660, the original S600 came out in 1964 – which just happened to be the same year that Honda broke into Formula One. And you can hear that relationship when the dual-chain-drive 600cc inline-four revs up to its 9,500-rpm redline. It may not have had the power of contemporary British roadsters from MG and Triumph, but it had plenty of character. When Leno got a hold of this one – a top spec SM model – he and his team took it apart nut and bolt, powder-coated the chassis, resprayed the body and put it all back together better than new. But you'll want to hear Jay tell the story himself in this fifteen-minute video clip. News Source: Jay Leno's Garage via YouTube Celebrities Honda Convertible Classics Videos Jay Lenos Garage

Foreign automakers pay from $38 to $65 per hour to non-union workers

As leaders for the United Auto Workers gather in Detroit for their Special Convention on Collective Bargaining to work out the negotiating stance for this year's new labor agreements with the Detroit 3 automakers, what they most want to do is figure out how to eliminate the two-tier wage scale. However, the lower Tier 2 wage has allowed the domestic automakers to reduce their labor costs, hire more workers, and compete better with their import competition. As it stands, per-hour labor rates including benefits are $58 at General Motors, $57 at Ford, and $48 at Fiat-Chrysler – a reflection of FCA's much greater number of Tier 2 workers. The Center for Automotive Research released a study of labor rates (including benefits) that put numbers to what the imports pay: Mercedes-Benz pays the most, at an average of $65 per hour, Volkswagen pays the least, at $38 per hour, and BMW is just a hair above that at $39 per hour. Among the Detroit competitors, Honda workers earn an average of $49 per hour, at Toyota it's $48 per hour, Nissan is $42 per hour, and Hyundai-Kia pays $41 per hour. The lower import wages are aided by their greater use of temporary workers compared to the domestics. Automotive News says the ten-dollar gap between those foreign camakers and the domestics turns out to about an extra $250 per car in labor, which adds up quickly when you're pumping out many millions of cars. That $250-per-car number is one that, come negotiating time, the Detroit 3 will want to reduce, as the UAW is trying to raise both Tier 1 and Tier 2 wages. Another wrinkle is that the domestic carmakers are considering the wide adoption of a third wage level lower than Tier 2. Some workers who do minor tasks like assembling parts trays kits and battery packs already make less than Tier 2, but the UAW will be quite wary about cementing yet another wage scale at the bottom of the system while it's trying to fight a bigger battle at the top. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req., BloombergImage Credit: AP Photo/Erik Schelzig Earnings/Financials UAW/Unions BMW Chevrolet Fiat Ford GM Honda Hyundai Kia Mercedes-Benz Nissan Toyota Volkswagen labor wages collective bargaining labor costs

Honda 'Hands' ad is a worthy successor to 'Cog'

The 2003 Cog commercial from Honda may have been named one of the best car commercials of all time, but an all-new spot called Hands looks to be even more entertaining even if it's digitally enhanced. The two-minute video - which starts and ends with a nod to Cog - highlights just about all facets of Honda's universe of products from passenger cars to racecars, the HondaJet to leaf blowers, motorcycles, ATVs and even Asimo.
Celebrating 65 years of innovation, the advertisement is as informative as it is amusing, and it even injects a little humor, too, like a glass of water being squeezed from the FCX Clarity. We just hope that the 1:10 mark of the video isn't hinting at a CR-V Convertible. We're not sure when Hands will air or if we'll see it on television here in the US, but the video is posted below; as an added bonus, we've also included the video for Cog.