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Honda issues bizarre non-recall on Odyssey over badge placement

Without looking under the hood or at a vehicle history report, one of the easiest way to tell if a car has had body work done is to check the location and placement of the exterior badges. A crooked, misplaced or missing badge can be a telltale sign that there has been some sort of body or paint work. For this reason, Honda is suggesting that some owners of the 2014 Odyssey take their vans into the dealership for a little rebadging.
The topic was brought to light after Consumer Reports received a notice from Honda saying that the "Odyssey" badge on its test vehicle was incorrectly installed at the factory. The badge is supposed to go on the driver's side of the liftgate (as shown above), but the customer vehicles had it placed on the passenger side of the car. Not a huge deal unless an owner is trying to sell the vehicle and the improperly installed badge leads potential owners into believing the vehicle may have been damaged in some way. Here's what Honda said in its letter:
On some 2013 Odyssey vehicles, the Odyssey emblem was incorrectly installed on the passenger's side of the rear tailgate. The emblem should be installed on the drivers' side of the rear tailgate. American Honda Motor Company highly recommends that you participate in this Product Update. The placement of the emblem may indicate that the vehicle has had repairs performed that are consistent with it being in a crash. This could affect the resale value of the vehicle.

One man's love of vintage Honda motorcycles spawns new museum

In 1977, David Silver got a Honda SS50 moped - it was the last year of unrestricted mopeds for riders just 16 years of age in the UK. That two-wheeler made him a fan, and starting his Honda parts business in 1986 made him a part of the Honda family. He started collecting, with the idea that he'd eventually open a museum. During a visit to another amateur collector's trove in Pennsylvania, the Brit got the chance to purchase the 125 bikes the American had gathered, and his museum aspirations hit the fast-forward button. He's in the process of building a proper home for the bikes in Suffolk, it should open later this year. There will be everything from the first Cub F engine that people could attach to bicycles in 1952, to two examples of the CB92 Benly Super Sport that showed how fast and how good a 125cc bike could be, to the first Fireblade that dropped in 1992 - our CBR 900RR, to the original Honda Dream. Honda says it could be one of the finest collections outside the company's museum in Japan. You can watch Silver tell his story in the video above, and there's more on what's he'll have in an article in Honda's Dream magazine. News Source: Honda Video, Dream magazine via YouTube Honda Motorcycle Classics Videos honda cub

Watch Evo pick its 2015 Car of the Year in this epic video

With just a few days left in 2015, it's the perfect time to check out Evo's annual Car of the Year test to determine the greatest performance vehicle of the last 12 months. The writers' picks for the 11 finalists spanned a breadth of engaging models and included: Peugeot 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport, Lamborghini Aventador SV, Seat Leon Cupra Sub8, McLaren 675LT, Porsche 991 GT3 RS, Porsche Cayman GT4, Honda Civic Type R, Ferrari 488 GTB, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Lotus Evora 400, and Mercedes-AMG GT S. For the venue to test the mettle of these performance machines, Evo stuck close to home this year and visited the twisting roads at the beautiful north coast of Scotland. Racing brothers Marino and Dario Franchitti also came along for the ride to provide two more voices in the competitive challenge to determine a winner. Evo's video explains why each model deserves to be among such rarified company but doesn't gloss over their faults either. There can be only one winner, though. We don't want to spoil it, so check out the clip for magnificent views of these performance machines through the Scottish countryside.