True Classics: Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon

The Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon was produced in Japan from 1946 and 1963. The first was the C-10, based on a scooter imported from the US by Koujiro Maruyama. Produced at the Nagoya Machinery Works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Silver Pigeon proved sufficiently successful remaining in production for almost twenty years. Motor Cyclist magazine voted it "best in styling" for three consecutive years in the 1950s. The Silver Pigeon maitained 45% of Japan's domestic scooter market from 1950 to 1964. By the time production came to an end in 1963 over 463,000 had been manufactured, with the 1960 C-200 proving the most popular individual model, with almost 38,000 sales.