Honda Motor Co. is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month -- it's hard to believe it's been five decades since the company started selling motorcycles in a dealership not too far from the Motor Trend offices in Los Angeles.

On June 11, 1959, a dealership in Los Angeles offered the step-through Honda 50 motorcycle. It wasn't until the 1973 Civic that Honda's cars began to catch on. That fuel-efficient car was in stark contrast to the much larger American cars then being sold. Once the oil crisis set in, the Civic became a star. It's not unlike what happened May of last year when the Civic was the best-selling vehicle -- more than any car, truck, or SUV -- as gas prices spiked.

Through the years, Honda has celebrated a few firsts:

Honda Passport
The Honda Passport was Honda's first entry in the truck market for the U.S. The compact SUV was produced by Isuzu in 1994 and was discontinued after 2002.

Odyssey
Honda introduced the Odyssey in 1995. It was the first minivan to have a flat-folding third row seat.

CR-V
The CR-V was Honda's first in-house designed SUV. It made its first stateside appearance at the 1996 Chicago Auto Show but didn’t go on sale until February 1997.

Element
The Element, based on a modified CR-V platform, was originally introduced as the Model X in 2001 as a concept; it went on sale in the U.S. and Canada in 2003.

Honda Pilot
Honda's second SUV replaced the Isuzu-based Passport in the summer of 2002 for the 2003 model year.

Honda Ridgeline
The Honda Ridgeline was the first midsize sport utility truck produced for the North American truck market. Released in March 2005 as a 2006 model, itwas the first pickup truck to include a storage trunk below the bed. The Ridgeline was also awarded Motor Trend's Truck of the Year for 2006.

Source: Honda