The Mystery Of The Confusing Background In A Honda Brochure Has Been Solved And It’s Way Better Than You Think

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If you look through last week’s entries in your dream journal, it’s likely that you had a bunch of dreams last week of peculiar European cityscapes and old 1970s Honda Civics because of a post I wrote last week, one about a 1975 Honda Civic brochure that showed U.S.-spec Civics in a strange hybrid French-German-generic European setting that I was having trouble identifying. Well, because we have the finest and, according to a recent study by the American Dental Association, sexiest readership, a super-sleuth reader named Erik Hancock figured out exactly where that brochure was shot, and, incredibly, it’s both much more unexpected and much more familiar than you’d imagine. I bet you’ve seen it before. For example, have you ever watched that Netflix show The Good Place? With Ted Danson, the guy from Becker, that show no one remembers? If so, then keep reading. I mean, keep reading no matter what.

First, let me recap for you some of the pictures from the old Honda brochure:

Hondaad1 Hondaad2

Okay, got the scene there? Now, here’s a comparison of these pictures to pictures of Universal Studio’s European Street shooting lot:

Studios1

That sure looks pretty damn close! Let’s check another angle:

Studios2

Yep, that’s it! Honda shot this ad not in Europe, but on the Universal Studios lot that’s meant to look like some chunk of Europe. They threw in some dudes in lederhosen and some California-spec Honda Civics, and boom, there’s the brochure.

This same lot was also used as the set for the heaven-but-actually-hell of the show The Good Place, as you can see it here in this promo trailer from when it was on NBC, which I guess it was:

It’s interesting to see how much this set can get transformed, detail and surface-wise, yet is still identifiable, even though over 40 years separated the shooting of the Honda brochure and The Good Place. 

Incredibly, the European Street set was built way back in 1967, and has been used in a crapload of movies and TV shows, from the A-Team to Zohan, You Don’t Mess With The. Even better, in this one postcard (a scan from the Dickens Collection) you can see that a Jeep FC was being employed as a camera car in the venerable European Street set:

Jeepfc Euroset

I really admire Erik’s ability to see something familiar here, and it’s also interesting to consider that major studio movie sets would be used for car brochures. I mean, I suppose that makes complete sense, but it’s not really something I’d considered. It’s also an interesting move from Honda in 1975, when they were still just getting established in the U.S. market. This brochure was for the American market; I wonder why they decided to show it in a European setting, even a fake one? It feels like a strange choice, when they could have shot Civics in Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York or wherever.

Anyway, next time you’re around someplace where someone has The Good Place playing on a television, be sure to point at the screen and shriek “HEY! THAT’S WHERE THEY SHOT A HONDA BROCHURE IN 1975!”

Everyone will think you’re super cool, I promise.

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Mercedes Streeter

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79 thoughts on “The Mystery Of The Confusing Background In A Honda Brochure Has Been Solved And It’s Way Better Than You Think”

  1. Sort of auto commercial related: Progressive Insurance filmed a (admittedly rather lame) commercial at Tech Toys in Parsippany, NJ on Route 46. I’ve no idea why they selected that location. I worked briefly in the office building right next door.

  2. it’s also interesting to consider that major studio movie sets would be used for car brochures. I mean, I suppose that makes complete sense, but it’s not really something I’d considered.

    This is actually way more common than I think people realize, especially here in SoCal. If the ad isn’t showing the car driving on a road like Mulholland, sitting by the beach, driving through DTLA or hitting the corners of Willow Springs/Irwindale, it was probably filmed on the Universal or WB backlot.

  3. This should be a regular feature on this site. A weekly detective article. Post a picture from an old car brochure, and then have the detectives track down where it was taken. Like the picture you posted awhile ago that was taken in front of that little park “train” station. For some reason, I love tracking down where photos were taken or where movies were filmed.

  4. Maybe remove the spoiler in your description of The Good Place? I only saw it for the first time since the pandemic, and I think having that spoiled would just about ruin the first season for a new viewer.

  5. Nice detective work! Spoiler alert: We always knew it wasn’t Europe, since the Honda had a US-format license plate, and more importantly, US-spec side markers, which are not allowed in Yurrup.

    1. The plate/lights don’t always matter/dictate where it was filmed. I was a lot of uh… questionable streams and I’ve seen plenty of European car ads filmed in the US, sometimes for cars they don’t even sell here.

    2. Yes, in fact there was a recent one from the last year or two (sorry, can’t remember the brand) with one filmed in that part of the backlot.

  7. Shooting a Honda ad on the Universal Studios European Streets set in 1975 makes sense.

    This was the height of Detroit’s Malaise Era and European cars were perceived as superior to American steel. Japanese automakers were still fighting for position in the U.S. market but were already gaining a reputation for quality and reliability.

    Placing a Honda on a seemingly European street being gleefully accepted by the local populace–presumably ignoring all the German cars they could easily buy–sends a powerful message.

    “Hey Americans, you can get the same quality in a Japanese car for less!”

    1. Ford had sort of the same idea by shipping a Granada to West Germany to have German engineers measure the decibels inside so they could show how impressed they were about it being almost as quiet as a Mercedes, in addition to looking exactly like one, and I mean indistinguishable, uncanny

      1. I’ve always heard that the Grenada was supposed to be Ford’s attempt at competing with Mercedes, though I never really saw too much of a resemblance. They always looked more like 7:8 scale LTDs.

        To be fair, they actually did have a decent ride, but they were nowhere near being in the same class as a Mercedes.

        2. but they were nowhere near being in the same class as a Mercedes.

          I would imagine the person in charge of this ad campaign left the auto industry and started work in chain restaurant marketing departments coming up with dessert names such as “Better Than Sex Cheesecake.”

  10. Whatchu talkin bout Jason? I know Ted Danson, from cheers, 3 men and a baby, inc, and yes Becker. What the heck is this new place show you talkin bout?

  14. I didn’t even think of a set lot: when I saw the headline, I was thoroughly expecting that the street would turn out to be from a Disney park.

    edit-but a set lot is better because I immediately imagine shenanigans behind the facades. I may have watched Blazing Saddles a few too many times back in the day

  15. I remember Ted Danson from CSI, Becker, a little remembered show that was cancelled after 11 seasons; Cheers. I also seem to recall him in some Three men and a Baby/Little Lady movies, a relationship with Whoopi Goldberg, a black face incident, a cameo in Saving Private Ryan, and some HBO show with the grown up kid from Rushmore. Amazingly, I never saw The Good Place. I hear it was forking good, though.

  17. For example, have you ever watched that Netflix show The Good Place?

    Excuse me sir The Good Place is an NBC show. Pretty sure Netflix has the streaming rights because entirety of the show predates the start of NBC’s own Peacock service.

    With Ted Danson, the guy from Becker, that show no one remembers?

    Hey I remember Becker. It was a perfectly cromulent sitcom! Mostly watchable and occasionally entertaining.

    2. Becker? What about Cheers? The show you should have remembered, even though it’s older? (He was also on CSI, taking over as the “lead” when Lawrence Fishborne left?)

    3. I feel fairly confident that Torch was deliberately trolling with both of those statements.

      It would be like describing Dwayne Johnson as “the large guy from GI Joe: Retaliation.” A true statement, but also probably not the first thing that would come to mind.

  18. I actually had found out about this set because of a recent coincidence in which I saw the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella for the first time and went nearly insane trying to find out why the town looked so familiar. It was, of course, the European Street Set, and it was familiar from The Good Place. It was a relief to figure out, if only to preserve my sanity!

  20. Huh, now that you’ve pointed this out I immediately recognize it because a friend of mine was on that set a few years ago and posted a bunch of photos of himself in front of buildings featured in The Good Place. I really enjoyed that show.

  21. A. This is a fantastically useless piece of information, which is the best kind of information

    B. Jason, you’re sleeping on The Good Place. It’s pretty much a perfect show. Every season is the best season, and the last episode is maybe the best finale I’ve ever seen. I still think about it from time to time

      1. I enjoyed it plenty the second time around, when I already knew the butler did it.

        It’s so brilliant that the big things are overshadowed by all the amazing little things.

        1. I managed to avoid spoilers and watched season one without knowing about the cliffhanger. One of my all-time favorite TV surprises.

    2. Ah, the show where I learned that any problem can be solved with the judicious application of a Molotov Cocktail. The Good Place is truly one of the all time great TV comedies.

    1. With a center mirror and a complete lack of 18 inch wide d pillars.

      The passenger side mirror is entirely redundant in my single cab pickup, the center mirror has the same field of view.

    3. I’ve always assumed that people were a lot better about getting the heck out of the left lane so moving back to the right was a lot safer.

    4. Honda Engineer Team Meeting 1:

      Intern: “What about a right sided mirror, you know for safety?”

      Engineers: (raucous laughter) “so how many vehicles do you realistically think this CIVIC is going to pass anyway?”

    5. Passenger side mirrors weren’t standard on some cars a lot later than that. My first car as a newly minted 16 year old driver was a brand new 89 Nissan Sentra bare bones base model. Sans radio, sans vanity mirror, sans wheel covers, sans power locks, and yes, sans passenger side mirror.

    6. My brand new 1992 Ford Escort was the base model missing everything from a radio to AC, electronic locks and windows, along with a passenger side mirror. As a 17 year old driver I didn’t miss it too much.

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