BY Rainey “Skates” Cruz
As spotted on Dyckman St., one of the Caribbean’s most recognizable (and affordable) forms of transportation, the Honda C70 “Passport” motorcycle.
The C70 is a 1970-introduced, more powerful and economical version of its 1958 predecessor, The Super Cab, one of the world’s best selling vehicles. Made popular in The USA, Canada, Vietnam, and other regions of Asia, the C70 also gained notoriety in The Dominican Republic for its affordability, fuel efficiency and its reliability due to the fully-enclosed drive chain that required less maintenance than other motorcycles.
Though technically referred to as a “pasola,” a vehicle for one passenger, the C70 is commonly used to transport up to 3, or even more passengers! Some will even argue that the C70 is actually the forefather of “motoconchos,” the motorcycle taxis of the Dominican Republic. The efficient and sometimes dangerous motoconchos have been made infamous by countless passenger stories and even a popular Merengue single, “Motoconcho” by Edi Mambo.
No word yet on whether there will be any “concho”-ing Uptown, but if history, affordability, and reliability have anything to do with it, the Honda C70 Passport could very easily become the Vespa of the Inwood/Washington Heights community.
