Why Couldn't Soichiro Honda Pay for the Machine Tools?

David Senra, reading Sol Sanders, says Soichiro Honda could not pay for the machine tools because he leveraged the company to buy them and Japan then went into a deep recession. He had spent heavily on high-quality tools, something like 10 times the company's entire assets, on the belief that high-quality products could not be made without high-quality tools. Even if the company went bankrupt after importing the machines, he did not think that was squandering resources, because the machines would remain and keep working. He chose to import up-to-date machinery rather than fall behind.

A supporter inside the main creditor bank convinced the rest of the bank not to foreclose. He was trying to buy Honda time. The machine tools were excellent equipment and could be sold if worse came to worse. It took six months, but Honda squeaked through.

Many decades later, when Honda was a much larger company, it was still doing business with that small bank even though better options were available. Once the recession ended, Honda had the Super Cub.