Your 2050 Brazzaville Micro-i600 solar-electric personal transportation device automatically glides into the Biodynamic Vego-Taco Loco lot and parks itself. On the way inside, you pass the static display of a 2010 Honda Pilot. Your seventeen year-old son stops in his tracks, looks at it with bewilderment, and asks if you really drove around in one these big, ugly, two-ton carbon-spewing behemoths forty years ago. Will you mumble something incoherently about times being very different then and tell him to hurry along, or will you stop, gaze admiringly and wax eloquently about your distant but ever-so-vibrant Pilot memories?
This scenario is for you younger readers; you still have the freedom to make your future memories. Us oldsters are stuck with our Honda memories forever. Although with today’s mega-Hondas like the bloated Moby Dick-mobile Accord Crosstour, it’s hard to believe that our memories aren’t playing tricks on us. But it’s true: exactly forty years ago, Honda established its beachhead in the US with a 1200lb, 600cc hot rod kei-car.
It’s equally hard for me to believe that it was almost that long ago since I drove one. But not only is the memory intensely vivid, it obviously left a lasting impression: I drive the smallest-engined bento box available on these shores. But even it looks huge next to a 600. Enough preambling; let’s fire up the synapses for a virtual drive:
If you’ve ever ridden a vintage Honda two-cylinder bike (I’m looking at you, Edward), the sound and palpable vibrations of the 600′s air-cooled OHC vertical twin-pot will be intimately familiar. At speed, the arrhythmic palpitations courtesy of Honda’s 180-degree crank become deafening. On a bike, that kind of gets blown away by the air speed. In a 600, it’s trapped inside a tea canister-sized tin box with no loose tea inside to absorb the sound. Car and Driver measured 90dB—with the defroster fan on—an all time record high.
The one I drove (a friend’s) probably exceeded 100dB: the stock exhaust sacrificed to a pot hole was replaced with a clamped-on glass-pack and short piece of pipe found lying in the street; recycling at its best. The pipe exited in the vicinity of the driver’s inevitably-open window, but most of the frantic exhalations never made it past the crude joint, because the glass pack’s diameter was twice the 600′s drinking straw-sized exhaust.
The unmuffled staccato reverberating off the high rises in Westwood made sure we were “seen” in traffic, a good thing when driving something smaller than an original Mini. And a permanent testament to Soichiro Honda’s ability to make small engines rev rings on in my tinnitus.
The 600 was a big-engined version of the JDM Honda 360, the kei car version of a 427 Nova. It first appeared in 1969, about the same time as the legendary Honda 750 four superbike (why didn’t Honda put that engine in the 600?). Among other things, they shared the same downward trajectory in horsepower over their production lifespan, a sacrifice to the altar of tractability for a less-peaky torque curve. The early 600s packed 45 horses; highly impressive for the times and engine size. That herd of Kisos came thundering at 7,000 rpm; maximum revs were 9,000 rpm. Very motorcycle like indeed, right down to the dog-clutch unsynchronized transmission.
It was good for a fifteen second 0-60. Don’t laugh; that was better than most small cars of the time with engines two to four times larger. And it would top out at eighty. But that was a dangerous speed because you’d be scanning the floor for the integer that must have fallen off the speedo in front of the numeral 80 based on the sound, fury and other sensations generated. Things happen quickly when there’s only 78 inches between the front and rear wheels, even if the lane seems twice as wide as it needs to be.
As it’s been said oft before: few things beat driving a low-power small car flat out all the time. No wonder we’re desperate for electronic toys to stave off terminal boredom behind the wheel of our 350 hp isolation cocoons idling along at two-tenths of their potential.
Later versions had a more civilized 36 hp @ 6000 rpm, and a genuine automotive-style transmission. Even an automatic was available. Honda was trying to remake the 600 into a friendly city car instead of a sports-car fix on the cheap ($1295; $7K adjusted).
But even the 36 hp version would still leave a stock Mini in the dust. That is if you could find one since they were never imported to the US on the assumption that it was too small (or unreliable?) for Americans. But Honda sold enough 600s to become the twelfth largest import brand within three years. And the 600s held up to the beating they inevitably got. Even English car magazines gave the nod to the 600 over the Mini.
Honda’s first foray into the training-wheeled world started in 1962 with the S360, their Lilliputian sports car prototype. That led to the production S500, S600 and S800. The latter is a cult classic that packed 70 horses—enough to move it over a hundred miles per hour. In 1968, Honda unveiled a bombshell: the brilliant but complex 1300 sedan. With an air cooled DOHC 1300cc engine whose 116 horses inhaled through 4 Keihin carbs, it blew away any existing conceptions of what a small sedan could aspire to. And it literally blew away BMW’s much-more expensive 1602ti, the highly celebrated top dog in that field back then. The coupe versions of the 1300 have achieved near-mythical status.
But neither the S series sports cars nor the 1300 were officially imported to the US. Honda was still building production expertise and capacity and wasn’t going to be rushed until it was good and ready. That also explains the 600′s detuning; Honda built its US motorcycle dynasty on the basis of its “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” ad campaign. So the product had to be people-friendly, too, inasmuch as a kei-car could be. Well, the 600 succeeded in that regard way beyond the Subaru 360, which was completely insufficient for US standards. Did the only two kei cars ever imported predict the future for their respective makers?
(Coupe too!)
Well, Subaru’s next act, the boxer-engined FWD 1000 was a highly advanced and slick little number, which set the pattern for all future Subies to come. But while Subaru had to rely on Malcom Bricklin to cobble together a very iffy dealer network, Honda had friendly and clean motorcycle dealerships in every town across the land to sell the 600 and its coupe variant, the Z600 (above). But that was all just the springboard for the Civic invasion to come, along with car-only Honda dealerships/licenses to print money.
Having finally found a genuine curbside Civic to add to my collection of other early Hondas (no more static restaurant displays, I promise), we’re going to step out of our usual historic randomness, and retrace the brand’s early years with a chronological series of Honda Curbside Classics. Not every week; my ADD won’t allow it. But we’ll muster some sort of regularity, Eugene style.
In the meantime, if you want to waste a beautiful day immersing yourself in period reviews and ads of the 600, spend it at this site. It’ll help you refresh all those memories when you encounter a Honda 600 on the way to dinner. You wouldn’t want your seventeen-year-old to think you missed out on something like the 600. And it’ll give you both something to think about, and possibly remember, on the drive home in the Pilot.
This is the print ad I’ll always remember…
http://www.honda600coupe.com/the_less_you_spend.pdf
I remember my first sighting of both the Honda 600 and Subie 360. I was visiting my aunt in San Diego over winter break in 1986(13 years old). They were both parked in lot at her condo complex.
I was amazed, mesmerized, and perplexed all at once. Back here in the midwest those just didn’t exist. I was into cars at the time but knew nothing of the foreign cars other than common ones that I grew up with, and those were easily 3 times the size of a 600.
The Honda looked cool, I kinda wanted one for a while. The Subie not so much, it seemed like a cheap Beetle copy to me at the time.
Honda tried selling the 600 in the UK , but it was really too small for England. Although it was quicker than a Mini , it couldn’t corner like a Mini.
I’m intimately familiar with the Honda 600. My father-in-law had four 600′s sitting in his driveway from the late 70′s to the late 80′s. Of the four, he barely had one running at any given time. He used the other cars for parts–or possibly making another running vehicle. Reliable they were not. Although they displayed the typical Japanese high build quality, the drivetrain was very problematic. Finding parts and someone to work on these vehicles was another problem. The engine was noisy and felt like it would vibrate apart–which it frequently did. The 600 was able to hold four adults and several bags of groceries. Even in the late 70′s, these were becoming a rare sight. Other motorists would laugh and point like we were driving a clown car. The tiny 10″ tires would have to be special ordered. Speaking of dealers–the first Honda dealer in Eugene was Parmenter Pontiac. They seemed a little embarassed to be selling these alongside their Firebirds and Bonnevilles. Little did they know that in a few years, Accords would be selling for 10% above sticker price. Like Subaru with their 360, Honda survived their feeble first attempt in the American market.
“In 1968, Honda unveiled a bombshell: the brilliant but complex 1300 sedan. With an air cooled DOHC 1300cc engine whose 116 horses inhaled through 4 Keihin carbs, it blew away any existing conceptions of what a small sedan could aspire to. And it literally blew away BMW’s much-more expensive 1602ti, the highly celebrated top dog in that field back then. The coupe versions of the 1300 have achieved near-mythical status.”
The 1602ti was officially called 1600ti, with only some 8000 units built from 1967 to 1968. In 1968, it was replaced by the 2002ti with 120 hp (DIN). Neither was officially imported into the US.
Another interesting car in that category is the Triumph 1300/1500, which evolved into the Dolomite. The front clip of the latter is very similar to the Honda coupe’s:
Oops, wrong picture, here it is:
So true. The 1600 is commonly referred to as a the 1602 to distinguish it from its bigger four-door 1500/1600/1800/2000 brethren. And you’re so right about the Dolomite; that can’t have been an accident.
As gas prices escalate again to 2008 levels, these micro-cars become relevant.
I have some PAMS jingles in my radio/audio collection where, in 1970, KYA 1260 in San Francisco had a “Pied Piper” giveaway of one of these new Honda 600s.
I remember seeing these in the flesh – new – at Bianco Pontiac/GMC/Cadillac/AMC (and Honda) on Fourth Street in San Rafael. Had my yellow Schwinn Varisity ten-speed (do a Curbside Classic on a Varsity!) as the Record King was about two blocks away from Bianco’s. I’d spend my allowance money on records and would check out the new cars while ‘in the neighborhood’.
I also remember in my childhood watching these cars brave the cross-winds on the Golden Gate Bridge (hang on Sloopy . . . Sloopy hang on).
Fast forward to 1980 – the year my Dad became a Honda man (still is: he’s got a 2006 Odyssey). Had to ‘wait’ for delivery- two months for his Civic DX. Belted Bridgestone 13″ donuts (noisy on the freeway) – five speed, no A/C. That car was passed to my brother who used it as a commuter who gave it to his step-daughter as a college car who sold it someone else. Had about 300K on the original engine. Belts, fluids, one heater core and one clutch. It is probably a Chinese Brillance quarter panel now.
Boy, do I remember the Z600! Back in Erie, PA in 1973 a local rich-doctor’s-son-eco-freak who was a good friend of mine in the Presque Isle Bicycle Club had one. I’d borrow it every so often. On Sunday’s I’d use it to run D-Sedan in SCCA autocross (when I wasn’t competing in B-sedan with my Vega GT), although I wasn’t good enough to outrun the guy with a Datsun 1200 complete with the suspension setup that had won class in Road Atlanta the previous year.
Amazingly, at that time I was still three years shy of my first motorcycle – so that was my first Honda I ever drove. The CB350 followed in 1976.
Honda 600 came up in hallway chat this morning, showing this to friends I just noticed the plate on this car: NSU. Another builder of bikes and little cars back then. How cool is that?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_Motorenwerke_AG#NSU_cars