1972 Honda 600
A gallon of regular gasoline would have cost 36 cents in 1972, the equivalent of $2.53 a gallon today. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC), put an embargo on foreign oil imports between 1973 and 1974, which tripled the price of gasoline, to $1.19, by 1980. With the looming gas crisis, and American interest in a smaller car to get around in cities was burgeoning thus benign the Japanese car maker invasion.
Hitting our shores in 1972 this beginning wave of the aforementioned invasion began mostly with Honda who Americans were familiar with as a motorcycle manufacturer. For consignment, an early version of the Honda 600. She's restored and will need some TLC especially on the exterior. The interior retains its shine and may have been restored. A piece of history right here on the shores of Classic Auto Mall.
Exterior
Possibly less than a third of size compared to the typical American car of the day, this 600 is all steel and all bathed in blue. There are various areas of the bodywork that are showing surface rust, and some invasive rust. This is particularly true on the cars bottom end but not limited to here. The chrome is pitted and some rust has invaded it as well. Badging is suffering from peeling off of the shiny coatings. The car is a full glass door rear hatchback with a short hood and front engine. The gaps are inconsistent but the glass is all in good original condition. 10-inch silver painted steel wheels have a central H badge hub on them and are wrapped with 145SR10 rubber from early 1990.
Interior
Entering through either side of the long doors, access is surprisingly easy. These have a black vinyl panel in them and a simple actuator and crank and an upper handle sill pull. Weather stripping seals are dry rotted and door bottoms suffer from slight rust. Inside, high back buckets are in very nice condition and sport textured knitted tuck and roll inserts, and smooth vinyl bolsters and headrests. A similar pattern small rear bench is behind these buckets. Upfront, a nicely preserved original dash is in and this shows plenty of square and rectangle design. Sweep gauges in the round are in and some pulls and knobs. An AM radio is in the center and protruding from the lower portion of the dash is the stick shift lever, it's not from the floor, which is different. Worn black carpeting is in the floors and above is a smile short headliner that has an upper console in the center emanating from the windshield and between soiled visors.
Drivetrain
Under the hood is a 598cc 2 cylinder engine. It has a Keihin 36 1-barrel carburetor and a factory 4 speed manual transmission is on back. The car has a 6.23 final drive for the front wheels, and the exhaust is stock with resonators. The overall condition of the engine bay could be described as fairly clean, no rust, supple hoses and wiring and heavy corrosion on the engine's cast aluminum top.
Undercarriage
Sadly, there is more rust underneath with invasive rust on the rockers and some wheel well edges. Heavy surface rust is seen throughout. The floor pans are completely covering the area in the center of this underside and these appear to be solid. Independent coil springs are upfront and leaf springs are on back. Disc brakes are front and drums for the back.
Drive-Ability
The car started right up and ran smoothly. On the test track it moved and handled nicely. Unfortunately I could not get the full effect as the brakes are very soft and require extensive stopping distances. They do not pump up. Our consignor states that new fluid was put in so they may need some bleeding to be safe for driving. Other simple functions were working.
An early example of what would become a very large car company whose products were known for their reliability. Many of earlier examples of these cars are known to have rust issues as there was none of this going on in Japan at this time of manufacture and the car suffers from it. It is a neat little car with a 2 cylinder engine. Gas crisis? What gas crisis?!
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.
