1965 Honda S600 Roadster

Description

Honda’s diminutive sports cars of the 1960s were a surprising blend of motorcycle racing technology, a relatively conventional chassis and pretty, Italianate styling.  Beginning with the S500 of 1962 - only the second car ever made by the fledgling Japanese manufacturer - the series evolved into the S600 (and later, S800) models, all powered by the same little jewel of an engine.  Drawing on Honda’s motorcycle racing experience, the S500’s engine boasted features unheard of on the most exotic European sports cars and more akin to contemporary Formula One practice; an alloy block and heads, roller bearing crankshaft, twin overhead camshafts and no less than four tiny carburettors.  Drive was through a four-speed gearbox (with synchro on all but first gears) and enclosed chain drive to the rear wheels, independently suspended by cast alloy trailing arms that also served as oil bath chain cases.  Front suspension was via torsion bars and finned drum brakes were fitted all round, another nod to racing car technology.  The S500 was built in limited numbers and never exported, but its successor, the S600 introduced in March 1964, became the first Japanese sports car widely sold around the world, breaking into new markets like North America and even Australia.  The S600’s engine capacity was increased from 531cc to 606cc, raising the power output to 57 horsepower at 8500rpm, although the redline ran all the way up to 11,000rpm - with no limiter, resulting in more than a few red faces from reckless drivers.  In addition to building the car in left-hand drive guise for the American market, Honda broadened the S600’s appeal by adding a pretty fixed-head coupe to the line-up, although it was outsold by the roadster variant by a factor of ten to one.  All told Honda made 11,284 roadsters and 1,800 coupes between 1964 and 1966 and it remains one of the most collectible early Japanese cars ever made, with a cult following around the world.