Vehicle Description
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.
