27 Apr
2018
27 Apr
'18
8:47 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Cisin via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 6:48 PM
The Honda 600 was NOT a bike. Well, mostly not. After
demise of the mid
1960s Honda S600/S800 ("poor-man's-Ferrari" design exercise that got out
of hand and went into production), Honda engineers took a 360CC parallel
twin, detuned it and upped it to 600cc, added a differential, and a
reverse (tacked on to the outside of the case), and put it in a car body
that resembled the Mini. AN600 was the first Hondas officially imported
into USA (1970). A later Z600 had a "sportier" body, and one was cut in
half in the down-under movie "Malcolm"
-----------------------
Sounds like you never got the original N360 "Street Car" (360cc 'Mini'
before the 600cc 'upgrade') down there; not a big seller here in Canada either:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_N360
Their first 4-wheeler was actually the T360 pickup truck; ridiculous as it sounds in North
America, a light 360cc truck actually found a market among golf clubs for course
maintenance:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_T360
I loved my S600 roadster while it lasted; it wasn't very fast but sure sounded great
at 10,000 RPM. Not many cars have "adjust drive chains" as part of regular
maintenance ;-) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S600