One of the first cars that Honda made for regular people was a sportscar. This little roadster is a cross between a car and a motorbike. It weighs 1,500 pounds and can go as fast as 9500 rpm. This is a one-of-a-kind car that comes from the island of Okinawa and drives on the left. In the middle of the 1960s, a Japanese reporter named Shotaro Kobayashi sent a white Honda S600 to Europe. He then drove there for two months and covered 7,500 kilometers, stopping at all the important sites. He toured the Porsche building as it got ready to start making the 911 (which was called the 901) at the time. Colin Chapman was thrilled when he got to Lotus and was given the little Honda to drive. Most importantly, Kobayashi and his S600 went to the Nürburgring for Honda’s Formula One start, where the company showed off its spider-like RA271. Everyone would love to go on that kind of trip again. Okay, you can. Even though Kobayashi’s tiny roadster for road trips has a turning wheel on the left side, which is more common on American roads, it looks a lot like the one that is being auctioned off on Bring a Trailer. That car is owned by Hearst Autos, which includes invoice pricing. This 1966 Honda S600 is one of the few Honda passenger cars that looks more like a motorbike than a car. Honda began making bikes and kept making useful and affordable cars like the N600 model from the early 1970s in the US. If you look at a Venn diagram, the S600 is where those two worlds meet. The engine is 606cc and uses little fuel. It has four small carburetors, one for each cylinder, and the top speed is 9500 rpm. Some motorcycle shops in Canada bought S600s with left-hand drives, but the car was never officially sold in the US. This form has a left hook because it was first used in Okinawa, a US colony at the time. In fact, Okinawans only drove on the right side of the street until June 1978. The S600’s four-cylinder engine with just sixty horsepower spins so fast, but the driving experience is so much more than that. Instead, the main attention is on the 1500-pound curb weight, which is as light as a current Lotus Elan. Taking care of an S600 is like putting a Honda logo and a saddle on a hummingbird. It must have been a huge surprise in the 1960s because even now, its lack of drag makes it feel quick and agile. This car, which has 54K miles on it, has just had a lot of mechanical work done. The engine and transmission, along with the two rear chain drives, were taken apart and put back together again. The fuel system was cleaned, and the electricity system was checked. The car’s red and white color scheme looks a lot like Honda’s early Formula One cars, which is pretty cool. At the time, in Japan, only emergency vehicles were allowed to be red or white, so Dr. Honda had to fight for the right to paint his cars those colors. The small car’s elegantly simple look is brought out to the fullest in white. It will be fun to take something so small and fast on even a simple weekend drive, even if it’s not possible to go 7500 miles today because of traffic. You’ll be riding shotgun with Shotaro and Soichiro’s souls and be happy through the first turn. March 19 is the last day to bid in the auction.
