These are such tailored little cars for being Honda’s first mass-marketed car. This 1965 Honda S600 convertible can be found here on eBay in St. Charles, Missouri. There are a few bids bringing the price to over $5,000 but the reserve isn’t met yet and there is a $10,000 buy it now price.
Finally, a car that a person can restore in a single-car garage. About 10′-10″ in length, the S600 is a small car, not much longer than a Subaru 360 and a bit less than 1,600 pounds. The S600 was the first Honda car to be sold where a buyer had a choice of two different trim levels and it was only the company’s third car to be sold. That’s a crazy thing to think about now but 1965 wasn’t that long after Honda made their first vehicle and it was just 6 years after they became the biggest seller of motorcycles in the world, a title which they still hold now 60 years later. The seller says that the “only thing not original is the new top installed just before i bought it two years ago.”
They also say that this S600 is a “barn find” in “original condition”. You can see that it’ll take a lot of work but in looking over the photos, some of which are really small in size so it’s hard to get a lot of detail out of them, it does look like a fairly straightforward restoration project. I doubt if any buyers would just get the mechanicals working and drive this car as it looks now with rust on quite a few places and other problems. The “floors look very solid with just a couple very small pinholes in the passenger floor.” Hagerty is at $33,700 for a #2 excellent condition car so if a buyer could do a lot of the bodywork him/herself, this could be a decent buy.
And, then there is the engine work that needs to be tackled. The current owner says, “I’ve never tried to start it and it appears that the previous owner removed the spark plugs and filled the cylinders with penetrating oil so it is likely locked up but it’s all together.” Honda knows a thing or two about engines, having been the world’s more prolific producer of internal combustion engines for decades now. This is their 57-hp 606 CC four-cylinder with four carbs like a motorcycle and it’ll need some lovin’ to make it run again. You can do it, though, I know that you can. Have any of you owned or driven a Honda S600?
Hmmm.
When I saw the car, and the eBay listing, I was surprised that it has not yet sold for the BIN. Or maybe that the listing wasn’t ended because “there was an error” or “no longer available”… Both meaning to me that someone made a close enough offer that the seller took the cash and ran.
Neat little cars. Leno described his as “a ball to drive…” That 57-hp may not sound like much, but the car is so small and light. Fun factor is high.
These were chain drive. They also had needle bearing crankshafts, making them high revers. An ingenious car for it’s time. Jay Leno commented on his, it’s remarkably smooth, even though you drive around at 6,000 rpms all day. Neat little car. Worth $10g’s? IDK, none of that makes any sense to me.
Owned a 66 S600 in High School 1969-70. Still my favorite all time, over my 66 Cooper S, my 79 RX7 w 13B w Webbers & full suspension. Like driving a period F1 Racer.