As only 1 out of 111 roadsters made in its last year of production, this 1966 Honda S600 convertible is one rare ride. This little beauty is listed on eBay in Greeneville, Tennessee and it has a current bid price of $7,500, but of course, the reserve isn’t met yet.
The S600 was the first car that Honda heavily marketed and it was also the first model for the manufacturer that came in two different trim levels, either the base S600 or the fancier SM600. They were made for 1964, 1965, and 1966 model years and in 1965 a fastback coupe body style was introduced.
They are incredibly collectible today and Hagerty puts a value for a #4 good condition car as being $10,400 – which I’m assuming is around what the reserve is for this car. Japanese manufacturers didn’t have many “sporty” cars in this era, they were mainly pragmatic point-A-to-point-B cars that were reliable but there weren’t many that were really fun to drive. The Honda S600 broke the mold with a bigger engine than the previous S360 and S500 and it came at just the right time.
Yep, it’s tight in there. I have never tried to sit in an S600 and I doubt if I could fit at 6′-5″ tall. Such is the case with a lot of small cars that I would love to own, I can’t fit into them. This car is small, at just 10′-10″ in length. They initially only came in right-hand-drive configuration but in order to make them appealing to other markets, Honda made left-hand-drive versions shortly after production began. The seller has included a video showing the car starting and driving and another video showing the car being driven down a nice, winding two-lane road.
The power in the S600 is Honda’s 606 CC inline-four which had 57 hp. It doesn’t sound like a lot of power but this car only weighs around 1,580 pounds. This “Car starts and runs well if used frequently, with a slight flat spot between steady-state and increasing throttle. Some effort with choke and fuel pump required for starting if left sitting.” And, the body isn’t perfect with a few dings and some rust starting to rear its ugly head on the lower portions of the fenders and rocker panels. With a $33,700 #2 excellent condition value according to Hagerty, this car is surely worth restoring and it would be a halo car for any Honda fanatic.
YES!
This certainly should bring out the big $, they are really great little cars. Seems to me that the little 4 cylinder 600 could rev to 9K RPM? Looks to be in decent shape too. I wonder what the notations in sharpie reference, as seen on the tops of the carburetors? Rotations of the idle screws?
From seller: Yep, that’s what they are.
Jay Leno has one of these, and says it’s a blast to drive, although, he said you have to get used to driving around at 5,000 rpms all day. These were chain drive with an unusual rear suspension setup very similar to the old truck chain drives, a driveshaft to a differential with a chain to each rear wheel, and 4 carbs and a flat spot? You don’t say. Sounds like 4 carbs were a pain 50 years ago, as well. Very cool little car.
Imagine 5000 driving around ! Noooo, thinking of the Honda’s with the fart cans of the current day…
Cute as a bug, never even heard of it, looks to be fun around town if you can fit in.
Always nice to see a early Honda automotive feature ! .6 litre , breathes well, light body ! Grew up around dirt bikes and the Honda CvCC cars. Rusty, crustry, reliable. Partial to Marysville OH, Strong commitment here since 1979…Love my ST1000 !
I love the styling of this car…quite Italian-looking, really. But I’ve seen these cars, and as Scotty describes, they are impossibly small. Smaller than a Midget if I recall, and the Midget is just way too small to even consider. I’m going to look at a Galaxie on Saturday.
I’ve been having a blast this fall riding around on a ’72 Yamaha 200. This is the car version of that, even if it’s from Yamaha’s arch rival! And I’m 5’5″, so size isn’t an issue, but credit score would be.
I pull up and watch the video of Jay Leno’s hot rodded green S600, once or twice a month. The noises that engine makes, are pure sex!
It’s a shame they’re so rare and expensive, because a Fireblade motor in that would be a hoot! Forget your 50 HP, how about 100 HP?
Boy, is it small though. Makes a TR6 look big!
It seems to me that Leno had someone bring one into his garage that has a CBR thousand or 1100 motor in it?
Watch what happens when you put a Fireblade motor in one of these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsbfzmPCYX4
I rescued one of these about eighteen years ago out of a bunch of briars where it had been pushed out to pasture for three hundred dollars. In surprisingly good condition. I took it home cleaned it up and it looked great. Motor was free, interior all together and the top in great shape. I turned it crossways in my garage and could still park another car in as normal. Sold it to a Honda collector for a nice profit.
It’s always more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow. Not big on the vintage Japanese car scene but this one is pretty doggone cool
I have always loved these little cars. When I was 12, my parents (Dad most likely) got me a really cool three piece encyclopedia set that was entirely about cars, foreign and domestic. This was circa 1980, and the books covered every make and model from just about every car maker you could think of. They also included buyers guide information with each car, setting prices for Poor, Good, and Excellent, and giving their opinion of the future collectibility. Funny how off they were about certain cars! Anyway, I read those books over and over again, learning about cars like this Honda S600, and others you basically never saw in person. And I’ve always wanted one of these, mostly for a local runabout. Would be fun to restore this one! I’m usually all about keeping it original, but I’d be tempted to do an engine/transmission swap like others have suggested. Great find!
It sounds so fast!
Thought theses were kinda cool when I first learned about them and the Fair Lady’s….cool it survived.
So it was 1966…I had an old police Harley at the time…paid about 1500 for it and the Honda bikes were just arriving at the new Honda dealership in Saskatoon, Sask. Canada…actually it wasn’t a dealership it was just a guy who owned a trucking company and he had a building in his yard where the first Honda’s were stored and he had just started selling them the year before…so I drive up and Honda “John” as we called him was totally in love with my Harley and he has a newly arrived S600 and tells me he will take the bike and a very small amount of money for the S600….ooops…did not take the deal…haha…regret it to this day…
Slight correction…I think my Harley was worth about 3 grand at the time and he wanted maybe 1000 more…cannot remember it was almost 60 years ago…I was 17 at the time and had all my money and then some..lol..in the Harley..I think they were about 4 grand at the time…one thing I do remember and after reading the comments I can agree it was ridiculously high RPM all the time…like Jay Leno said…usually 5-9k rpm…wild.