Now we drive a big car !

[a2jack]

Incredible how tiny our Honda 600 was. We owned one in 1976. Decked it out in Stars and Bars for the Centennial. (Wife reminded me).

This one was for sale up the street. Very rough. He was asking $ 2,500.

A2Jack

[Duckhunter]

Cool car

[Z06-LITE]

I had a Honda 600 sedan in 1972, not a coupe like you display. I really liked that little car. It reminded me a lot of a Mini 850. If I remember correctly, it had an air cooled twin of 598 C.C. I don't remember the horsepower though.

[NCC1701]

Along with a couple buddies, spotted one back in the day (mid 70s?) when it was new. It was parked, the owner nowhere in sight. We gawked in disbelief, peered into the window and were generally amazed and loved it. I haven't seen another one since.

[NeWave]

Just seen one of these on the way back home from NY. That thing makes the smart look like a Lincoln towncar.

[pabille]

I also remember this little beast. Not as small. But, as they say, cheap and ugly.

YouTube - Subaru of America First US Market Commercials

YouTube - Subaru of America First US Market Commercials

[a2jack]

Pabille. Thanks for posting that clip on the Sue-bar-roo. We loved ours.
It was 360cc, 2 cyl. two stroke. Had an oil injector that you timed the drops with a stopwatch.

Ours was a tiny 4dr that the wife and I remember as being even smaller then our Honda 6oo. It would run just over 65 on the freeway, and did indeed get 66 mpg.

We lived in N Holly at the time and it was my wife's daily driver. We fought over who gets to drive it, just as we do now with Smartie. Sold it before we came to Michigan. A2Jack

[pabille]

Originally Posted by a2jack

Pabille. Thanks for posting that clip on the Sue-bar-roo. We loved ours.

Wow, you guys had one? Were they taller than the 600? I remember a 360 first pulling up to the front door of this mom-and-pop grocery store I was working at while still in high school. The size, the bug-eyed headlights, utilitarian off-white paint, the suicide doors, the ugliness. I had to have one. It would've looked great with my surfboard on top . Then, my folks found out about the Consumer Reports rating and commanded me to keep my $1297 in the bank.

I'm sure it was as fun as our Smarts but we're a lot safer. Getting 66 mpg sounds like a dream, too, if it weren't for the 2-cycle motor.

[a2jack]

Pabille. Yes the Subie 360 was a fun car, just like the Smart.

At a gas stop or a parking lot we would enjoyably field many questions, and this was LA, the home of exotic people and cars, where the unusual is usual.

This car was the first domestic Japanese car ever imported to the US. The dealership was just down the street from us. and we would drive by and see all the little cars and VANS parked around. Subaru also imported a little closed panel VAN. 360CC ,like the car. It was a little van to die for. We Wanted one so bad.

Our little car came up for sale in the paper. Belonged to a "mechanic" who could not keep it running He thought it wasn't oiling because the oil injector did not deliver big squirts of oil, so he mixed his fuel and oil in the gas tank. The standard carb did not like that.

We gave him a $125 for the car and limped it back home. It came with an extra engine, trans axle and a full set of shop manuals. In a weekend we had it running like a clock. As a kid I had old outboard motors so the 2 stroker was OK by me.

Yes, the car was taller than the Honda 600, and had a real manual trans, with a clutch and all. A2Jack.