Original vintage 1960s Honda ad for the company's 600 series sedan.
Dimensions: 20 inches wide by 13.5 inches high - this is a two page advert.
The Honda N600 was first released in the late 1960s as a Japanese answer to the famous British Mini, the Mini would prove to be hugely popular in Japan and it made a lot of sense for Honda to develop their own take on the concept that would fit within the Japanese Kei car regulations, which at the time limited the engine to just 360cc.
The car that Honda developed to meet Kei car regulations was the N360, almost identical to the Honda N600 but fitted with a much smaller, air-cooled, four stroke, 354cc, 31 hp two-cylinder engine. This car would give Mini-like styling to Japan in a package that would be far cheaper to buy, register, and insure, and it became a popular city car.
The Honda N600 looked largely the same as its smaller-engined sibling but was fitted with a 598cc air-cooled, four stroke, two-cylinder engine once producing 45 hp with more torque to boot. Honda intended the N600 mostly for export to compete with the Mini on its home turf in Europe, and to sell over in the United States.
The performance figures of the N600 were comparable to much of its competition, it had a 0 to 60 mph time of 19 seconds and it had a top speed of 77 mph with fuel efficiency of 36.3 miles per imperial gallon (30.2 mpg US). The Honda N600 wasn’t priced as competitively as it probably needed to be, particularly in the UK, where it sold for £589 after taxes – the Mini 850 was selling for £561.
The Honda N600 is historically notable for a number of reasons, perhaps the most significant of which is that it was the first car that Honda ever officially exported to the United States. A number of Honda sports cars had been previously imported to the US privately like the Honda S600 for example, but the N600 would represent Honda’s first proper foray into the market they would become their most important for decades.
In 1972 Honda would develop a new car as a successor to the N600, it had similar styling to the outgoing model but offered larger water-cooled engines and notably more refinement throughout, it was also given a more user-friendly and number-free model name – the Honda Civic.
The larger-engine N600 was developed alongside the N360 in order to target export markets like the U.S. and Europe, where motorways demanded higher top speeds. It was also briefly sold in the domestic Japanese market, however, where it went on sale in July 1968 as the N600E. Only 1,500 examples were sold until early 1969 when the N600 was discontinued in Japan; because of its larger engine it did not qualify for any of the tax and insurance breaks given to kei cars even though it was as small as one.
The N600 was introduced to the United States as the 600 Sedan in 1969 as a 1970 model, and was the first Honda automobile to be officially exported to the United States by the Honda Motor Company (a small number of sports cars had been imported privately in years prior). Sales were originally limited to Hawaii, but cars were soon exported to the U.S. West Coast by 1970.
The car was technologically advanced for its time, with an all-alloy engine that could achieve 9000 rpm. Engine output was 36–45 hp (27–34 kW) and was capable of propelling the car to a top speed of 81 mph (130 km/h). It delivered surprisingly peppy performance because of its light weight (around 550 kg/1100 pounds), due to compact dimensions and some plastic parts (like the boot lid). The brakes on early models were very weak, despite having front discs and servo assistance. Rear suspension was a dead axle on leaf springs.
U.S. sales ceased in 1972, as did those of the sportier Honda Z600 (or Z, depending on country), after about 25,000 sales of the N600. 40,550 Zs and Ns were sold altogether in the United States.