"Little Honda" by The Beach Boys

Our 1972 Honda 600 Coupe

(A.K.A the Honda AZ600,  Honda Z, and the  Z Coupe)

"The car of my dreams...I dream differently" 😎

This car is a survivor! We bought it from the original owners, Paul and Mary, who took amazing care of this automobile



Spending its entire life garaged in New Mexico, this car is completely rust free!

I love the design of the door handles, and the way the radio antenna disappears into the
"A" pillar. I also like the rear window works like a hatchback and the rear seat could fold down for plenty of cargo space.
I thought these cars were so modern when I first looked at this car back in 1971.

Parting was difficult after 44 years...



Seems to be enough room on the trailer.
The driver said 3 different people asked to buy the Honda as he brought it across
 New Mexico.


These cars were mainly distributed through Honda motorcycle dealers. It was Honda second venture into the American car market. The first started in January 1969 with the N600, the exact same platform but a more squared off, conventional sedan. They brought out the sportier 600 Coupe, in April 1971 and imported both models  through August 1972. In 1973 the 4 cylinder, water cooled Honda Civic was introduced to the American public

...the rest is history.

We lucked out on the license plate.



This car has been repainted once, and the seat panels have been replaced, everything else is original.



Like the rest of the car, the interior is near perfect condition.
You've heard of three on the tree, and four on the floor, well this is a four on the dash.




No need to coax your date across the bench seat, your shoulder to shoulder in this car.
And because the shifter is coming out of the dash, there's nothing between you.



Powered by a 598cc, two cylinder Single overhead cam, forced air cooled engine that delivers
36 horse power and 31 foot pounds of pavement pounding torque through a 4speed
synchromesh transmission, and 10 inch tires.




This is a tiny car! Only 10'3" long, 51" wide and 50.4" high, it was the last of the micro-cars.


Surprisingly, this car needed little work. Brian, of Future Service Automotive in Tempe, did the steering and brake work.
The steering had 4 to5 inches of play, but a new set of pinion
bushings and a re-pack of the steering box took care of that.
 The rear wheel cylinders were leaking, so they needed replacing. The main problem with these
 little cars is there isn't much of a parts network. But fortunately, someone is manufacturing new
 wheel cylinders that only took a little modifying. New brake lines were needed in the rear of the
 car because the new wheel cylinders use a different size fitting. So, I
now know how to do
double flares.
 The rear side marker lights and the license plate lights were not working ,so  I replaced the bulbs,
which sounds a lot easier than it is, with no results. Janice  tracked down two broken wires that proved
to be the culprits.
The brake booster/servo needed a good cleaning, and a new set of almost impossible to find
 10 inch tires makes this cutie pie drive like 1972.
I hesitantly replaced the seat belts, because the old seat belts were a little brittle and outdated. I installed a modern three point system. The original seat belt warning light and buzzer system still worked on this car!
I thought everyone disconnected this system about five minutes after they bought their cars.
Some other cosmetic work, such as replacing the dome light cover, polishing up some of the chrome, using a clay bar to make the paint smooth as glass, and a good hand rub wax job, has this car up in beautiful condition.

Many of the rubber components were dry and brittle. I replace them as I find them.
I found the window run channel at Steele Rubber Products. Not a hard job, but time consuming. Snaking through those thin doors, I probably would have had an easier time back when
 I was 110 lbs,

I ordered new roof stripes, from Civic Garage in New South Wales, Australia. I literally have to
go all over the world for parts for this car.

I recently learned that the replacement seat panels were originally used in AMC Pacers.
 The "Blue Basket Weave" material looks great with the Honda's Pal Blue exterior.


  This Yuasa NS60 battery is a replacement of the original type battery. Although these were available at Interstate Battery, and Batteries Plus only a few years ago, I had to go to
a shop that rebuilds Norton motorcycles in Carlisle, England... so i bought 2.

The last piece of the puzzle was finding, and installing a new windshield seal and locking bead, I located someone in Washington state who was making replacements...but the difficulty was finding someone to install it. I called a half a dozen shops, but no one was brave enough to remove that hard to find windshield...except Bell Glass in Northwest Phoenix, About an hour drive from our house, they had the windshield out in 6 minutes and completed the install in less than an hour, but there was an additional half hour of picture taking and history Q and A.
 

In June 1972 I went to the local Honda motorcycle dealer, in Midlothian Illinois, to check out a Honda  600 Coupe. I had been looking at the Honda cars since they came out the year before. I thought they were the coolest looking car, and thought their small size and good gas mileage made a lot of sense.  I was
ready to buy, I literally had negotiated the price, worked out the financing, and a contract was sitting on the roof of the car next to a pen. All I had to do was sign on the dotted line.  but my friend who went with me, talked me out of it. He said,"Look, I can crush this
door with my hands, and it only has a two cylinder engine and will only do 75 miles an hour."
Everything he said was true, but I always regretted not buying one.
Two years later I bought a Honda Civic.

Now, after a 6 year search. I bought a Honda 600 Coupe, the one that got away 44 years ago. Unfortunately, Dave is no longer with us, so I can't rub his nose in it. 

This car always draws a crowd.


I think my love of microcars began with my sister's 1960 Fiat 600. It was just a $100 beater which had been painted, and not very well, royal blue with a barn brush. One day I had borrowed this strange little car to go to Kmart. When I came out, there were 4 or 5 pretty young girls around the car saying how cute it was and asked me for a ride. At this time I was 5'8", a very skinny 110 lbs. With bright red curly hair and a major acne complex. I had a hard time getting girls to smile at me and here they were asking me for a ride. 😎

1972 HONDA 600 COUPE SPECIFICATIONS 

GENERAL 

Air-cooled front engine, front-wheel drive, four-passenger, two-door coupe 


ENGINE

Air-cooled, two-cylinder, single overhead camshaft (SOHC)

Cylinder Arrangement   Vertical, parallel and transversely mounted

Bore & Stroke                   2.91 x 2.74 inches

Displacement                   36.5 cubic inches

Compression Ratio            8.5:1

Carburetor                        Keihin variable venturi w/accelerator pump

Valve Train                       Single overhead camshaft

Maximum Horsepower SAE 36 bhp @ 6,000 rpm

Maximum Torque              SAE31.8 Ib. ft. @ 4,000 rpm

Specific Power Output        .99 bhp/cubic inch

Cooling System                 Forced air cooling by high efficiency axial flow, behind the engine fan, supplemented by ram air

Fuel Required                    Regular grade gasoline

Engine Material                  Crankcase Cylinders: Aluminum Alloy Cast iron liners in finned aluminum alloy housing

Cylinder Head: Aluminum Alloy

 

DRIVE TRAIN

Transmission                   4 speed all synchromesh

Clutch Type                     Single dry plate, diaphragm

 

SUSPENSION

Front                               Independent, coil springs

Rear                                Semi-elliptic leaf springs

STEERING Type               Rack and pinion

Turning Circle                  32.2 feet

 

BRAKES

 Type                              Independent Dual Hydraulic System. Power Assisted Self-Adjust'ing Front Disc Brakes                                                                                 

TIRES

Tire Size                          145 SR 10 Radial Ply                                  

 

DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES

Wheelbase                       78.7 inches

Track, front                      45.9 inches

Track, rear                       44.3 inches

 Length                            122.8 inches

Height                              50.4 inches

Width                               51 inches

Curb Weight                      1312 pounds

Battery Capacity                 12Volt45A.H

Fuel Tank Capacity             6.9 gallons

 
PERFORMANCE

Maximum Speed                75 mph


Fuel Consumption                            Up to 40 miles per gallon



Click on the photo to see our other Microcar