1965 Honda S600 coupe - today's auction tempter

By: Unique Cars magazine

Date: 04.10.2023

1965 Honda S600 coupe - today's auction tempter

1965 Honda S600 coupe - today's auction tempter

1965 Honda S600 coupe - today's auction tempter

1965 Honda S600 coupe - today's auction tempter

Early sports classic

For fans of early Japanese cars, Honda's S600 counts as something special – particularly when you look at what the company has produced since then.

The S600 was a development of the S500 and is regarded as Honda's first proper mass-market automobile. The soft-top was launched in 1964 and the coupe you see here in 1965.

They were first produced in right-hand drive for the domestic market, but the company was soon producing left-hookers for export.

Both were powered by a liquid-cooled inline four - which was unique to this car as the Honda did not have a liquid-cooled production motorcycle engine at the time. 

By way of contrast, the later Coupe 9 S ran a fan/air-cooled engine.

Displacing 606cc (up from the S500s 531) and running double overhead cams, it had four Keihin CV arburetors, a feature that was very much motorcycle thinking. It claimed 57hp, a respectable number, and a top speed of 90mph (145km/h). The transmission was a four-speed manual.

The coupe weighed just 730kg, 15 more than the convertible.

Collecting Cars has this tidy-looking example up for auction.

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