My N600 right before I remove the engine.

I didn't know what an N600 was until I moved to Arizona and one of the local Honda dealers had a perfect condition 600 sitting in the showroom.  It wasn't for sale, but the people at the dealer told me it was an extremely rare Honda, as it was the first Honda ever shipped to the USA and very few of them were made.  Well I thought it would be cool to own one so I kept an eye open in the local Auto Trader.  Sure enough, there were 5-6 different N600's over the course of a year or so and finally, my mom and I bought one for my father as a Father's Day present.  My father is a huge fan of tiny British convertible cars like the Frog Eyed Sprite, TR6, MG Midget, etc.  We couldn't afford any of those because a good condition TR6 is at least 4,000-5000 bucks and same with a Sprite.  The Midgets aren't as expensive, but neither my mother or myself had 2,000 to spend for a Father's Day present.  We figured that if he ever wanted one of the British cars, he had to have some experience restoring one(an old car) and since the N600's are cheap, it would be good practice.  Not to mention, I LOVE the Honda 600 line of cars.  Does it ever remind you of the story where you buy your sister a set of Craftsman wrenches for Christmans and the first thing you say when she opens the box is "If you don't need those wrenches, I would be happy to take them from you free of charge!"  Well my dad always like the N600's a lot, but deep down inside I really wanted one too.  So anyways, we got the N600 for real cheap from a private owner.  The guy selling the car was 6'4", 220lbs.  How he ever fit in the N600 is way beyond me.  The car ran fine when we bought it so naturally, I drove it around for the few weeks before Father's Day.

The car had a pretty straight body with only one dent in the quarter panel and a few dings in one door.  The engine ran decent, but needed a rebuild.  Everytime I drove the car it got slower and slower, which told me it was dying.  I worked at a body shop so naturally, my dad and I decided a new paint job was in order.  It had a Maaco special in blue, but it was originally frost white.  I removed the engine and the interior.  The stock interior would be kept so we can make templates for new panels, but the original interior wouldn't be used.  While N600's are rare, they don't have much value so keeping it all original isn't a huge concern.  We were first planning on painting it Fly Yellow, but now we decided on white.  The inside of the car would be a nightmare to paint and since it's already white, we're going back to white.  Which shade of white isn't decided on yet.  1st Auto Upolstery(sp?) in Tempe, AZ has been chosen to do the interior work.  My dad wants to give the car a rally look with extra lights, mag wheels, a noisy exhaust and a roll bar.  I want to leave it white and put some flames across the hood.  Greg Pyle, who is doing the bodywork wants to lower it and put flares on the fenders.  Since the sky is the limit, as no one has really custom modified an N600 around here, there are a trillion possibilities for this car.

Funny Facts for a Funny Car
...........................

= The stock, 2 cylinder 600cc engine(to give you an idea, my 92 Prelude is 2300cc, which is 3.8 times larger) produces an astonishing 35hp, which repels the car to 60mph in a blistering 23 seconds.

= I have yet to hit 60mph, as the top speed I reached in my test was 47mph.

= The stock wheels are 10", wrapped with 120mm wide tires.  My 79 Prelude has 195mm wide tires.

= The first time I drove the car, a 4-door Chevy Suburban passed me doing 60+mph which created enough turbulance to shoot my N600 into the next lane.  Freeway driving is not something to be careful when doing, it's not an issue whatsoever.

= Since the N600 is powered by a Honda motorcycle engine, people have revved car up to 12,000+rpms(safely!), higher than any other production car on the face of the planet.  Forget your S2000 or Type R Integra and it's 9000rpms, My N600 was revving 30% higher 80% earlier, as my N600 was made in 1969 and sold as a 1970 model.

= I haven't looked it up yet in the specs, but the stock disc brakes have to be no bigger than 8".  You can see the size in the picture.

= I drove the car to work one day.  After getting back from a delivery in Scottsdale, my N600 was parked on the sidwalk instead of the street.  Two employees lifted the car up and set it on the sidewalk, backwards.

= To remove the engine, you remove the 4 bolts from the motor mounts and lift the car in the air, and push it out of the way so the engine is sitting on the floor.

= I have never had more fun driving any car in the world, than the N600.  Driving the N600 makes life worth living and then some.  If you have never had the chance to drive a Microcar, email me and we can arrange and appointment.  When it's done I'm taking it across the country for a nice drive.

= If I left Phoenix driving 45mph, which is almost topped out, it will take 53.9 hours of driving to reach New York City.  If I installed a 46 gallon fuel tank, I could make it with no stops for gas.

Other N600's
 
 

		This is the Coupe version, called the Z600.
		S600