encounter the granddaddy of today ’s Honda Civic CRX . It ’s the 1969 Honda S800 , the last and most sinewy version of one of the first Hondas with more than two wheel .
The S800 was born as the S360 , a prototype shown at the 1962 Tokyo Auto Show alongside the bike manufacturer ’s first output car , the aura - cooled , front - drive 1300 .
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The S360 was aim at the " light auto " family , then the self-aggrandising segment of the home market place , made up of dumpy little two - piston chamber sedans designed to characterise for sizable tax fracture under political science ordinance . But the tiny open two - seater looked like a " performance " auto to certain administration officials , and they deny it " light machine " status .
Honda struck back , enlarging the four - carb , hemi - straits four to 531cc for the 44 - H.P. S500 . It was a solid hit . measure just 130 inches long , 56.3 inches wide , and 47.3 inches high , it was built on a midget 79.0 - column inch wheelbase .
Drive was take aim to the rear via a four - fastness manual gearbox and motorcycle - eccentric string . The all - independent suspension system employ A - branch and torque bars up front , trail tie-in , coil springs , and an anti - roll bar in back . Steering was rack - and - pinion .
The S600 followed in 1964 with 606cc , 57 horsepower , a few styling change , and a newfangled coupe option to the roadster . Some 12,000 were sold both home and abroad – but not in the U.S. – through the closing of 1965 .
At the suggestion of far-famed subspecies machine driver Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren , Honda summate more power . The resulting 791cc S800 packed about 72 horsepower peaking at around 8,000 rpm . Chain private road collapse way to a formal hot rear axle and disc brakes supervene upon brake drum at the front , but most other spectacles were unchanged . Production ended in 1970 after some 11,400 units .
The 1969 Honda S800 featured was larn in 1982 by Norm Reeves Honda of Lakewood / Bellflower , California , which made the original possessor an even swap for it with a new Accord . Only some 200 S800s are known to exist in the U.S. , all in private imported . The dealership has put a $ 15,000 price tag on this restored red beauty , which still graces its showroom today . Like it ? Sorry , it ’s not for cut-rate sale .
