Time for us to immunise ourselves with protective jabs and machete our way through the poisonous jungle of motoring history, in the hope of maybe finding treasure in a clearing somewhere. Welcome once more to The Carchive.
Sometimes we chance upon a brochure which represents a category of car which sits at an extreme edge of the automotive spectrum. This diminutive brochure for the late ’60s N360, one of the original Kei cars,  is as fascinating as it is flimsy.


“Here’s Honda- with the neatest, trimmest small family saloon yet”
They crack straight on with the dimensions, at 118″ by 51″, making the car substantially smaller than some sandwiches I’ve eaten. This was a tiny, tiny car, powered by a tiny, tiny engine. The range started with the 360 and concluded with the 600.
Both were parallel-twin engines, single cam, cooled by forced air. The 360 could manage 31hp, the 600 45hp. Though it had less power I sould think that the 360 was probably the more fun to drive as that 31hp was developed at a screaming 8500rpm. Torque in the 360 was, as you might imagine, was virtually non-existant at 21 lb-ft.
“With a car of this size where else will you get all the following as standard equipment. Full air ventilation system, wind up front windows with opening quarter lights, windscreen washers, full underseal, laminated windscreen; automatic reversing lights…..”
It’s a proud list. I like the mention of underseal particularly, as well as AUTOMATIC reverse lights. It’s hard to imagine having to engage said lights manually.
The 600 was even more elaborately equipped, additionally featuring a genuine dual-line braking system, but it was the additional power which Honda were most keen to stress. They quote the car as cruising at speeds comfortably into the sixties, with a top speed beyond 80. Must have been interesting.

“The Honda N Series. Small-car motoring at luxury level.
“So much thought has gone into making this small saloon that it will delight and amaze you”
Luxury is a difficult thing to define, really. Honda speak of spaciousness and standard equipment to justify this tag, though I can’t imagine travel in an N360 or 600 to have been exactly ministerial in its lavishness.
Safety was quite strongly emphasised, too. There was “Luxury padding” (They go on to say “even on the back of the front seat for passengers in the back”. Er, good thinking.), recessed door handles and a jointed safety gear lever.

“The Hondamatic- for the performance you want, plus the reliability you need”
The N Series introduced a lot of people to the famous Hondamatic auto transmission, which is pretty similar in modus operandi to every stick-shift automatic transmission since then. It’s a three-speed unit with manual selection available in any gear.
They don’t quote performance figures by which to make a comparison, but I’d like to know how the slushbox affected those 45hp.
A show of hands from those of you who desperately want to have a go in the N360’s spiritual successor, N-One?
(All images are of original manufacturer publicity material, photographed by me. Copyright remains property of Honda. Incredible to think of this thing being built by the Ridgeline people)