Vintage Brochure for 1964 Honda T500 Truck
Winding Road scanned this ad for the 1964 Honda T500 truck which, despite being printed in English, was never properly released in the States. What a looker.
The T500 used the same engine as the famous S500 roadster, cranking out a whopping 38HP and 31 lb-ft of torque, yet that was still enough to get it to highway speeds (barely) with a fuel economy of around 50MPG.
There is nothing about this truck I don't love. I really wish vehicles like this were the default choice for today's driver. Sure, it could only haul around 880 pounds of stuff, but how often does the average person need to move around more than that?
Vintage Literature: 1964 Honda T500 [Winding Road]
the latest
latest episodes
So cute!!!
[For some strange reason, my brain typo'ed that as "so city," which in a way is appropriate.]
I'd lay a fiver on the majority of pickups on the road as never having seen more than 880 pounds of cargo. Especially the newer ones.
I'd lay a fiver on the majority of pickups on the road as never having seen more than 880 pounds of cargo. Especially the newer ones.
Depends on whether or not you count people as cargo. The average US family probably weighs more than 880 pounds these days.
It looks so happy...
I think the Chevron cars and trucks are direct descendants of this little thing. I'm with Joel: I'd love to see more like this on the roads.
How many average US families can squeeze into the cab of a pickup? When I say "pickup," btw, I'm referring to a vehicle with two doors and a bench seat. Bucket seats are nice, but if you get up to 4 doors, buddy, you've got a van with a truck bed attached. Pickups are for one or two workmen (and maybe a dog) plus tools and/or materials. Not families.
The engine was a real wonder - it revved to 7,500 RPM, and was like a tiny race motor. All roller-bearings and twin-cams, very few car or truck engines ever reached its level of sophistication for a street-use vehicle.
The 1960's New Zealand/Czech hybrid 'Trekka' was similar in concept, but with optional added traction for rural use. Other optional luxuries included a heater and a towbar. Cost prohibited the development of such cheery bodywork as the Honda T500...
Unfortunately deregulation of the NZ Auto industry in the early 70's partly lead to the demise of the mighty 1200cc sport utility...www.trekka.co.nz
Suzuki, Nissan and Daihatsu (and probably other Japanese motor companies) still produce tiny vans which certainly have a place in the UK market. They are usually about eleven feet long and maybe 5'6" high with sub-1000cc engine and a capacity of about a thousand pounds (around 600kg in the new money). My Dad had one for his sewing machine business and he could get a couple of industrial machines in the back, and even up to 50mph downhill with the wind behind him. I'm sure people have tried to convert them into camper vans too, but they'd be, ah, snug to say the least. You'd never see them in North America as they'd be blown off the road by the average sedan.