Honda Z600 Sells for $27,500 at Barrett Jackson

Hold on to your H-shaped hood ornaments, dear readers. You’re looking at a record breaking, potentially history making, piece of J-tin here. At the Barrett Jackson auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona yesterday, the value of this 1972 Honda Z600 Coupe went up to $27,500 when the gavel dropped. But our sources say that a year ago, this was an $8500 car that wasn’t even running properly. How did it more than triple its value in such a short time?


A year ago this very car showed up at the Norm Reeves Honda Show, where we saw it in person. It hailed from a Texas dealership, displayed there as a conversation starter. The Spring Yellow body had managed to elude rust and stay straight, and came with a full dossier of original paperwork. The mechanicals, however, were a different story.


It only had 35,100 actual miles, but no one at the dealership knew how to work on the air-cooled two-cylinder. The new owner brought it to SoCal Honda 600 expert Tim Mings of Merciless Mings and the restoration began.


With the car transformed into a concours-level example, it sold for $19,000 to a gentleman for the express purposes of entering it into Barrett-Jackson. In fact, this professional entered about 25 cars in the auction and did this for a living, which makes his choice of the Honda all the more noteworthy.

When the bidding reached the $20,000 mark the auctioneer announced, “This might be the start of a new trend,” before resuming. The final price of $27,500 is, as far as we know, the most a Z600 has ever sold for. Could this open the floodgates for more nostalgics at upcoming auctions? Suddenly, that pile of J-tin in your driveway just got a little more interesting.

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31 Responses to Honda Z600 Sells for $27,500 at Barrett Jackson

  1. Kev says:

    Wow!

    I still find it weird that those Skylines that RHDJapan had were so hard to shift, if there are ppl willing to pay this much for a little Honda.

  2. vballin says:

    Just a theory, but these cars appeal to 2 different groups. The Skylines are for us, who love JDM culture, Wats, and slammedness (and are generally poor). The Honda (and Barrett Jackson) appeals to older collectors with money. The latter group certainly knows what a Honda is, but think a Skyline is a collection of tall buildings. 🙂

  3. cesariojpn says:

    BRB, trolling junkyards and backyards.

  4. E-AT_me says:

    wow! Jay Leno paid less for his S600, i believe..

  5. Nigel says:

    The average customer at Barret Jackson thinks a Laurel is an airplane and that negative camber is for race cars.

  6. Kevin Lee says:

    i wish i could find a z600 in my town, then i could transform it and send to the states. at least im gonna get my money back, hahah

  7. bert says:

    One of my Honda dealers has a N600? sitting right inside their front door, with a plaque that tells of Honda’s and the cars history. I hope they don’t find out about this, or I may never see it again!

  8. j.a.c.k says:

    great article. these little cars are pretty sweet and that shifter in there is wacky! haha. i’ve never seen the inside of one of these things. probably cause i don’t think my 240lb butt could even fit in a z600 🙁

  9. Steven M says:

    Sure you’ll fit. I am 220 and don’t have an issue getting into mine. I am however thinking about rigging the seat so that it can move further BACK for extra legroom…

    Steve
    http://www.honda600coupe.com

  10. Neil says:

    Almost makes me think twice about turning my FB into a dirft car… almost

  11. madFaber says:

    Fashion or function for sure, people who pay that kinda money just want it for novelty, don’t get me wronw I love the old hondas as much as the next but 100 bones says the guy who bought that can’t even spell JDM

  12. 2ndGenGuy says:

    Can’t believe I just sold TWO N600s for $800. Fail.

  13. Sarcasmo says:

    $27, 500 for that lemonball? .. and I thought Obama spent alotta money on nonsense. HAHAA!!

    That Barrett Jackson crowd thinks a Cedric is a fat, black comedian… and a Gloria is the daughter of Archie Bunker. Morons.

  14. cesariojpn says:

    Many good cars died under Obama’s Cash for Clunkers scheme.

  15. daddsun says:

    There was an equally presentable Honda Z600 for sale (blue in color) on Hemmings’ website in the classifieds section about 6 months ago for less than $8,000.

    Just goes to show that maybe a stock configured Japanese vintage car is worth more in the long run than a tastelessly mmodified one? When is the last time you saw a stock original rust free Honda CRX Si with all paperwork for sale? Same could be said for lots of Japanese vintage cars.

  16. Neil says:

    daddsun, I would kill for a stock rust free 87 CRX SI!

    Ben, Right now I’m finishing up my DC2 oval car and the FB is sitting in a barn at the end of a snow covered field. So I cant get to it until spring. But I will most definatly post pictures in the forum when I get started.

  17. These cars are finally fetching the kind of auction bids usually only seen for muscle cars.

  18. Xs10shl says:

    Well I previewed this car at the auction and I have to say that I have never seen a nicer one. I mean- Not by a long shot. Perhaps I’m not as familiar with where these tend to be advertised but if anyone thinks they have a nicer one than this to sell I’d be happy to see it.

    That said. I’d agree that it’s a lot of money regardless.

  19. Xs10shl says:

    Just read my post and realized that I was sounding like I was trying to claim the price may have been spot on. Not so. It seemed high to me, yet somehow undestandable after seeing tens of ratty ones advertised over the years.

    I’d still like to see of anyone thinks they know of a nicer one. Just an exercise to see how many truly restored examples there are out there.

  20. Bill in SD says:

    I have been watching the sales of Honda 600 Coupes and Sedans for a number of years and as with all collector cars the price of the #1 car is much greater than the 10 footer we see at most shows or dealer displays. With all numbers matching, a fresh reseal on the engine along with the degree of detail (Yellow paint on the brake line nuts and original red vacuum hose to the booster) this is a very nice and well-done car. The price is not high as there are very few matching this level of restoration. In 2003 May issue of Hemmings Motor News the Honda 600 Coupe was included in the line up of 2003 Sleepers, these are Hemmings’ top five future collectibles. Maybe this sleeper has finally opened their collective eyes.

  21. ConcoursCRX87si says:

    Glad to see J-tin getting some Barrett attention. Beautiful car at almost 40yrs old.

    For those CRX lovers out there, here’s the beginnings of a concours restoration. Bolt for bolt OEM.

    http://www.redpepperracing.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45914&st=45

  22. joe says:

    don’t knock BJ too much, i may hang my mouth open watching what these cars are going for…but we still get to see some pretty badass cars that usually dont come out too often…I remember a pretty nice looking w-30 olds that I’d pay an arm and a kidney for

  23. Fred says:

    It makes me happy to see this, seeing as how I have a rust free 1972 Z 600, with under 34,000 original miles on it. The paint is still original, except for the left door and left front fender. It was maintained by Tim Mings, who purchased it from the estate when the owner died. The body has a lot of small dents and dings, so I have been trying to decide on whether to keep it absolutely original or do the bodywork and paint. My car was used last year in a Sprint commercial, that you can find on this site:

    I wonder how much my 1967 Honda S-800 will be worth, after I finish it?

  24. Hako says:

    If there were any N or Z series cars that would fetch those types of prices it would have to be a Tim mings restoration. Roughly 7 years ago there was an n600 that sold at Barrett Jackson for $6,750. Im glad these cars are getting respect they deserve.

    http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx?aid=47&ln=107&pop=0&it=1

  25. Kris Dahl says:

    I’m 6’1″ and about 240 right now and easily fit into my Z600 and N600’s. Getting into many 60’s vintage imports (especially British) are harder to get into.

    Legroom is not in abundance, but it works.

    I think the cars have long-since been undervalued. Biggest issue is perhaps that as a proletarian car, they were not cared for like sports cars and marquee names. All the ones I’ve gotten were run for about 10 years and then needed a points adjustment or the coil went out and they were parked. I’m sure many were crushed–but they were just unique and cute enough (and took up so little space) that people hung onto them. If they were crushed like the CVCCs, Datsuns and other contemporary Japanese cars were they would be really, really rare and regularly fetching $25k.

  26. chong says:

    I have a 1972 Datsun 1200 in pretty good shape with 76,000 original miles stock 4cyl 13 inch rims BUT it needs paint

  27. Carl Howard says:

    I have a 72 honda z600 coupe just as nice as the one at barrett jackson i will take 18 grand for mine

  28. Carl Howard says:

    I just love these little cars

  29. BHJose says:

    next time

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