We all know that Hondas provide some of the best deals in cheap motoring fun, and Honda Japan knows this too. It’s been sponsoring a one-make race series in Japan since 1981, when the second-gen Super Civic debuted. From then on, some generation of Civic - Wonder, Grand, Sports, Miracle - has been the HOA (Honda One-Make Racing Association) chariot of choice until 2002 when the Integra took over. (more…)
We’re not sure how we became unhealthily obsessed with automobiles, but having kind parents who bought us Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars probably helped. It’s hard to believe that the little metal furniture scratchers will be 40 years old this year, but it’s true. And to celebrate, Mattel issued a Designer’s Challenge to stylists from actual car companies to come up with vehicles that represent the spirit of Hot Wheels.
We first saw them at the SEMA show last November, where one in particular caught our eye - the Honda H Racer. The red on Championship White paint job and tangle of exhaust pipes instantly evoked Soichiro’s F1 racers of the 60s in our one-track minds. Designer Guillermo Gonzalez also gave it a generous sprinkling of other Honda cues like red valve covers topping off the dual cams of a monster V10. In fact, the entire car is shaped like a Honda logo, with a driver and navigator sitting in each leg of the H. Time to break out the orange track.
Why yes, that is an airborne 1980 Toyota Tercel leaping over a herd of the now-extinct species Compactus domesticus. Plus a Honda. Though it began life in Japan in 1978, the Tercel arrived on our shores for the 1980 model year. It was the Big T’s first attempt at a front wheel drive vehicle, and apparently they really hadn’t nailed down the whole concept of FWD because the 1.5L inline four was still mounted longitudinally. Yet, unaccountably, they rub Honda’s nose in it.
Did the Tercel herald the coming of a revolutionary new layout to Toyota’s lineup or tragically symbolize the beginning of the end for rear wheel drive? Also, our readers ask in this forum thread, whether in 2020 the Tercel will be a classic or merely an old car. All we know is, any stuntwoman who can catch that much air in a car of any drivetrain configuration turns the keys to our hearts.
Last year we reported on this mysterious Honda Z600 with a jet engine protruding from where its rear window should have been. Armed only with some badly translated German, we boldly predicted “that any attempt at turning during full throttle in this thing would be [verboten] as well.” Well guess what? We called it! We called it! We called it like 1-800-Collect, baby! Ok, so it turns out you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a Garrett JFS100 turbine strapped to a kei car was not going to be a handling monster. And these imaginative Nee Zeelanders laugh in the face of rocket science, as well as in the face of their friend rolling over somewhat anticlimactically. Check out their videos here and here. And you thought this was the only jet powered Honda.
By any stretch of the imagination, the Honda City was a small car. It’s smaller than the modern-day Fit, which is still sold as the City in some Asian markets. That’s why it’s even more surprising that when the City debuted back in 1981, you could get one with a motorcycle in the back. However, know that the “motorcycle” was actually a 49cc two-stroker with a top speed of about 30mph, and that it would make any rider over age 12 look like a circus bear. Still, it was the perfect trackside runabout, and folded - nay, transformed - into a tidy little rectangle just small enough to prevent any obstruction in the City’s gaping rear window.
Now, thanks to ebay, a brand new, never used Motocompo that some nut has kept in the original box for 26 years can be yours for the price of $3500, or about the price of a spanking new City back in ‘81. Now you might think that’s a bit steep considering the Motocompo cost only $360 then, but for cryin’ out loud, the plastic is still on the seat! We’re sooo tempted to abscond with all that magazine subscription money y’all have sent in and head down to Huntington Beach right now.
Honda has often turned to the world of music for its model names - Concerto, Prelude, Jazz, Aria, Quintet, Beat, and the subject of today’s plunge into the rabbit hole of rebadging, the Ballade. Introduced in 1980 as a four-door sedan version of the popular Civic hatchback, the Honda Ballade had a British twin, the Triumph Acclaim (not to be confused with the much-maligned Plymouth Acclaim in the US).
This was the product of a deal between Honda, who was looking for a way to break into the European market and meet the UK’s domestic content requirements; and British Leyland, who desperately needed a modern, reliable car to regain its footing in the marketplace after years of labor strikes and plummeting quality. This led to what would become a 15-year tie-up between the two companies.
Honda’s investment proved to be exactly what British Leyland (later renamed Rover) needed to turn its fortunes around. Throughout the 80s, many a Civic, Accord and Legend were sold as a rebadged Rovers. Customers saw the brand slowly regain its reliability ratings and upmarket status. So much so, in fact, that the owners decided to sell the whole shebang out from under Honda’s nose to BMW in 1994. Burn!
Perhaps this is why ever since then, Honda has remained fiercely independent, even throughout the merger-mania that gripped the auto industry in the 90s. The Acclaim was the final car to ever wear the once-proud Triumph name, but at least British Leyland lives on to entertain us as the butt of frequent jokes on Top Gear.
Sigh. We wish we had the budget to head over to Switzerland. We’d love to attend the glitzy shindig known as the Geneva Motor Show (which is going on right now), sample some Swiss chocolate, and visit the Swiss Toyota Museum while we’re at it.
Alas, we have neither the time nor the funds, so we’re living vicariously through our buddies at Autoblog, who snapped some cool photos of Honda F1 racers, old and new. In the sixties, Honda had a knack for coming out of nowhere to take checkered flags, and this RA300, driven by John Surtees in its inaugural race at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix, was no exception. Not bad for an automaker who had only debuted their first car four years prior. Unfortunately, Honda hasn’t been quite as successful in recent years, but the company hopes the new RA108 will change its fortunes for the upcoming year. Maybe by placing the two machines side by side, they’re hoping the RA300’s aura will rub off.
The Geneva Motor Show continues until March 16, 2008.
Honda has often turned to the world of music for its model names - Concerto, Prelude, Jazz, Aria, Quintet, Beat, and the subject of today’s plunge into the rabbit hole of rebadging, the Ballade. Introduced in 1980 as a four-door sedan version of the popular Civic hatchback, the Honda Ballade had a British twin, the Triumph Acclaim (not to be confused with the much-maligned 
Sigh. We wish we had the budget to head over to Switzerland. We’d love to attend the glitzy shindig known as the Geneva Motor Show (which is going on right now), sample some Swiss chocolate, and visit the 