Honda N600

The N600 arrived in Australia in very limited numbers around 1969-1970, making it one of the first Hondas ever officially sold here. Distributed through dealers including Adelaide Honda Cars at 124 Wakefield St, Adelaide. It was a curiosity more than a volume seller — a tiny, high-revving machine that gave Australian buyers their first taste of Honda's engineering philosophy.

The N600 was a transitional model, bridging Honda's motorcycle roots and its future as a mainstream car maker. The Civic that replaced it in 1972 took the same front-wheel-drive, transverse-engine philosophy and packaged it in a genuinely practical and competitive car.

The N600 was simply too small and too unusual for mainstream Australian buyers in the early 1970s. It found few takers but those who bought one were treated to a uniquely Honda experience — light, rev-happy and surprisingly capable.

The N600 holds a special place in Honda Australia history as one of the very first models sold here. Surviving examples are extremely rare and highly sought after by collectors. It represents the purest expression of Honda's founding philosophy: maximum performance from minimum displacement.