Mr. Honda's Private Project
Filed in archive Japanese Oldies , Oddball Autos by Philip Powell on December 12, 2006
At first glance I'd have sworn the car in the photo is a Datsun. At second glance, too. But it is a rare - in North America - 1972 Honda 1300 Coupe 7. The story behind it is quite fascinating, for this was a private project of company founder Soichiro Honda and the last one with which he was personally involved. Mr. Honda, who raced cars in his younger years and built fine motorcycles, was eager to display his company's technological prowess with a truly unique automobile. Although the Coupe 7 looks conventional, under the hood is is an air-cooled
overhead-cam engine featuring an aluminum block and cylinder head, and dry-sump lubrication. It had front-wheel-drive, four carbs on a Coupe 9 version, and an unusual cross-over swing axle system. Most of the 35,804 Coupes were sold in Japan while a mere 1,058 were exported, largely to Australia. If you'd care to learn more about Soichiro Honda's Coupe 7 and Coupe 9, there's an excellent Web site which also displays a delightful 1:43 diecast model. It is one 1300 Coupe you can, at least, buy here.Permalink: Mr. Honda's Private Project
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Soichiro Honda 1300 coupe 7 9 classic vintage antique collector old car cars auto automobile automob
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