Welcome to the online community of First Generation Honda Owners
devoted to the world of 1st generation Honda car enthusiasts. We
currently have approximately over 1400 registered to the site. Our beautiful antique Civics and Accords, Preludes range from the first 1973 Honda Civic to 1974,
1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979; 1200's and CVCC models. We take
pride in showing off our labors of love and some participate in gatherings
in order to meet other owners in remote areas. Our numbers are small
regionally but as a global community we can stand out! So take a tour of our
site and feast your eyes on our vintage Japanese vehicles. Owners of other classic
Hondas such as first generation Preludes, second generation Honda
Civics' and S360, S500, S600's, N600, Z600, Spex Elf kit car and more of the Honda 60's cars are welcome here too.
Get helpful information on tuning and technical data and specifications,
custom bodywork, welding, engine swaps and our helpful members will help you
on your way to customizing your ride if that your wish.. Find pages of
brochures, resources of books for repairs and guides for do it your self,
swap and sell your parts.
The 1300 Coupe was introduced in 1969 as one of Hondas'
first full size car. Also considered as (Coupe 7 or Coupe 9) This unique car that has a top
speed of 185 km/h (115 mph). This was achieved with a (SOHC) single overhead cam
engine with 4 Keihin carburetors, it’s transverse four cylinder engine was
air cooled and ran at 7200rpm to make 100hp from 1298cc’s of motor.
It has a 4-speed manual transmission with a silent chain driven all syncro gearbox.
The front was held up by MacPherson struts, while the rear used a swing axle; a more modern style attached to
leaf springs.
The 1300 was replaced by the 1973 Honda 143 Coupe powered by a 1433cc engine, now water cooled and quickey outdone by the
introduction of the Civic a year ealier (1972)
The Honda S360 was introduced in 1962 as a
prototype car. This 4 seated convertible sports car that had a top
speed of 100km/h. This was achieved with a new double overhead cam
engine with 4 carburetors, it’s inline four cylinder engine was
water cooled and ran at 9000rpm to make 33hp from 356cc’s of motor.
It had a 5-speed manual transmission with a chain driven final drive
with rear independent suspension. The S360 never went into production
because of Japanese restrictive displacement laws. Future changes of
the S360 would increase the engine size to 531cc @ 44hp with drum
brakes to make the new model S500 convertible for the Japanese
domestic market.
HONDA will soon have delivered the millionth Civic to its customer somewhere in the World. Few cars have aroused as much interest and speculation as the next Honda which would be launched at the height of the Civics' almost mythical success. The new Accord, a thoroughly developed design with many praiseworthy features, fulfills the expectation and more. This is one Japanese car which is judged by its design and technical finesse, commendable road manners, rather than by generous equipment The Accord is a sound development of the Civic in its basic mechanical configuration and design. It is an evolutionary car.
Honda CVCC EF Inline four, transversely mounted and inclined 15 degrees forward, powered by a 1599cc capacity engine delivering a Bore and stroke of 74x93mm. That’s a 8:1 Compression ratio. Power is delivered by a water cooled cast iron block with a aluminium head. The head drives a single overhead camshaft, cogged belt driven and acting on three valves per cylinder through rocker arms. One intake valve in pre-chamber. One each intake and exhaust valve in main combustion chamber. (Remember this is the new emission friendly CVCC design used in the Civics’). It’s carbureted by a Honda-Kehin CVCC triple choke downdraft carburetor, fed from a 50 litre fuel tank by an electric pump. Japanese power rated at 80hp at 5300 rpm, equivalent to approximately 72 bhp. Torque rated at 12.3 kg-m JIS at 3000 rpm. Honda CVCC dual combustion chamber charge stratification, deceleration and ignition control, meeting the 1976 Japanese Emission Standards.
Wheels are driven by either 4-speed manual., 5-speed manual or Honda 2-speed semi-automatic. The manual transmission transfers it power through the use of a single dry plate clutch that is hydraulically operated. The weight of this new Honda is 855kg for the SL model to 890kg for the EX version.
The Honda Accord design can be compared to the Scirocco or the Toyota Sprinter LB (Corolla). There styling at a glance is very similar between the three models.
Performance and more stylsh than the Accord. It was released with an
1751cc EK1 motor pumping out 72hp compared to the 68hp of the standard Accord model. Whellbase 91.3, 2.4 inches less than the Accord, Prelude could compete at the quarter-mile in 18.8 seconds at 70 mph, however backseat space was at a minimum.
The one feature that was a mainstay in this car was the power sun roof. The Prelude's main power plant was a 1751cc version of the Accord's CVCC SOHC four producing 72 hp at 4,500 rpm and 94 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm, backed by either the Hondamatic 2-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual transmission.
Four wheel independent struts, brakes and floorpans were all borrowed from the second generation Civic design.
It was a front-wheel drive two-door sedan
with a 78.7-inch wheelbase and approximately 122inches long. It was
technologically advanced for its time. It had a mere height of 52.2inches
and a curb weight of 1213lbs powered by a type S2, SOHC, 599 cc (36.553 cu
in) air cooled 2 cylinder engine able to reach a top speed of 81 mph. This
little car was suspended on rear torsion bar and leaf springs.
It was the first front wheel drive 2 door sedan Honda imported into North
America in March of 1970, It was first introduced in Hawaii in 1969. It
was priced around $1,300.00us.
The
sporty Z600 coupe was introduced in the US in 1971 with a total production
of 40,586 sedans and coupes were sold here. Approximately less than 2-1/2%
remain today of that number of which most were sedans.
The 2door Z600 hatchback originally had a 345cc engine in the Japanese
market, a more robust 599cc engine was squeezed in for the European
markets. It came in basic colors of primarily orange, yellow, olive green
and blue. The power plant was a Air-cooled, two cylinder SOHC aluminum
engine, this gas miser came through during the oil crisis of the 70’s
giving the owners a excellent fuel efficient car, it was rated to get
approximately 40mpg while it only held 6.9 gallons of gas.
The Honda Z600 was built on a 123in x 51in chassis and approximately 51in
high with a Curb weight of 1312lbs. Given it’s small size it was found to
still give reasonable comfort to the driver and front passenger. The back
seat would be described as storage only because of the little wiggle room
in the back. This car had some interesting advances like retractable seat
belts and a in dash seat belt warning system, front wheel drive and power
assist brakes.
Dubbed Road Sailing, it was a more performance
oriented civic opposed to the standard economy-boxes we all know. It was released with an
1170cc EB1 motor pumping out 70hp compared to the 50hp of the standard model. Engine
modifications included twin Keihin carburetors, a freer flowing exhaust manifold, longer
duration cam (15 degrees), domed pistons (bumped compression up to 8.6:1), and
strengthened crank bearings. Handling was increased with a set of stiffer springs (30%),
shorter stiffer struts and 13" wheels wrapped in 155-80-13 tires. The wheels were
black with a polished lip and had a red "H" center cap- this is where the red
Honda "H" started. Besides the RS badge on the front grill other exterior
options included flared fenders, fender mounted rearview mirrors, and a slightly different
bumper assembly. The RS's were only released in warm red/orange paint schemes. The
predominantly black vinyl interior included a wooden steering wheel and shift knob, center
console, grab handles, a mechanical tachometer graded to 7k rpm, and a center auxiliary pod with
fuel/temp gauges and an air vent. The US gauge pods merely had the gauges for fuel and
temp.
The CVCC engine debuted in 1975.
Offered alongside the standard Civic engine, the 53-horsepower CVCC
engine displaced 1,488 cc and had a head design that promoted
cleaner, more efficient combustion. The CVCC design eliminated a
need for a catalytic converter or unleaded fuel to meet emissions
standards. (Nearly every other U.S. market car for this year
underwent the change to exhaust catalysts and the requirement to use
only unleaded fuel.) Due to California's stricter emissions
standards, only the Civic CVCC was available in that state.
A
five-speed manual gearbox became available this year, as did a Civic
station wagon (only with the CVCC engine). A CVCC engine has a special cylinder head. The CVCC head uses a stratified charge combustion chamber.
A
stratified combustion mixture is richer at the sparkplug and much
leaner at the main part of the combustion chamber. The rich mixture
is easily ignited by the sparkplug and this initial flame will
ignite the remaining leaner mixture. The CVCC head uses a
pre-combustion chamber that is about the size of a thimble. The CVCC
carburetor is actually two carburetors in one, a lean part and a rich part.
The
lean part feeds the main combustion chamber and the rich part feeds
the pre-combustion chamber. The rich mixture in the pre-combustion
chamber is ignited . A "flame hole" in the pre-combustion
chamber allows the pre-combustion flame to blow across the regular
combustion chamber and ignite the lean mixture.
The philosophy at Honda's engineering department has always been,
"Keep it simple'.' Sometimes it's more difficult and requires a lot
more ingenuity to keep a design clean and simple rather than doing
things in a complicated way.
The 1200 and the CVCC are both good examples of clean, straightforward styling.
Everything on the car is there for a definite purpose. And what you
don't see, the engine and chassis parts were all designed with the
same goal in mind.. ."build it right, but keep it simple'.''
The 1300 Coupe was introduced in 1969 as one of Hondas'
first full size car. Also considered as (Coupe 7 or Coupe 9) This unique car that has a top
speed of 185 km/h (115 mph). This was achieved with a (SOHC) single overhead cam
engine with 4 Keihin carburetors, it’s transverse four cylinder engine was
air cooled and ran at 7200rpm to make 100hp from 1298cc’s of motor.
The Honda S360 was introduced in 1962 as a
prototype car. This 4 seated convertible sports car that had a top
speed of 100km/h. This was achieved with a new double overhead cam
engine with 4 carburetors, it’s inline four cylinder engine was
water cooled and ran at 9000rpm to make 33hp from 356cc’s of motor.
HONDA will soon have delivered the millionth Civic to its customer somewhere in the World. Few cars have aroused as much interest and speculation as the next Honda which would be launched at the height of the Civics' almost mythical success. The new Accord, a thoroughly developed design with many praiseworthy features, fulfills the expectation and more. This is one Japanese car which is judged by its design and technical finesse, commendable road manners, rather than by generous equipment The Accord is a sound development of the Civic in its basic mechanical configuration and design. It is an evolutionary car.
Performance and more stylsh than the Accord. It was released with an
1751cc EK1 motor pumping out 72hp compared to the 68hp of the standard Accord model. Whellbase 91.3, 2.4 inches less than the Accord, Prelude could compete at the quarter-mile in 18.8 seconds at 70 mph, however backseat space was at a minimum.
The one feature that was a mainstay in this car was the power sun roof. The Prelude's main power plant was a 1751cc version of the Accord's CVCC SOHC four producing 72 hp at 4,500 rpm and 94 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm, backed by either the Hondamatic 2-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual transmission.
Four wheel independent struts, brakes and floorpans were all borrowed from the second generation Civic design.
It was a front-wheel drive two-door sedan
with a 78.7-inch wheelbase and approximately 122inches long. It was
technologically advanced for its time. It had a mere height of 52.2inches
and a curb weight of 1213lbs powered by a type S2, SOHC, 599 cc (36.553 cu
in) air cooled 2 cylinder engine able to reach a top speed of 81 mph. This
little car was suspended on rear torsion bar and leaf springs.
The
sporty Z600 coupe was introduced in the US in 1971 with a total production
of 40,586 sedans and coupes were sold here. Approximately less than 2-1/2%
remain today of that number of which most were sedans. 
Dubbed Road Sailing, it was a more performance
oriented civic opposed to the standard economy-boxes we all know. It was released with an
1170cc EB1 motor pumping out 70hp compared to the 50hp of the standard model. Engine
modifications included twin Keihin carburetors, a freer flowing exhaust manifold, longer
duration cam (15 degrees), domed pistons (bumped compression up to 8.6:1), and
strengthened crank bearings. Handling was increased with a set of stiffer springs (30%),
shorter stiffer struts and 13" wheels wrapped in 155-80-13 tires. The wheels were
black with a polished lip and had a red "H" center cap- this is where the red
Honda "H" started. Besides the RS badge on the front grill other exterior
options included flared fenders, fender mounted rearview mirrors, and a slightly different
bumper assembly. The RS's were only released in warm red/orange paint schemes. The
predominantly black vinyl interior included a wooden steering wheel and shift knob, center
console, grab handles, a mechanical tachometer graded to 7k rpm, and a center auxiliary pod with
fuel/temp gauges and an air vent. The US gauge pods merely had the gauges for fuel and
temp.
The CVCC engine debuted in 1975. 