This Car Is Related To The One Above because...

[rblote]

Honda built it's first motor bike a long time ago

Honda's first motorcycle,
a 1949 Model D (Dream)
Coichiro Honda began producing motorcycles in Japan shortly after World War II to satisfy the war torn country’s need for cheap transportation. The first Honda motorcycle that featured both a Honda designed motor and frame was produced in 1949. It was called the Model D for Dream.

[rblote]

The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car, which followed the T360 into production in October 1963. Its chain-driven rear wheels pointed to Honda's motorcycle origins.

[vulgalour]

That car there is 'Serial One', the very first Honda imported to America: www.serialone.com/ and is an N600. I would have liked to tell you what the first American car imported to Japan was, but I can't find that out. What is unusual about the N600 is that chain-driven system which, by 1963, was definitely an unconventional way of doing things for the time. Chain driven cars were much more commonplace decades previous, especially so on any number of lightweight 'cyclecars'.

One excellent example of these early chain driven cars is this Villard three wheeler (dates from somwhere between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s) with the unusual approach of having the chain driving the front wheel, which also steers.  Normally, the chain provides drive to the rear wheels rather than the front, as with the N600.

For some sense of scale, and to see just how unusual a thing it really is in motion, here's a short video of it in action.

[accord83]

This is a Berkeley B95 with chain drive from the engine to the differential

[Milord]

Wow that thing must be extremely nose-heavy with the location of the engine like that!

Reminds me of most audi's the Urquattro which had the engine in front of the front axle as well!

[s1105117]

1983 World Rally Championship, the Quattro vs

[darrenh]

The styling for the 037 was loosely based on the pininfarina designed lancia montecarlo

[vulgalour]

Those Lancias have a side-hinged engine cover, just like a late-40s Buick Roadmaster. The Buick's side-opening hood was supposedly to give you easier access to the engine and the hinges and latches are quite clever because when you shut it, you can open it from the other side if you wish.

[ToolsnTrack]

The later Roadmaster had a side opening tailgate...

[Milord]

1954 Kaiser Darrin, with sliding pocket doors!

[rblote]

Kaiser Wilhelm III owned a A 1933 Mercedes-Benz Type Nürnburg 500

[misteralz]

That old Merc is in The Louwman Museum in Den Haag, which is one of the largest car museums in the world and an easy place to lose an entire day in. The collection was started in 1934 with a then twenty-year-old Dodge:



Edit - they've also got a Kaiser-Darrin there!

[accord83]

The Dodge has a porthole window, so does the Pinto Cruising Wagon.

[georgeb]

Aug 27, 2018 0:47:47 GMT vulgalour said:

One excellent example of these early chain driven cars is this Villard three wheeler (dates from somwhere between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s) with the unusual approach of having the chain driving the front wheel, which also steers.  Normally, the chain provides drive to the rear wheels rather than the front, as with the N600.

I assume the engine moved with the front wheel?

[mrbounce]

Aug 28, 2018 12:57:52 GMT accord83 said:

The Dodge has a porthole window, so does the Pinto Cruising Wagon.

The Pinto was involved in a controversy over its fuel tank position and safety when hit from behind. Another Ford to suffer was the Explorer whose Firestone tyres tended to explode and this in turn would result in a rollover and life threatening situations. 

  

Fixed it! 

[vulgalour]

It's because of safety concerns about rollovers that cars after a certain date are afflicted with often quite unattractive rollover bars. That's why the Triumph Stag looks like a weird pick-up from some angles instead of a potentially very elegant car with the roof down. These looks loads better with the hard top fitted.

[mino]

another car owing parts of it's design to the same roll-over-safety regulations (and coping a bit better in my opinion) was the Fiat X1/9





They just made it a bit uglier later on for the sake of more US regulations...

[vulgalour]

We're going back to Alfa Romeo via Brazil, because the X1/9 was sold as a blatant rip off as the Dardo over there. They look like this.



It just so happens that the name Dardo is also used by Alfa Romeo for a concept they created. I'd never heard of either of these cars until trying to find an interesting link from the X1/9 and both of these Dardo cars are certainly that.



Dardo is Italian for Dart, if that's any help to the next link hunter.

[mrbounce]

That beautiful Alfa Dardo concept was of course designed by Pininfarina. Another convertible penned by that great house of design was one that went into production in the 80s, and was not a massive commercial success despite them building 21000 of them. Step forward the Cadillac Allante, which has as little to do with a dart as possible!!

 

[darrenh]

Allanté is the french word for energy, so heres a renault 19 1.4 energy which also has the proud title of first car i ever drove on my own.