Heroic Hondas
Although a relative newcomer to the car industry, at least compared with other major manufacturers, Honda is today one of its giants.
This could not have happened if Honda hadn’t produced several splendid vehicles, many of them renowned for the technical virtuosity of their design.
Here we present, in chronological order, 31 of the Japanese company’s greatest hits, all of which went on sale (though in some cases only just) during the 20th century.
1. 1963 Honda S500
The S500 was the first Honda passenger car to go on sale, and by a matter of months only its second four-wheeled vehicle after the tiny T360 truck.
Both might have been preceded by the S360 kei class sports car, which was revealed to the public at the Suzuka circuit in 1962, but that high-revving machine was considered to lack appeal in Japan and to have insufficient power for customers in other markets, and was never put into production.
Instead, Honda developed the S500, similar to the S360 in many respects but slightly larger and with a 531cc twin-cam engine.
It was on the market only briefly, but it was a spectacular debut, and was followed by other, even faster two-seaters.
2. 1964 Honda S600
The Honda S600 was more or less the same car as the S500, though its jewel of an engine had been enlarged to 606cc.
Like the S500, it was offered as a roadster, but it was also the first Honda available with a coupé body.
The S600 was the first Honda built at its new Sayama factory (the T360 and S500 having been manufactured at Hamamatsu), beginning a long tradition for the company.
Total vehicle production at Sayama reached 100 million in December 2016, although this long-standing plant was shut down just a few years later.
3. 1966 Honda S800
Until the introduction of the S2000 many years later, the S800 was the last of Honda’s S-model two-seat roadsters.
The engine now had a capacity of 791cc and produced 70bhp, and with some early exceptions this was the first S to use a thoroughly conventional transmission rather than sending the engine’s power to the rear axle through a chain.
The S800M, sometimes known as the S800 Mk2, was the same car except for some extra safety equipment which allowed it to be sold in the US.
Honda kept going with the S800 until 1969, making this by far the longest-lived of the early S cars.
4. 1967 Honda N360
The N360 was Honda’s first passenger car in the kei class, a Japan-specific category for small vehicles which were cheap to tax.
Designed, in Honda’s words, ‘from the cabin outward’, and very competitively priced, it went on sale in March 1967, and was quickly followed by the related LN360 commercial van in June and the TN360 truck in October.
The non-kei N600, with a much larger engine, was introduced in 1968, but lacked the 360’s low-cost appeal in Japan, and sold poorly elsewhere.
Despite the 600’s lack of success, total N production reached one million in September 1970, four years before Honda decided to leave the kei class (which it didn’t return to for more than a decade) in order to focus on building more Civics.
5. 1970 Honda Z
The Honda Z looked similar to the N cars, and was related to them, but its two-door coupé body style was different from that of any N.
Production was relatively brief, being restricted to the early-to-mid 1970s, but the Z nicely illustrates a change of emphasis within Honda.
It first appeared with a 354cc, air-cooled, twin-cylinder engine, but this was soon replaced by another, slightly larger, twin measuring 356cc and a later one with a capacity of 598cc, both featuring water cooling.
Remaining true to its roots as a motorcycle manufacturer, Honda had persevered with air cooling for its mass-market cars for quite some time, but the failure of its 1300 model persuaded it that using water was the way to go.
6. 1972 Honda Civic
The unsuccessful 1300 was replaced in 1972 by the first-generation Honda Civic, an epoch-making model which set its maker on the course to future success.
Its engine, originally measuring 1.2 litres, was a four-cylinder development of the little water-cooled 356cc unit used in the Z.
Its capacity would rise, in several stages, to 1.5 litres, and latterly it was equipped with Honda’s Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion system, more conveniently known as CVCC.
Despite being very small by American standards, the Honda Civic contributed strongly to an enormous increase in US sales, which rocketed from just 4159 in 1970 to 375,388 10 years later.
7. 1976 Honda Accord
Four years after the introduction of the Civic, Honda brought out another model name which it would continue to use for a very long time.
The first Accord – a size up from the Civic, but significantly smaller than later Accords would be – was available as both a four-door saloon and a three-door hatchback, and was powered by 1.6- and 1.8-litre petrol engines (Honda refusing to countenance a diesel until the early years of the following century).
In the US, the Accord gradually overtook the Civic in terms of popularity, and by 1980 it accounted for very nearly half of all Honda’s sales there.
8. 1978 Honda Prelude
The first Honda Prelude was larger than the Civic, smaller than the Accord and more sporty than either.
In the 1970s, Honda sports cars were a thing of the past – and the future – but the Prelude offered a slightly more rewarding driving experience than its stablemates, even though its engines were the same as those used in the Accord.
There was criticism of the looks and of the limited room for rear passengers, but in its short four-year career the car did at least lay the groundwork for more exciting Preludes to come.
9. 1979 Honda Civic
Although it looked rather like the car it replaced, the second Honda Civic was larger in all dimensions than the first.
Saloon, hatchback and estate body styles were all offered, and the saloon was known in Japan as the Ballade, a car which would have some significance to the British motor industry.
A controversial deal with British Leyland led to a mildly altered version of the Ballade being produced in the UK and sold there as the Triumph Acclaim, the last car ever to wear a Triumph badge.
Like the original Prelude, this Civic was manufactured for just four years before being replaced by a third.
10. 1981 Honda Accord
The second Accord was almost exactly the same size as the first (though with a longer wheelbase), used more or less the same engines, and was available in the same saloon and hatchback forms, but looked very different.
Like its predecessor, it was very popular in the US, and also became the first Honda to be built there.
A year after its launch in Japan, production began in November 1982 at a new facility in Marysville, Ohio, which is still manufacturing Hondas – including the current Accord – today.
11. 1982 Honda Prelude
Honda’s original Prelude was replaced after four years by a larger and even sportier version with more sharp-edged styling and pop-up headlights.
During its five-year run, Honda gave the car extra straight-line performance by fitting its new B20A engine, which measured 2 litres and had a 16-valve cylinder head.
On top of that, better handling made this Prelude more of a driver’s car than the previous version had been.
12. 1983 Honda Civic
The broad design shared between the first two generations of Honda Civic was completely abandoned in the third.
Like the Prelude introduced in the previous year, the new model had sharp edges no matter which of the various body styles (hatchback, saloon and Shuttle wagon) was used.
In a change of policy, Honda produced sporting versions of the Civic in this generation, previewing the Type R models of later years.
13. 1983 Honda CRX
By 1983, it had been some time since Honda had created a new model line, but it did so now with the CRX.
The fact that it was introduced in the same year as the third Civic was no coincidence, since the CRX was a close relative of that car, though with a coupé body.
In a sense, it was a junior version of the Prelude, because it was aimed at enthusiastic drivers, though relatively tame engines were available for owners who couldn’t afford the more powerful ones.
14. 1985 Honda Accord
The Accord sold in the second half of the 1980s followed what had become Honda’s standard styling practice of employing sharp edges, and in most cases had the retractable headlights introduced in the Prelude.
Hidden from view, however, was double-wishbone front and rear suspension, which quickly gave this Accord a reputation for fine handling.
There were hatchbacks, saloons and coupés in the range, and also an estate known as the AeroDeck, which looked very much like an enlarged version of the contemporary Civic hatch.
15. 1985 Honda Legend
For five generations, the Legend was Honda’s flagship car.
Initially, it was a joint venture with Rover, whose version was known in most markets as the 800 but in North America as the Sterling.
While the 800 was available with a choice of engines, the Legend was powered only by a V6, though with capacities ranging from 2 to 2.7 litres.
In rebadged form, the Legend of this period was also the first car to be marketed by Honda’s then-new luxury brand, Acura.
16. 1987 Honda Civic
The fourth car in the Honda Civic series bore some resemblance to the third, though its shape, while still angular by today’s standards, was slightly softer.
It was sold as a hatchback, a saloon or a significantly taller estate known, depending on market, as the Wagon or Shuttle.
Later high-performance variants were the first Civics to use the VTEC engine technology which made its debut in the Integra, and in which different camshaft profiles were used to provide optimal economy at low revs and power at high revs.
VTEC was also available in the coupé derivative, which was once again known as the CRX.
17. 1987 Honda Prelude
The third-generation Honda Prelude was most notable for having the option of four-wheel steering.
The mechanical system made the rear wheels steer in the same direction as the fronts during low driver inputs, to improve stability, and in the opposite direction during higher inputs, to make the car more manoeuvrable.
The B20A engine introduced at the top of the range in the previous Prelude was now the only one available, measuring either 2 or 2.1 litres.
A mild facelift was performed in 1989, halfway through the car’s production run.
18. 1989 Honda Accord
The latest in what was becoming a substantial line of Honda Accords was longer than the model it replaced, and close in overall size to the contemporary Legend.
In 1992, the 10th anniversary of Accords being built at the Maryville plant in Ohio, this one went into production at Swindon in the UK.
The Swindon plant had been making engines since 1985, but the Accord was the first complete car to be made there, starting a process which continued until the factory was closed in 2021.
19. 1989 Honda Integra
The original Honda Integra was launched in 1985, but the second version introduced four years later has greater significance because, as mentioned previously, it was the first of many Hondas powered by a VTEC variable-camshaft engine.
Always intended for sporty drivers, especially in Type R form (pictured), the Integra went through four generations before being discontinued in 2006, and has returned in the 2020s.
Fourth-generation Type Rs were not officially sold in the UK, but they did compete in the British Touring Car Championship, Matt Neal winning the drivers’ title in one in both 2005 and 2006.
20. 1990 Honda Legend
The replacement for the first Legend was larger than that car, and also significantly bigger – as it ought to have been – than the Accord of the day.
Like the older model, it was powered by a V6 engine, but this one had a greater capacity of 3.2 litres.
There was no Rover equivalent of this model, since all versions of the British company’s 800 were based on the earlier car, even though production continued nearly until the end of the century.
The new Legend was, however, built under licence in South Korea, where it was known as the Daewoo Arcadia.
21. 1990 Honda NSX
Although Honda’s first passenger car was a sports model, and there had been several others since, the NSX was in a different league from all of them.
Despite being powered by a mid-mounted V6 engine (of first 3 litres and later 3.2 litres), the NSX was not outstandingly fast in a straight line.
Its finest feature was its handling, which was partly the work of Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna – a connection no doubt just as important for the marketing benefits as for whatever his input might exactly have been.
The original Honda NSX had a spectacularly long production life of 15 years, and was not succeeded by a second model until a further decade had passed.
22. 1991 Honda Beat
It would be only a slight stretch to say that the early 1990s was a golden era for Japanese kei sports cars.
Honda’s answer to the Suzuki Cappuccino, and the gullwing-doored wonder marketed by Suzuki as the Cara and Mazda as the Autozam AZ-1, was the Beat.
A spiritual descendant of the long-gone S600, the Beat had a mid-mounted 656cc engine previously used in the Today kei hatchback in 51bhp form.
For the Beat, the same engine was modified to produce a remarkable 63bhp (nearly 100bhp per litre) without the benefit of forced induction.
23. 1991 Honda Civic
As it had done with other models, Honda softened the edges of the Civic for its fifth generation.
This version was once again available as a hatchback and a saloon, and also as a coupé, but there was no equivalent of the previous Wagon/Shuttle.
Engines ranged from a modest 1.3-litre unit to the now familiar 1.6-litre VTEC.
For the third and final time, there was a CRX version, too, though this was also known by other names, including Del Sol, depending on where it was sold.
24. 1991 Honda Prelude
The largest of the Hondas introduced in 1991 was the fourth model in the Prelude line.
Like the car it replaced, it had four-wheel steering, though in this case the system was controlled electronically rather than being entirely mechanical.
The highest-capacity engine in the range measured 2.3 litres, but the most powerful was a 2.2-litre VTEC, which produced nearly 190bhp.
25. 1993 Honda Accord
Honda Accord history becomes complicated at this point, because for the fifth generation the car maker developed two separate cars bearing the same name.
One was intended for the Japanese and North American markets, the other – somewhat smaller and with similar but by no means identical styling – for Europe.
The European version (pictured) was adapted by Rover and launched in the same year as the 600.
The other one was rebadged as the third-generation Isuzu Aska, the first and second cars of that name having been based on the General Motors J-Body platform and the Subaru Legacy respectively.
26. 1995 Honda Civic
The last of the 20th-century Honda Civics was available as a saloon, a hatchback and a coupé, the third of these no longer bearing the CRX name.
This generation is perhaps most significant for being the first with a Type R (pictured) in the range.
That version was introduced in 1997, and was the only one in the series with a 1.6-litre engine, all future Civic Type Rs having capacities of 2 litres.
Nevertheless, performance was dramatic, since Honda had managed to give the motor an astonishing output of 182bhp.
27. 1995 Honda Legend
The third version of Honda’s flagship model was the largest yet, and appropriately enough it had the largest engine.
It was part of the same family as the V6 used in previous Legends, but the capacity had been increased from the most recent 3.2 litres to 3.5 litres, the highest figure for any Honda car engine available in the 20th century.
(To clarify, the Honda Crossroad had a 3.9-litre engine, but that model was simply a rebadged Land Rover Discovery, and the 3.9 in question was Rover’s long-running V8 rather than a Honda design.)
For the first time since the 1980s, there was no US equivalent called Acura Legend, the Legend name being dropped for this generation and replaced with RL.
28. 1996 Honda Prelude
In a reversal of the previous policy, the fifth (and, for the moment, final) Prelude had sharper styling than the model it replaced.
The output of the 2.2-litre VTEC engine was greater than before, reaching almost 200bhp for most markets and just short of 220bhp in the case of the rare Type S.
This Prelude was the first Honda with a system called Active Torque Transfer System, or ATTS, which rearranged the load distribution between the driven front wheels in an attempt to improve the car’s cornering ability.
29. 1997 Honda Accord
Making the Accord situation even more complicated than it was already, Honda came up with three new models rather than two this time round, one each for Japan, North America (plus Oceania and south-east Asia) and Europe.
High-performance derivatives of the first and third of these cars were known as Type R (Europe, pictured) and Euro R (Japan), both fitted with the 2.2-litre VTEC engine producing more than 200bhp.
There have been more generations of Accord since this one was discontinued, but we’re passing them by since they all date from after our 2000 cut-off year.
30. 1999 Honda Insight
Hybrid vehicles are commonplace nowadays, but they were almost unheard-of when Honda introduced the first-generation Insight.
Beaten only by the Toyota Prius (at least in modern terms – the Lohner-Porsche was a century older), the Insight looked even stranger than its Japanese rival, thanks to Honda’s insistence on reducing aerodynamic drag as far as possible.
The wind-cheating shape was very odd, and partially faired-in rear wheels made the Insight appear even more exotic than it might otherwise have done.
The engine was an only modestly powerful 1-litre three-cylinder, backed up by an electric motor which contributed a further 13bhp.
31. 1999 Honda S2000
Almost as different from the exactly contemporary Insight as it could possibly be, the S2000 was the latest of Honda’s S sports cars, a series which had been in abeyance for nearly three decades.
The two-seat roadster was powered by a VTEC engine very similar to that used in previous high-performance Hondas, but adapted to suit the new car’s front-engine, rear-wheel-drive mechanical layout.
Power outputs were always more than 200bhp, and occasionally came close to 250bhp, figures achieved by an ability to rev close to 9000rpm.
With one revision halfway through its life, the S2000 remained in production until 2009.
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