#Honda s660

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

Suzuki Cappuccino :) or other baby roadsters

Oh, I had a post in the chamber about exactly that! :D

So, Japan is pretty densely populated. Let's put it this way: one reason the Tokyo metro area couldn't do a huge and extremely weird cultural exchange where every citizen trades place with someone from Australia, Belgium or Slovenia, is there aren't enough Australians, Belgians and Slovenians combined to do that. So you can imagine it would be pretty advantageous to public life for people to drive small cars - hence the popularity of kei cars, a car class with huge tax benefits and tiny engine and dimensions limits. Those limits, positively minuscule when they were introduced to push bike makers to use their parts to make small cars, eventually increased to a 0.66L engine size and the dimensions below...

...and in the late 80s there was a "gentleman's agreement" whereby no one would make a kei car more powerful than 64hp, similar to the other gentleman's agreement whereby they agreed not to make cars with more than 276hp - which they cleverly addressed by equipping more powerful cars, like the Skyline GT-Rs, with unusual little devices called lies.

But now it's the 1990s -contrary to popular misconceptions- and Japanese businesses and customers have a problem: what the fuck do we do with all this money?

To truly convey the desperation with which cash was being thrown around like primate feces, Mazda created FIVE sub-brands (Amati, Autozam, ɛ̃fini, Xedos, and Eunos, brand under which they sold the Miata as Eunos Roadster) AND gave the SIXTH sub-brand M2 separate headquarters - these headquarters. In Tokyo.

M2 only ever made parts and some fringe prototypes, the most it produced were three Eunos Roadster-based limited versions - they cost twice as much as the original (and for good reason - one of them used leather deemed too expensive by the only other automaker to ever use it, Rolls Royce), but because economic bubble, they were so sought after they had to set up a lottery, Andrea was telling us, and as he got to the uber-limited production numbers (a combined 780), he explained that, since of course they were only sold in Japan, there were only five in the whole of Europe. He then raised his finger and, in one of the greatest flexes I have ever witnessed, pointed it around his huge, Miata-packed shed, counting "one, two, three, four, five".

S'yah, it turns out the world's biggest Miata collection is just owned by Some Guy in the middle of Italy, and if your kid ever gets dumped it is a wonderful place to take him to cheer him back up. Thanks, dad.

So clearly, this was a point in time where even people with no need nor wish nor space for a large second car, or a large car at all, could still be interested in a sportscar, thus spawning some briefly-lived but oh-so-brightly-burning kei sportscars, nicknamed ABC.

One of them being, indeed, the Suzuki Cappuccino.

Please remember, this car is positively lilliputian. It's 3.30m long. For the yankees in the audience, that's just 0.03 football fields. Here are some fun size comparisons.

The engine was front-mid and turbocharged...

...the roof was a fun puzzle that allowed you to have a T-Top coupe (with just the sides off), a targa (with the top part of the roof removed but the rear pillar of the roof still in place) or a spider (by folding the rear pillar and window down)...

...and it was NOT exclusive to Japan, with 12% of units being sold in the UK!

But since this was clearly asked by someone quite familiar with its generalities, some less-known quirks for the geeks:

It was the first kei car ever with double wishbones all around

The indicators changed between JDM and UK versions so if you've got the latter finding spares is 10 times harder

The hood release is in the glovebox and the fuel release is in the center console storage - the latter locks with a different key than the ignition uses, so if you hand just the latter to the valet you can keep them from siphoning your gas, but I'm yet to hear whether that also goes for the glovebox, so stay tuned for updates on whether you can also keep them from siphoning your washer fluid

Air gets to the engine (well, to the turbo) through the frame. Like, it gets into the frame, it travels inside the frame, and then gets out and is filtered. Now, you may ask yourself why they would do that.

While most cars had front disc brakes at the time, the less effective but cheaper drum brakes were usually used on the rear, which was fine since when a car brakes weight transfers to the front so the front wheels are the ones that get more grip and can thus brake harder anyway - so not only do you not need the rear wheels to have the same stopping power, you don't even want them to, because then the rear wheels would lock up before the front ones even got to their full braking potential. So when the Cappuccino got four wheel disc brakes, like every other car with four wheel disc brakes, it didn't put four discs of the same size all around. Unlike every other car with four wheel disc brakes, however, they put the bigger ones at the rear. A friend who owns one called the brakes "not amazing".

Then again, let's cut them some slack, it was the second kei car ever with four wheel disc brakes! Second, yes, because the Cappuccino was not the first kei-sized sportscar.

So, remember how with Ferrari, the last car to be signed off by its founder was a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, manual, record-setting, no frills two-seater sportscar? Well, the Japanese being famous overachievers, that goes for Soichiro Honda's last two.

Supposedly, Honda decided that its F1 engines hadn't kicked Ferrari's ass enough, so they set out to build a car as approachable, reliable and daily-life-friendly as a Honda yet faster through both straights and corners than a Ferrari. Or a Lamborghini. Or a Porsche- you get the idea. Thus, the NSX, seen here next to it is its test driver, tuning consultant and enthusiastic owner Ayrton Senna, best known for driving the car on the left into three championship wins, a bunch of "Greatest Of All Time" debates, and a wall that killed him.

But if your second-to-last car is a two seat, mid-engined, rear wheel drive sportscar with Pininfarina design, a 40mm short-throw manual, and a redline past 8000RPM, what do you do for your last one? Easy! Another!

This little bowl of pint-sized cuteness is the Honda Beat, and yes, that interior is not just factory, but was the only pattern available. Still, if you think the interior is the most outlandish part of this car, you haven't heard it.

Again, this engine was outsized by two Coke cans and the car it's in is no bigger than the Cappuccino, and you already know how... ah, screw it, let's show you a size comparison anyway.

Some geek facts:

It was the first mid-engine monocoque (as in not body-on-frame, not un-shark-like, you pervs) spider ever made! There were some targas before, but never a full-on spider

The stereo was custom to fit in the super-narrow center console between the two asymmetrical cabin spaces so the cassette slot has the same cute little Beat logo as the "Open Air Motoring!" branded floormats!

Gathers celebrated its 20th anniversary with a new touchscreen radio for it that is now uber-rare and uber-expensive

It had two trunks, which is lovely, except that the rear one had the battery and optional CD changer conspiring against you and the front was literally inside the spare tire, so it's good that you could also get a rear rack!

The rear rims are bigger than the front!

With how much cooler this is than the Cappuccino (sorry, friend who owns one) it's quite the shame Suzuki decided not to go forward with the mid-engine layout their kei sportscar development started with. At least, Mazda sure thought as much, asking Suzuki to please keep working on that idea and make a mid-engined kei sportscar for them to sell under their brand for the youth, Autozam. And thus we have the ABC - C for Cappuccino, B for Beat...

...and A for AZ-1. Think of how cool life was in Japan back in the day that this was a car for the youth.

Fun facts:

IT HAS GULLWING FUCKING DOORS

The spare tire was mounted in the front compartment but it jammed the steering wheel in your chest so they sent owners a little bag and asked them to please put that tire behind the seats

GULLWING FUCKING DOORS

Suzuki sold a few of them themselves as the Cara

G U L L W I N G D O O R S

Sadly, it joined the party (JapaneseEconomicBoomfest, that is) just when it was ending. Hell, the Beat was sold for six years ('91 through '96) and two thirds of Beats sold are 1991s. That's how hard recession hit Japan right when the AZ-1 came out, which indeed sold a fraction of the other two.

But fear not: after decades, Honda blew the dust off the kei sportscar idea in 2015 with the gloriously sexy S660.

It did cease production last year, but at least it left the Japanese used market a kei sportscar with the modern amenities we (and by we I mean you spoiled pussies) cannot do without, like steering wheel controls and *squints* HDMI.

Oh by the way, remember how I said I was going to post about the Cappuccino? Well, it was because someone posted a picture of one with aftermarket taillights.

Guess what car was next to it when this picture was taken. Guess.

WRONG.

"What? Where was this?" At a Fiat 500 meeting, of course. And then people wonder why I love Japan so much.

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

#fun fact about ayrton senna: when he was 25 he started dating a 15 year old! #what else can be expected from the man behind the quote “if you don't go for a gap that exists you are no longer a racing driver” #kei cars #M2 #miataland #suzuki cappuccino #honda NSX #honda beat #autozam az-1 #suzuki cara #honda S660

[ss396chevelle1968]

Honda S660

#Honda S660 #brunette #girls and cars #cars and girls

[hirocimacruiser]

Liberty Walk widebody Honda S660 plus a standard car.

#Honda S660 #Kei car #Honda kei car #Liberty Walk S660

[silhouettehistory]

Roadster S 66 SilhouetteHistory Single

Single silhouette of 2015 Honda S660.

Home | Posters | Special Tees | Facebook | Instagram | Ask!

#silhouettehistory #honda #s660 #honda s660 #honda roadster #roadster #sports car #cabriolet #convertible #japanese cars #car #silhouette #history #single silhouette

[magicalbeautyboo]

#HONDA S660

[carsonfilm]

Suzuki Cappuccino and Mazda Roadster @ Boso Hanto

#carsonfilm #jdm #japan #mx-5 #miata #roadster #mazda #daihatsu #cappuccino #honda #s660 #nikon 28Ti #portra

[okosen]

#honda #s660 #k-car #jdm

[kermit71]

(HONDA S660から)

YouTubeでvlogをやっています。週１ペースで更新してるのでチャンネル登録（→ http://youtube.com/@katsuOfficial ）よろしくおねがいします。

#honda #s660 #jdm #car #sony #a7iv #sel35f18f #fe35f18

[melhoreseululu]

Honda S660 Concept

#car #honda #s660 #concept #roadster

[mooseings]

Honda S660 Concept

#car #honda #s660 #concept #roadster

[kimura-katsumi]

「Rain」 #s660 #s660のある風景 #s660のある生活 #雨の中 #honda #photo #photography #写真好きな人と繋がりたい #写真撮ってる人と繋がりたい #スマホ写真部 #car #スマホ越しの私の世界 #写欲 (Aichi Prefecture) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp7m9l2P8jD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#s660 #s660のある風景 #s660のある生活 #雨の中 #honda #photo #photography #写真好きな人と繋がりたい #写真撮ってる人と繋がりたい #スマホ写真部 #car #スマホ越しの私の世界 #写欲

[jagdelf]

[京商] 1/64 ホンダ S660

赤のS660と赤の新NSXが並んで走っていた。親子みたいで可愛かったな。

小さい割に線の多いデザインを丁寧に再現しており、特にリアのクリアパーツの使い方は秀逸。大抵屋根を閉めて走ってるイメージなので、オープン状態はちょっと新鮮だ。<605>

#kyosho #honda #s660

[bande-gr]

・ ・ 🐚🫧 HONDA🦩 S660 -`📢⋆当社に施工をお任せ頂き⁣ 誠にありがとうございます𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 🫶🏼🫶🏽 ⁣ 今回は、こちらのお車の コーティングを施工させて頂きました😶‍🌫️🤍 ご満足頂けますように⸝⸝⸝♡ 誠にありがとうございました.ᐟ.ᐟ 次回のご来店も心より お待ち申し上げます🐝⋆ #HONDA #ホンダ #S660 #カーコーティング #bandegr #福島県 #福島市 #新車 #SPPF #専門店 #コーティング #フィルム #ラバーディップ #正規販売店 #3M #カーラッピング #レストア #キーパー #keeper #鈑金 #デントリペア #ホイールコーティング #プロテクション #exキーパー #クリア塗装 #肉食 #イケメン #艶肌 #カスタムカー (株式会社　Bande（ﾊﾞﾝﾃﾞ）) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClffYZEvrmC/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#honda #ホンダ #s660 #カーコーティング #bandegr #福島県 #福島市 #新車 #sppf #専門店 #コーティング #フィルム #ラバーディップ #正規販売店 #3m #カーラッピング #レストア #キーパー #keeper #鈑金 #デントリペア #ホイールコーティング #プロテクション #exキーパー #クリア塗装 #肉食 #イケメン #艶肌 #カスタムカー

[hirocimacruiser]

Honda S660. White one is stock. Blue one is Liberty Walk widebody spec.

#Honda S660 #Liberty Walk #Liberty Walk S660 #Liberty Walk Honda S660 #Kei car

[sims4cars-breezemotors]

“Baby NSX”

2015 Honda S660 🇯🇵

This little roadster is the spiritual successor to the S500 and S600 roadsters of the 1960s, and more recently the S2000. Designed in response to Japan’s punitive taxes on cars, the S660 is part of a genre of Japan-only ‘kei’ ultra-mini vehicles. With their body size and power output capped, kei cars are exempted from parking permits (mandatory in Japan, to be purchased from the local city council before a car can be registered) and enjoy lower excise and vehicle weight tax. They are easily identified by their signature yellow-coloured number plates.

Available exclusively for “No Limits” and “All Inclusive” tiers.

Model with HQ interior, soft top and functional light.

Go and join my Patreon!

#the sims 4 #sims 4 #sims4 #sims4car #the sims 4 cc #the sims 4 custom content #thesims4cars #the sims 4 cars #sims4vehicles #the sims #the sims 4 cc finds #sims 4 cc finds #the sims 5 #sims 4 cars #sims 5 #sims 4 cc #the sims custom content #sims 4 alpha cc #sims

[advancetokushima]

HONDA S660 アドヴァンスハイブリッドコーティング ヘッドライトプロテクション 完成です。 新車なのにコンディションの悪い 車両がほとんどでしたが 今まででいちばん状態は良かったですね！ 施工後の鮮やかな発色にお客様にも 喜んで頂きました。♪♪♪ プロテクションフィルムはこちら http://advance-carcare.com/protection/ アドヴァンスのコーティングはこちら http://advance-carcare.com/coating/ コーティングQ&Aはこちら http://advance-carcare.com/qa/ #アドヴァンス徳島 #コーティング徳島 #ガラスコーティング徳島 #プロテクションフィルム徳島 #S660 #フレンチブルーパール #mugen #mini #jaguar #Peugeot #toyota #lexus #subaru #nissan #porsche #mercedesbenz #bmw #ferrari #maclaren #audi #tokushima #徳島 #香川 #高知 #愛媛 #車 #車好きな人と繋がりたい #carcare (アドヴァンス カーコーティング 徳島) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc65IMthxQM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#アドヴァンス徳島 #コーティング徳島 #ガラスコーティング徳島 #プロテクションフィルム徳島 #s660 #フレンチブルーパール #mugen #mini #jaguar #peugeot #toyota #lexus #subaru #nissan #porsche #mercedesbenz #bmw #ferrari #maclaren #audi #tokushima #徳島 #香川 #高知 #愛媛 #車 #車好きな人と繋がりたい #carcare