Vamos was unacceptable and unpopular at the time of its launch
Honda, which had already enjoyed success as an automobile manufacturer with the T360 light truck and the S500 sports car, entered the Kei-car market in earnest with the launch of the N360 in March 1967. Although there were already many competitors in the Kei-car market, such as the Subaru 360, the N360’s high performance and reasonable price soon made it the top Kei-car in the market, overtaking rivals such as Subaru.
An “unconventional” car that transcends conventional wisdom
The N360’s engine, the N360E, was a single-cam conversion of the air-cooled parallel twin from Honda’s most powerful motorcycle, the CB450. The engine produced 31 hp from 354 cc.
Rival cars produced only 20 hp, so the N360 won easily. The price was 313,000 yen. Competitors were around 400,000 yen, so it was really competitive. Honda then introduced the LN360, a light van (commercial vehicle), as a variation of the N360 in June 1967. And another five months later, Honda released the TN360, a cab-over truck.
The TN360 featured the TN360E engine, based on the N360, mounted in front of the rear axle with the cylinder block almost horizontal. Engine displacement was 354 cc, the same as N360E, and maximum power was slightly lower at 30 hp.
The Honda Vamos was developed based on the TN360 and was launched in October 1970. Usually, a manufacturer’s press release states whether it is a passenger car, a commercial vehicle, a sedan, or a coupé. However, Honda Vamos’s press release stated that it was “a revolutionary car that can be used for all kinds of purposes”.
It is “a vehicle that can be used for an unlimited number of purposes, depending on the driver’s ideas”, and is “particularly suitable for jobs that require mobility, such as security, construction sites, in-plant transportation, electrical work, farm and forest management, ranching, outdoor work, and deliveries”.
In other words, Honda would not have been able to classify Honda Vamos. In 1970, when Vamos was launched, most passenger cars were sedans and commercial vehicles were vans and trucks. In the Kei-car genre, however, Suzuki launched the Jimny, an off-road 4WD, in April 1970, and Daihatsu introduced the Fellow Buggy, a beach car-like vehicle, in limited numbers.
In these circumstances, the Vamos was neither off-road nor dune buggy. It was a difficult model to market.
The production plan was 2,000 monthly units, including exports, but the target wasn’t reached. While the N360 sold well with its high performance and low price, the Vamos Honda failed.
Unique styling with the front panel and seats mounted on a flat loading area
Let us introduce the Honda Vamos mechanism. The base vehicle is the TN360, a cab-over-engine truck (more precisely the TN III 360, which was slightly modified in January 1970). It had a monocoque frame, unusual for a truck, and the engine, transaxle-type transmission & differential, and even the suspension were mounted on this monocoque using a subframe.
Vamos added a front panel to this flat monocoque frame, and mounted two seats in one row or four seats in two rows. The front suspension was the same MacPherson strut independent suspension used on the TN360 and N360, but the rear suspension was a de-Dion axle type as the drive shaft came out of the transaxle type differential. This type was leaf spring suspended.
The engine was the same TN360E as the TN360 and the maximum power of 30 hp was the same. There were three variants: the two-seater Honda Vamos-2, the four-seater Honda Vamos-4, and the Honda Vamos-Full Convertible, which had the soft top of the Honda Vamos-4 extended to the very end of the body.
The soft top covered the roof and rear of the car, but there were no doors; a protective tube was fitted instead. Although the law at the time only required the driver’s seat to be fitted with a seat belt, Vamos fitted seat belts to all seats.
Roll bars were also fitted to the backs of the front seats to protect the occupants in the event of a fall. There was also a spare tire mounted on the front of the car to act as a shock absorber in the event of a collision.
I once had a friend’s Vamos parked outside my house over 30 years ago. It was interesting to see two “hobby cars” together, a Vamos and a first-generation Life 4-door with AT.
However, today’s diverse trends in automobiles have made it possible to understand Vamos. When I saw the FAF Beach Cruiser exhibited by Forest Auto Factory at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January 2022, I was amazed and said, “Well, this is good”.
Honda Vamos was the model that came too early. Even if it had been released today, I would not have been able to own it because I am now 60, too old.