The rally-style custom N360
Among the many 360cc kei-cars (light cars) gathered here, the Honda N360 with a rally car-style customization stood out for its particularly racy atmosphere. When we asked him for more details, we discovered that the owner of this car, Mr. “N-Coro Rider”, owns many other 360cc kei-cars and is a big fan of collecting only Honda air-cooled engine cars.
The first real passenger car mass-produced by Honda
The N360, customized in the style of a rally car, was found at the “360! All Together in OSAKA” event held in the Osaka port area.
The Honda N360 was Honda’s first real mass-produced passenger car, introduced in 1967. Already successful in motorbike production, the engine was an air-cooled, four-stroke, two-cylinder 354 cc engine developed based on the CB450, and boasted unusually high power output for its time. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the appearance of this car triggered the horsepower competition in kei-cars later on.
The transversely mounted FWD N360, with tires positioned at the four corners of its two-box body, which filled the regulatory framework for kei-cars at the time, had an unusually spacious interior for a minicar of the time and quickly became very popular.
Many details that make you grin
Here is a 1969 N360 of the sporty Touring S grade owned by Mr. “N-Coro Rider”, who is a big fan of Honda’s air-cooled engine cars, as he has many others.
He has owned this 1969 N360 for 15 years, and enjoys customizing it to pay homage to the rally competition cars of the time. The green body with numerous stickers is covered with white racing stripes, CIBIE headlights, and a mesh grille. The suspension is Hayashi Racing aluminum with dead stock old snow tires and mud flaps. The roof is fitted with a carrier with fog lights at the front end, and is thoroughly equipped with chain-wrapped Dunlop racing bias tires.
By the way, the tail lamps are normally all-red lenses, but this vehicle has deliberately diverted the export-spec lenses to be amber/red.
Engine and transmission swapped
This N360 was not just a customization for the atmosphere. The twin carburetor engine and 5-speed manual transmission from the successor model, the Honda Z GS, were transplanted, not just for looks, but also to improve performance.
The car is also equipped with an actual rally computer and other equipment, and together with the leather-wrapped wood steering wheel and additional gauges, it has an attractive racy atmosphere. The owner modestly calls it “rally-style”, but it is a real tuning car that could be entered straight into a classic car rally.
translated by DeepL
