The Honda L700, billed as “the light van of the high-speed era”

The Honda L700, which was introduced in 1965 as “the light van of the high-speed era” at the beginning of Honda’s entry into the four-wheel vehicle market, was a rare car that lasted only about three years. We interviewed Mr. Ariyama, who participated in the “Honda Classic Meeting”, using the “LM700,” a deluxe version of the L700 with various added features.

A commercial vehicle with a twin-cam engine

At the 3rd Honda Classic Meeting in Asaka-no-mori held on April 28, 2024, in Saitama Prefecture, Mr. Yasuo Ariyama displayed a rare 1966 Honda L700 and another rare Honda CB750 Fore. The L700 is a commercial vehicle equipped with an inline 4-cylinder DOHC unit developed based on the Honda S600 engine.

Mr. Ariyama’s L700 is the “LM700” model, which is a deluxe version of the standard model with various additional features. Mr. Ariyama acquired his L700 18 years ago.

“I collect cars with twin-cam engines, and I had trucks and GT-Rs, but no light vans, so I had been looking for one for more than 30 years. 18 years ago, I saw it in a magazine and was sent it without seeing the original.”

He worked on every part of the car

Mr. Ariyama acquired the car he had been looking for for many years. The condition of the base itself was not bad, but because it was an old car, he had to do some work on various parts. Repair work has been done to various parts of the body, such as making one-off parts for the floor, which had a hole in it, and the grille, which was quite rotten.

The base of the engine was not as bad as the body, but the carburetor and water pump were overhauled, and other parts were modified. The interior retains the original seat upholstery, but the rest of the interior has been reupholstered.

We asked Mr. Ariyama, a twin cam engine enthusiast, what he thought of this car.

“It has twin carbs, and if you set it up properly, it will turn up to 10,000 rpm. I knew Honda was amazing. The deluxe version is equipped with double wipers, a clock, and other interesting things.

The interesting feature is what is now called an anti-theft device, which sounds like a buzzer when the driver and passenger doors are opened after a switch is operated. As a commercial vehicle, the buzzer is not activated when the rear gate is opened to load or unload goods for delivery, but Mr. Ariyama suspects that this is so that he will know if someone gets in through the left or right door while the vehicle is parked……. He is not sure.