A Revisit to Honda's Glory Days

Kinja'd!!! "-Amateur" (amateur)
03/26/2014 at 12:43 • Filed to: None

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Lets go back to a time where Mugen wasn't on anyone's radar and the Honda City was the Fiesta ST of yesteryear. Did I mention that this car came with a motorcycle in the trunk!

The Honda City was introduced in November of '81 with the econobox once-over usually consisting of a traversely mounted anemic engine and FWD. It was tall and had a short wheelbase, pretty much like a first gen Scion Xb in coupe form but way cooler.

The base model had a 1231 cc 4 banger with a mighty 44 hp strapped to an 1800 lb sled. Not exactly quick to the trigger but it makes up for it in spades with its awesome quirks.

Motocompo! The City came available with a 50cc foldable mini motorcycle designed to fit in the caboose of the car. How awesome is that!

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Then we have the Pininfarina styled cabriolet model:

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The City also came in a turbo flavor which started in 1982. This car didn't just appear out of thin air, rather it was the byproduct of the son to Honda's founder, Hirotoshi Honda...who also founded Honda's tuning arm, Mugen. This kid is Jalop as F***. Mugen wasn't famous...yet, but they made a name for themselves in racing. Hirotoshi was a man who did beautiful things, like take an unassuming econobox with a face only a mother can love and transform it into a pocket rocket of only the highest order. Honda loved that idea so much that they took the idea and ran with it, putting the car on the streets.

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Power was up to 100 HP and 108 LB FT and had cool tidbits like an aluminum/titanium alloy head with a magnesium valve cover. The later Turbo-IIs had an added inter-cooler and a bump in compression to yield 110 HP alongside some flared bodywork to stuff some fatter tires all the way around.

Photo credits go to their respective owners


DISCUSSION (3)


Kinja'd!!! Anima > -Amateur
03/26/2014 at 12:48

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Actually the car used in 'You're under arrest!' is a Honda Today.

The reason I know that is that I made the same mistake in a post once. ;)

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Kinja'd!!! -Amateur > Anima
03/26/2014 at 12:54

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Mind Blown! well edited to reflect this newfound epiphany, thanks!

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Kinja'd!!! Anima > -Amateur
03/26/2014 at 13:00

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Yeah I had the same feeling, both amazing little quirky cars though!