For $2,500, If The Shoe Fits, Drive It
The lyrics to the metalcore band On Broken Wings' song Six Hundred Cubic Centimeters includes the line- I've got some questions, and I want them answered. That song is obviously about today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Honda Z600 coupe, and the question they want answered is undoubtably whether or not its price is a deal.
Yesterday's sweet Audi 100 came close to matching its name in its Nice Price win. In the end it missed the mark by only 10%, still managing to pull off one of the most decisive victories since Teddy Roosevelt killed that bear.
Bears, along with lions, tigers, and elephants, are staples at the circus. But as we all know, the real reason people go to the big top is to see the clowns. . . the creepy, creepy clowns. Maybe it's to confront our own fears, or perhaps to prove to ourselves that they really aren't that evil after all, and don't want to eat our souls and genitals. Or, just maybe, it's to watch a multitude of them spill out of a car like today's 1972 Honda Z600.
The Z-coupe is even more appropriate for service as a clown conveyance than its N-sedan brother, owing to its somewhat smaller dimensions and more comically skiboot-like proportions. The 600-cc aircooled twin-powered car also has the distinction of being – along with the contemporary Subaru 360 – one of the only Kei cars ever sold in the US.
Honda didn't sell that many of the 36-horse micros here, but one that did manage to make its way to the streets is this aren't you glad I didn't say banana-colored example. One of the cutest features of these cars is their dog toy-like 10" wheels, which can also serve as hemorrhoid relief for sitting. On the down side, tires for those rims are getting pretty hard to find outside of a lawn tractor parts store.
That's all that's necessary to carry the Z-Coupe's modest 1,280 lbs and keep it from dragging on the ground. Assisting that is a suspension that is made up of an independent front and a cart sprung beam axle in the back. Those factors, along with a tiny 78-inch wheelbase, makes the Z Coupe's ride over rough roads something akin to a bucking bronco at a rodeo where, inexplicably, they also have clowns. Circle of life, my friends.
The seller doesn't offer much in the way of description for his 78,000 mile Z, choosing instead to link to a Barrett Jackson page noting the $27,000 sale price of an example so original and pristine that it's AM radio only plays oldies, only they aren't oldies. This one however is a lot more clapped out.
On the list of you-might-want-to-fix-thats is the tiny engine bay which is in an obvious need of a cleaning. Additionally the interior's a bit of a freakshow with everything seemingly covered in some sort of wood veneer, and a driver's seat showing more cracks than an American Apparel jeans ad. Still the car seems reasonably complete, right down to its split rear bumper and secret panel covering the spare. It also has all its glass, which a plus as these things are getting harder to source parts for, and has the added benefit of grille-mounted fogs and roo bar to protect them.
Looking at the Z600, if you squint really hard and it's already kind of dark outside, you can see elements of that other '70s Z – the Datsun 240 – in its profile. There's that kick in the window line, and round air extractor in the C-pillar, features that could confuse the uninitiated. Also possibly seeking to confuse, the seller of this Honda has listed it here for $2,500, while at the same time offering it up for four grand in another ad.
No matter – he plays his games, and we play ours. And now what we're playing is Nice Price or Crack Pipe, which is just what you have to decide about this Z600's price – the $2,500 one that is. What do you thinnk, is this Z600 worth that kind of Kei-le? Or, is this a Z that you would aver is not for thee?
You decide!
San Francisco Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Wimbles for the hookup!
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