1300 Coupe 9 - The Art Of The Possible

Honda Founder’s Creation Was A Triumph Of Innovation, And A Financial Fiasco.

- Michael Stahl

“THE BASIC MANAGEMENT philosophy of our company is originality, and accordingly our goal has always been to spur demand by introducing products that only Honda can create.”

With those words – absolutely true of Honda in 1969 – Soichiro Honda introduced his company’s biggest and most advanced car to that date, the 1300 sedan and coupe.

Like Honda’s preceding kei-class sports (S500/600/800) and city (N360) cars, the 1300 was clearly from a different mindset than its rivals, the Toyota Corona and Datsun Bluebird. The Honda was front-drive, its all-alloy, 1.3-litre transverse four-cylinder engine being innovatively air-cooled, dry-sumped and redlined at 7500rpm.

The base, single-carb ‘77’ version made 74kW, 10 percent more than Toyota’s 1.6-litre, while the top ‘99’ version had four carburettors and made an impressive 86kW at 7300rpm.