JAPAN FIRE TRUCK FREE

Honda’s tiny truck would get a 500cc version and in 1967, evolve into a cabover with the TN360. The T360 used a 356cc mid-mounted four-cylinder engine that produced 30 horsepower, or good enough to get it to about 60 mph. The S500 followed it up in October and Honda decided that there wasn’t enough sports car demand to justify making the S360. Of these three vehicles, the T360 became Honda’s first production car when it hit the road in August 1963. Alongside the S360 was the S500 mini sports car as well as the T360 mini truck. The car then made its way to the 9th Tokyo Motor Show, held that same year in 1962. Honda showed off the S360 mini sports car at the Honda Meeting at Suzuka Circuit, which hadn’t even reached completion at the time. In January 1962, the order was sent to Honda R&D to develop two mini sports cars, two mini trucks, and have them ready for the 11th National Honda Meeting General Assembly that same year. MITI submitted the bill, anyway, and suddenly Honda found itself in a race against time to start making cars before it might not be able to.

JAPAN FIRE TRUCK FREE

Honda objected to the measures, insisting that free competition was the path forward. Moreover, the bill set rules concerning mergers and acquisitions within the industry, thus limiting the entry of new companies. The first group would comprise passenger cars from two companies the second would include special products such as luxury models and sportscars, including two or three companies and the third would be Japanese micro-cars, or mini automobiles, with two or three companies.

This, it was believed, would ensure effective guidance according to the characteristics of each group. MITI was ready to propose the deregulation of automobile imports by the spring of 1963, and in order to increase the industry’s ability to compete on the global stage, Japan’s auto manufacturers were classified into three groups. Thus, MITI hatched a plan to fix Japan’s competitive edge in the global automotive market: The Temporary Measures Bill for the Promotion of Specified Industries identified Japan’s automotive business as being less competitive on the global market alongside Japan’s special steel and petrochemical industries. That year, MITI debuted a policy intended to spur the growth of Japanese industry. Honda auto development, but found itself in a sticky situation in 1961. Honda was not among the first automakers to produce a Japanese people’s car, and Honda says that it was because Soichiro Honda wanted its entry to be just right. Examples to come out of the proposal include the 1955 Suzu-Light and the 1958 Subaru 360. As Honda explains, back in 1955, Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) unveiled the concept for a people’s car that would be: “A four-seater with a top speed of 100 km/h, priced at 150,000 yen.” A number of manufacturers stepped up to the plate producing tiny cheap cars.

The Honda Acty can trace its roots back to Honda’s first vehicle, the T360 mini truck. This Honda Acty Crawler has less than 8 hours left in its auction on Bring a Trailer, so if you want in on this beauty you don’t have a ton of time.

While I wait for the right Toyota Century, MGF, or Honda Life to show up, I’m finding myself looking around America for JDM goodness and I think I’ve come across something awesome. Of course, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for something cheap, but this time I want a daily driver. I’m now off on a search to import another car. Perhaps the craziest part about this truck that you can buy today is that the tracked part was actually a factory job! This 1996 Honda Acty Crawler is already cool enough because it’s a former fire engine, then you look at the wheels and notice that there are six of them, four connected to each other through a track. This has sent me scouring the internet for weird cars to bring in from Japan, but there’s one right here in America that fits the bill and more. I’ve been bitten by the JDM kei car import bug again and it’s all thanks to a reader who came out to our Milwaukee reader meetup with a Honda Life.

Japan fire truck