The T360 is a

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

from

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

. Introduced in June 1963, it was Honda's first production

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, beating the S500 Sports by four months. The T360 used a 356 cc AK250E series

DOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

also found in the

Honda S360 The Honda S360 is a sports car with a engine manufactured by Honda. It was one of the first automobiles created by the company known for their motorcycles. The S360 was unveiled on 5 June 1962 during the 11th Nation Honda Meeting General Assembly ...

roadster prototype, with which it also shared the chassis. The mid-mounted unit propelled the truck to a top speed of , and was accessed by lifting up the bench seat inside the cabin.''Honda T360/T500'' brochure (1964), p. 4. Honda Motor Company. Accessed a
Honda Sports Registry
The engine generated 30 hp (22 kW) at 8,500 rpm, reflecting Honda's

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: Long-distance ...

heritage. A total of 108,920 T360s were produced from 1963 through August 1967, all painted in "May Blue". It has a wraparound clamshell-style bonnet which leaves the headlights in place when opened. The similar but somewhat larger T500 used a 38 hp (28 kW) 531 cc version of the engine, excluding it from the

Kei car Kei car (or , kanji: , "light automobile", ), known variously outside Japan as Japanese city car or Japanese microcar, is the Japanese vehicle category for the smallest highway-legal passenger cars with restricted dimensions and engine capaci ...

class. The T500, first shown in September 1964, was mainly intended for export markets. Its engine delivered high in the rev range (maximum power arrived at 7,500 rpm, with redline at 9,000 rpm) and was a slightly downtuned version of the one found in the Honda S500 sports car. Top speed was . A total of 10,226 T500s were built from 1964 through November 1967, and were all painted "Moss Green". Aside from the different color and engine, the T500 was 20 cm longer (all behind the rear axle), as its overall length was not dictated by the Kei regulations. Another minor distinction was the fittings for license plates larger than those of a Kei car, as well as a higher load capacity. The T360 was produced as a conventional rear wheel drive pickup truck, a flatbed (the T360F), flatbed with folding sides (the T360H), and as a covered van (the T360V). There was also a version of the T360 called the "Snow Crawler", equipped with tracked propulsion units at the rear. Due to its expense, the Snow Crawler remained a rarity in spite of its usefulness in certain parts of northern Japan. The T500 came either with a conventional pickup body (T500), or with the folding side flatbed, this time with the "F" suffix; called the T500F.

References

External links

ThisOldHonda.org T360

ThisOldHonda.org T500
{{Early Honda vehicles First car made by manufacturer T360 Kei trucks Pickup trucks Tracked vehicles Cars introduced in 1963