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Honda's very first car in the US is a restored sight to behold

Many notable cars are lost to time, but this one has a whole new lease on life.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
2 min read
MIKEAL MARTIN

The first car Honda ever sold in the US was the N600 hatchback. The car was left to die in a dusty garage, but thanks to Honda and a man who specializes in restoring these cars, Serial One is ready to roll once again.

Serial One is Honda's nickname for this N600. It arrived in the US in 1969, sporting a 0.6-liter, two-cylinder engine that revved to a still-astounding 9,000 revolutions per minute. Honda originally brought a small handful to the US in order to gauge customer demand. Being an economy car, its original owner probably didn't realize it would become a small chunk of automotive history, and left it to languish over nearly half a century.

Recently, Honda decided to publicize the restoration of Serial One with a collection of small documentary films on YouTube, all of which have been posted to Serial One's own website. Tim Mings is in charge of the restoration, and it would have been hard to pick anyone else, considering this car is Mings' specialty.

Over the course of more than a year, Mings set about restoring Serial One to factory-fresh condition. Now, with the restoration complete, it was finally shown off to the public. To celebrate the occasion, Honda posted one last video in its documentary series.

Not only is Serial One positively resplendent in its new skin, it's bound to be making the rounds for the next few months before it probably ends up in a museum. I'm not so secretly hoping it will end up on the auto show circuit this fall, because I'd love to see it in person. Hell, I'd love to drive it, but I think we can all agree there's zero chance of that happening.

Feast your eyes upon the first Honda ever sold in the US

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