In the October 2012 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, we do a buyer's guide on the 1970-72 Honda N600, one of the last (or really only) imported microcars sold in this country in any volume. While talking with Tim Mings of Glendale, California, the restorer of our featured car, he asserted that the N600 (and its jauntier-bodied sister machine, the Z Coupe) were in fact high-performance cars. We asked him to clarify.

"In a microcar context, one horsepower per cubic inch really is big. I bet there are no other cars close to its $1,300 price when new that could boast an overhead cam, or a hemispherical combustion chamber. It's got a 6,000 RPM redline and synchromesh transmission. It performs like it has more than 36 horsepower, the suspension sticks it to the ground, and on a track it will run with MG Midgets and Bugeye Sprites. Install a set of sticky Yokohamas on it, and it might even take 'em in the corners. All while delivering phenomenal mileage - Honda claimed 40 MPG at 50 MPH, which was phenomenal for its day. Of course, no one goes 50 MPH anymore - they're capable of high 20s/low 30s at 65 MPH - which is as fast as you'll want to take one of these."

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