Honda 1300
1968 Soichiro Honda presented a mid-size sedan with air-cooled, transversely mounted four - cylinder engine. The first presentation was held on 21 October 1968 a few days before the Tokyo Motor Show in a hotel instead, the public at the Tokyo Motor Show. Honda moved the 1300/145-Modellreihe in the lower middle class. Despite alloy and front engine he wanted to prove that the air cooling of the water cooling is superior without sacrificing comfort, because it requires fewer parts and less weight. The Honda 1300 was undoubtedly a highlight of the technical development of series automobiles with air-cooled engines. For this model, 203 patents were registered.
Despite silent motor - thanks DDAC ( Duo Dyna Air Cooling ) - and good performance of the model was denied the economic success. Therefore ( sedan and coupe ), the production ran out after 106 491 produced units. Although the successor named 145 still possessed the body of the 1300, but a water-cooled engine.
1969 1300 Van prototype was presented, a station wagon but did not go into production. The successor of the series was offered from 1976 Honda Accord.
Model and engine overview
1300 Sedan / Coupe ( 1969-1972 )
The sedan was sold from May 1969 in Japan, the coupe in March 1970. The car was in 1969 in four facilities (Standard / Deluxe / Custom / S ) and two power levels (100 PS/115 PS). It was built in two variants and other power levels until 1972. Cardinal external distinguishing feature of the two variants are the headlights. The first version had square headlights, the later round headlights. Since 1970 there was the automatic transmission vehicle. Later that year, the more powerful version, the sedan has been revised and adjusted.
As with the sedan, there were also two variants of the coupe, the externally but differ only slightly. The difference is mainly in the performance: the 1.3 -liter air-cooled engine with DDAC has the coupe 7 via a carburetor, while nine four carburetors come in stronger coupe used. Automatic versions were also offered.
In 1971, the coupe has been redesigned. The successor of the Coupe 7 was also the front of the redesigned sedan as part of the changes.
145 sedan / coupe ( 1972-1974 )
The successor of the technically interesting, but probably because of the air-cooled motor is less successful type were built in 1300 under the name 145 1972-1974. The 145 was released to the Japanese but rather as a farewell to a past time, because the modern Civic already conquered the market. Therefore, only 9,736 units ( sedans and coupes ) have been built.
The new liquid-cooled, 1.45 L engine, which looks at first glance like a Civic engine was installed in virtually unchanged body of its predecessor, 1300. However, the 145 Coupé received rectangular headlights as the sedan of the original version of the model 77 Even the chassis was not modified.
It is worth mentioning that the model FI of the 145 Coupe for performance increase Honda's first series vehicle with a ( indirect, mechanically controlled ) fuel injection was.
In 1973 - one year before the cessation of production - brought the Honda 145 Coupe still with an automatic transmission on the market. But even this measure is not busy sales.