The story
History
Its proper name was Vamos Honda (バモスホンダ), the model before the maker, a pattern Honda had used for motorcycles such as the Dax Honda and the Chaly Honda but on no other car. Vamos is Spanish for “Let’s go!”source 1 It came out of the leisure-car boom of around 1970, when Honda’s small range held the Honda N360 saloon and the TN360 truck.source 1 The truck supplied the parts. Announced on 1 November 1970 as a multipurpose vehicle, the Vamos was registered as a kei truck, so it belongs among the working micro-vans. It took everything mechanical from the TN360: the air-cooled twin laid flat and across the car under the floor, ahead of the rear axle; the transaxle; MacPherson struts in front and a De Dion axle behind; and the brakes.source 1 The engine was a 354 cc overhead-cam twin of 30 PS (22 kW) at 8,000 rpm, with four speeds, driving the rear wheels.source 2source 3
On top went a body like no other truck’s. The Toyota Automobile Museum describes it as a wholly new style, with nothing but the windscreen to block the view, and its use left to whoever rode in it.source 2 There were no doors. Tubular guard rails, set above the occupants’ centre of gravity, stopped people falling out, and front and rear seats were benches with two-point belts. A canvas top, the horo, folded away.source 1source 2 Abroad, the Lane Motor Museum sets it beside the Citroën Méhari, the Mini Moke and Volkswagen’s Type 181.source 3
A wheel for a bumper
The spare wheel was mounted on the front panel. Honda’s stated reason was that it would absorb the shock in a collision; the idea is said to have come from the Volkswagen campers then popular in California.source 1source 2 Because the car was open, the instruments, switches and seats were made proof against dust and water, the steering locked itself when the key was taken out, and the glovebox locked too.source 1source 2source 3 Even the indicator tell-tale was Jeep-style: a single lamp marked “turn” rather than a pair of arrows.source 1
There were three versions. The Vamos 2, at ¥321,000, had two seats; the Vamos 4, at ¥351,000, had four; on both the top covered only the seats. The Vamos Full Horo, at ¥369,000, had four seats and a canvas that ran back over the load bed as well.source 1 The car weighed 540 kg (1,190 lb) and was 2,995 mm (118 in) long and 1,655 mm (65 in) high.source 2 The Lane Motor Museum gives a payload of 220 kg (about 440 lb).source 3
Treated as an oddity
Honda planned for 2,000 a month. About 2,500 were built in all, and stock was left over.source 1source 3 Japanese Wikipedia says the unusual body got it treated as an oddity, a chinsha, and that for all its off-road look it was never a serious off-roader: its wheels were 10-inch, and there was never a four-wheel-drive version.source 1 Production and sales stopped in March 1973, when the car could not meet Japan’s strengthened safety standards for road vehicles.source 1
Honda used the name again in June 1999, for a semi-cab-over kei van that ran until 2018. The two share the class, the name and a mid-mounted engine, inherited through Honda’s trucks, and nothing else.source 1
