Air Conditioning in a Z600?

[cmmwpi]

Hi everyone,
I recently joined this group after seeing mention of it from other microcar groups I'm in. While I don't have any 2 cylinder Hondas, I do have an Isetta and a Goggo sedan.
I suppose I should get to the point though. Back in the day, when these 2 cylinder Hondas were new, my mom had a blue coupe. She bought it from a farm in the Columbia, SC area where it was used to transport hay to cattle out in the fields (I guess pick up trucks were hard to find??). Anyway, she loved the car and said it was pretty darn quick and she would drive it at 80mph down to Charleston, SC for the weekends.
More to the point: She SWEARS it had ICE COLD Air Conditioning. So I know this wasn't a factory option, but could it have been a dealer installed option? Other microcar people who are more familiar with these cars can't figure out how it would all fit under the hood. Also, this was South Carolina in the 1970's so it definitely had to be hot in the summer time (so I don't think she was just using the fan).
So has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
-That's the end of my question. The rest of the story of her car follows-
I can't remember how long she had the car, but one day while driving through an intersection, she went over a little bump and the rear windshield fell into the car and shattered. At the time, SC had inspections and she couldn't afford to replace it for inspection. I think she ended up just parking the car in a stranger's driveway and walking away as it had very little value back then. I may be wrong about that, but I'll have to find out.
So that's the story of my mom's Honda Z600. As a microcar guy, I'm always interested in trying to find her old car but I realize that probably won't happen. Anyone know of any blue Z600s in the Southeast possibly with A/C and some hay under the floormats?
-Connor

[Don B Laughton]

Honda had Aircon for the N360 in Japan.  At American H, we managed to install A/C in an N600.  The evaporator was placed in the trunk.  The compressor and condenser were squeezed into the engine compartment.  It was bad enough that there wasn't a lot of space, the real killer was the cost.  Installed, the estimated cost was half the price of the car!  A $2,100 N-car?  The factory sent is a few cars with fabric sunroofs...a much more reasonable solution to the heat problem.
If things were tight in the sedan, squeezing A/C into a coupe would be quite a bit more challenging.  This is not to say it could not be done...where there is a will, there is a way, but some things are easier and better on paper than in practice.
Best Wishes, Don
From:
cmmwpi
To:
2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
Sent:
Wednesday, July 3, 2013 6:40 AM
Subject:
[2cylinderhondas] Air Conditioning in a Z600?
Hi everyone,
I recently joined this group after seeing mention of it from other microcar groups I'm in. While I don't have any 2 cylinder Hondas, I do have an Isetta and a Goggo sedan.
I suppose I should get to the point though. Back in the day, when these 2 cylinder Hondas were new, my mom had a blue coupe. She bought it from a farm in the Columbia, SC area where it was used to transport hay to cattle out in the fields (I guess pick up trucks were hard to find??). Anyway, she loved the car and said it was pretty darn quick and she would drive it at 80mph down to Charleston, SC for the weekends.
More to the point: She SWEARS it had ICE COLD Air Conditioning. So I know this wasn't a factory option, but could it have been a dealer installed option? Other microcar people who are more familiar with these cars can't figure out how it would all fit under the hood. Also, this was South Carolina in the 1970's so it definitely had to be hot in the summer time (so I don't think she was just using the fan).
So has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
-That's the end of my question. The rest of the story of her car follows-
I can't remember how long she had the car, but one day while driving through an intersection, she went over a little bump and the rear windshield fell into the car and shattered. At the time, SC had inspections and she couldn't afford to replace it for inspection. I think she ended up just parking the car in a stranger's driveway and walking away as it had very little value back then. I may be wrong about that, but I'll have to find out.
So that's the story of my mom's Honda Z600. As a microcar guy, I'm always interested in trying to find her old car but I realize that probably won't happen. Anyone know of any blue Z600s in the Southeast possibly with A/C and some hay under the floormats?
-Connor

[Bill]

Hi Connor;
I am not saying your Mom wasn't in a Honda or made the trip in a Coupe.  But, I have had people tell me similar stories, AC, power windows and Automatic Transmissions.  They were copes but of the 4 cylinder kind and normally 73 or 74 vintage some later.  I even had a gent so sure he had the same car he took me over to his house and there in the back yard was a 1975 Honda CVCC Coupe.  Honda did a bunch of stuff to these small cars, heck automobile manufacturers across the board have tried everything (even made cars that fly).  The part about the bail of Hay kind of makes me believe it was a later model.
Bill

[tdthies1]

I do agree bill.  At car shows I have people that say they had one just like mine and it was a 73 or 74.
Sent from Samsung tablet
Bill wrote:
Hi Connor;
I am not saying your Mom wasn't in a Honda or made the trip in a Coupe.
But, I have had people tell me similar stories, AC, power windows and
Automatic Transmissions.  They were copes but of the 4 cylinder kind and
normally 73 or 74 vintage some later.  I even had a gent so sure he had the
same car he took me over to his house and there in the back yard was a 1975
Honda CVCC Coupe.  Honda did a bunch of stuff to these small cars, heck
automobile manufacturers across the board have tried everything (even made
cars that fly).  The part about the bail of Hay kind of makes me believe it
was a later model.
Bill
  _____

[Connor McCann]

Thanks for all of the responses so far.
I think you might have a point there Bill, though I'd like to think she actually had a Z600. �However, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like she did have a later model.
I'm contemplating showing her a picture of a later one and seeing if that's actually what she had...
I suppose they do look similar to someone who is not familiar with them. �I'm also not sure of the time-frame so that doesn't help.
She's coming up to the MA area next week to see (and possibly drive!) a Z600 so maybe that will be the true test to see if she recognizes it as exactly what she had or feels that her car was different (in which case I would assume it was a later model).
Thanks again for the input. �Yall have been a huge help!
-Connor

On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 12:03 PM, tdthies1
I do agree bill. �At car shows I have people that say they had one just like mine and it was a 73 or 74.
> Sent from Samsung tablet
> Bill billmyong@...
> > wrote:
> Hi Connor;
> I am not saying your Mom wasn't in a Honda or made the trip in a Coupe.
> But, I have had people tell me similar stories, AC, power windows and > Automatic Transmissions.� They were copes but of the 4 cylinder kind and > normally 73 or 74 vintage some later.� I even had a gent so sure he had the
> same car he took me over to his house and there in the back yard was a 1975 > Honda CVCC Coupe.� Honda did a bunch of stuff to these small cars, heck > automobile manufacturers across the board have tried everything (even made
> cars that fly).� The part about the bail of Hay kind of makes me believe it > was a later model.�
> Bill
> � _____�
> From:
> 2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:
> 2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
> ] On Behalf Of cmmwpi
> Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2013 6:41 AM
> To:
> 2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [2cylinderhondas] Air Conditioning in a Z600?
> �
> Hi everyone,
> I recently joined this group after seeing mention of it from other microcar > groups I'm in. While I don't have any 2 cylinder Hondas, I do have an Isetta
> and a Goggo sedan.
> I suppose I should get to the point though. Back in the day, when these 2 > cylinder Hondas were new, my mom had a blue coupe. She bought it from a farm > in the Columbia, SC area where it was used to transport hay to cattle out in
> the fields (I guess pick up trucks were hard to find??). Anyway, she loved > the car and said it was pretty darn quick and she would drive it at 80mph > down to Charleston, SC for the weekends.
> More to the point: She SWEARS it had ICE COLD Air Conditioning. So I know
> this wasn't a factory option, but could it have been a dealer installed > option? Other microcar people who are more familiar with these cars can't > figure out how it would all fit under the hood. Also, this was South
> Carolina in the 1970's so it definitely had to be hot in the summer time (so > I don't think she was just using the fan).
> So has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
> -That's the end of my question. The rest of the story of her car follows-
> I can't remember how long she had the car, but one day while driving through > an intersection, she went over a little bump and the rear windshield fell > into the car and shattered. At the time, SC had inspections and she couldn't
> afford to replace it for inspection. I think she ended up just parking the > car in a stranger's driveway and walking away as it had very little value > back then. I may be wrong about that, but I'll have to find out.
> So that's the story of my mom's Honda Z600. As a microcar guy, I'm always > interested in trying to find her old car but I reali