4/16/10

Coupe De Element

The legwork was done yesterday by a very good friend of mine. This afternoon I'm headed to the front range again to purchase a Honda Element. We really didn't get a good look at this last weekend but John did  as I will before I write the check. That's another story but during this process another story came up from years ago that involved the same two characters John and myself and once again a Honda.

Last Saturday at a Honda dealership in Boulder we were looking at a Element with a five speed. Both the manual and automatic transmission shifter are on the dash. That brought back the memory of this car.


A 1971 Honda 600 Coupe. In that same year John and I drove down from the cornfield to Kansas City Missouri where I bought this same identical car that is almost my favorite blue.

This was one incredible little car. They made a sedan as well which is as ugly as the coupe is cool looking. It cost something like $2006. I think the radio was like $18 or some damn thing. In any case they told us there was no need to break it in so off we headed east to Columbia at top speed of 80 mile an hour to see Black Oak Arkansas. You betcha there Jim Dandy.

What's that got to do with last Saturday? It isn't much but what triggered this was that almost 40 years later we're doing the same damn thing together and this Element has the shifter on the dash just like the 600 Coupe did so many years before.

Thanks John for being a lifelong excellent friend!

So we will see how this story plays out but at this time it appears there will be a different car around and I am very much looking forward to it for a variety of reasons. More coming for sure.

Link to more pictures of this car.
at

7 comments:

  1. PhilApril 16, 2010 11:36 AM

    Good on ya and good luck bud,

    Busted

    ReplyDelete
  2. FearguthApril 16, 2010 12:49 PM

    My first new car was a blue 1963 Volkswagen for which I paid $1,895. For my honeymoon in 1962, I drove my father's brand new 1961 Plymouth with automatic transmission and a pushbutton shifter in the dashboard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. jmsjoinApril 16, 2010 2:41 PM

    Good story! Good luck and have fun. Believe it or not that looks bigger than the 74 civic my friend proudly purchased in Cheyenne.

    ReplyDelete
  4. lahruApril 16, 2010 3:48 PM

    Civic, best name ever for a car. Checked today with a freind of mine [20 years Honda sales] and he said doesn't matter, std or auto trans both dead nuts reliable and his only caution was that you can't load them heavy like the Cherokee and some of the early ones go cheap because the plastic fenders are cosmetically faded yet still functional.

    ReplyDelete
  5. One FlyApril 18, 2010 6:43 AM

    Thanks guys-I did get this and will have something up sometime today.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bob AtkinsNovember 01, 2012 7:53 PM

    Wow, was just looking online for any images of this car and came across your old blog.
    I just saw one of these, baby blue, right here in KC yesterday... Wonder if.. nah....

    ReplyDelete
  7. One FlyNovember 02, 2012 5:32 AM

    Thanks for the stopping by Bob. You never know because this was sold by me up in Iowa not that far away.

    ReplyDelete