1964 T500F HONDA PICKUP

HONDA’S PINT-SIZED PICKUP

Honda make great cars. From small hatches such as the Jazz, to SUV models like the CR-V and on to the quite outstanding NSX supercar that was unwrapped at this year’s Detroit motor show, the Japanese firm knows a thing or two about making decent motors, churning out some world-beating products.

And yet the company didn’t start out manufacturing cars. In fact, the company made famous by its motorcycles didn’t turn its attention to the four-wheel vehicle market until the 1950s.

It was towards the end of that decade that Honda dipped its toe into that market with designs for a small sports car, known as the S360, and an equally small pick-up truck, the T360. And it was in 1963 that the T360, a small workhorse of a truck with a 356cc engine, won the race to be the company’s first production vehicle.

A year later, in 1964, the T360 was joined in the model range by the larger capacity T500. Powered by a 531cc DOHC, 4-cylinder engine, the micro-truck was capable of 105km/h and hauling a load of up to 400kg. Built mainly for the export market it was one of these little gems, in the T500F flat-bed configuration, that found its way to Australia and, eventually, into the hands of Len Daddow.

Len, until recently the owner of Daddow’s Motor Group based on the Sunshine Coast (and, incidentally, Australia’s longest-serving Honda power products dealer and, with 40 years of service, Queensland’s longest-serving Honda auto dealer) has owned the T500F since 2000 and is, rather remarkably, only the vehicle’s second owner.

“The T500 originally came from Rasmussen’s in Bundaberg,” says Len. “A local fellow bought it and enjoyed it so much he and his wife circumnavigated Australia in it!”

Doing a circuit of this vast nation in such a small vehicle must have been a very interesting experience. This writer can attest to the fact that the two-seat cabin is very small indeed and for those of us who are not graced with the body of a flexible gymnast, getting in to the T500 requires some rather awkward manoeuvring, while getting out may well, on occasion, require the use of a giant shoehorn.

However, the adventurous couple survived the trip and ended up in Cooroy, where Len had his Honda power product dealership.

“He bought a house in Cooroy and came to me to buy a push mower,” says Len. “And so we did a deal. He bought the mower for $1500 and I paid $1000 for the T500 . . . so in the end he gave me $500 cash!”

It’s an agreement that may be the deal of the decade – a truly classic original vehicle and $500 in exchange for a mower.

Which is not to say that the T500 was in perfect condition – far from it. In fact, over the next few years, Len poured plenty of resources into restoring the little truck into the near-mint condition it’s in today.

“It was reasonably scrubby,” he says. “Luckily, I had a fellow working in the bodyshop who took real pride in the work. We stripped it, pulled the body apart to clean up all the panels and get rid of the rust. A lot of it we had sandblasted – we found a local farmer with a sandblasting set-up and we would take the parts out there – and then we found a group down at Maroochydore that were able to coat the pipes and filters and so on so it looked almost like new.

“As for the colour, Honda still had a paint number for that.”

Even with the resources at his disposal, Len says the T500 took a fair while to be completed.

“We seemed to be working on it for years,” he says with a laugh. “It had a bay all of its own!”

Fully restored, the T500 has seen service more as a marketing tool for the company rather than as a business workhorse, while also being used for special occasions – the unusual vehicle catching the eye of revellers at carnivals, festivals and parades in Cooroy and Noosa. It has also made appearances at a few car shows.

“It’s quite well-known in the area for being from Daddows,” says Len. “And we’ve taken it down to the RACQ MotorFest in Brisbane a few times. It attracts a lot of attention. People do wonder what it is!”

The T500F is not the only Honda original Len has owned – he currently has a first-generation, 1973 Honda Civic and, for a time, owned one the company’s splendid-looking S600 two-door sports cars.

“We are a Honda family!” Len says.

Having recently sold his business – bringing to an end a career that spans more than 60 years in Queensland’s automotive industry and which started with an apprenticeship at EG Eager & Sons in Brisbane – Len is uncertain quite where the T500, and indeed the Civic, may end up.  

“I’m not sure what we’ll do,” he says. “I suppose they will go up for sale at some point, but it would be nice if they went to another Honda dealer and were used within their dealership.”

Let’s hope that happens – for the tiny truck deserves to have a spot where it can be seen and appreciated.