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Wow takes me back. 39 years ago I had one of these, just to get around. I think it only had 58,000 miles when I bought it but was almost totally rusted out. It had AC via the wholes in the floor boards !! Ran pretty good until it lost Reverse, which made parking an equation. And i called it's color, piss yellow. This one is in glorious condition and seeing the interior after all these years brought back even more memories. Yes I survived driving on the freeways & interstates among the Tractor-Trailers.
Hello, I have recently acquired a 1965 Isuzu Elfin with many of the same components and was wondering if we could get in touch! Id love to see what info you have gathered over your years of ownership! Thanks.
I had the 1974 B210 - same car as the Honeybee. I replaced the engine and transmission once, and then when that engine wore out, I rebuilt it. I also must have replaced the driveline 8 times. Those got kinda rare to find in wrecking yards... Spoiler alert: I never got 50 MPG or even the 41 MPG listed in the ads. I got maybe 27 MPG on the freeway with a tailwind.. Overall a good college and first job car.. Must have driven it several hundred thousand miles in total...
The exterior is simple and gorgeous, the interior is like a spaceship, and the engine is unlike anything you'd expect to see in a car like this. One of the pinnacles of 90's Japanese cars
This was my first car! Bright yellow B210 HoneyBee with the smallest tires ever. Got me and my surfboard to and from the beach. Remember the green vinyl-covered surf racks with the white padded strap? I had one cross-member to hold my board on, with the other part on my buddy's car! We bought a set and split them between us. A few years later I traded it in for a 1975 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser! Forgot to mention, that I bought the B210 from a guy in the USN who was being shipped overseas (WestPac), and I paid $1750.
worst car i EVER had.. the head blew off twice.. the wheel shock towers rusted out and caved in. it was an automatic .. the modulator shifter valve had to be replaced by dropping the exhaust .. i got mad and left it on the side of the expressway for the tow truck....
I had a '78 B210 with factory air and 4 speed manual transmission. Cabin heating cooling and heating was good. Not a lot of horsepower but enough for highway diving. Those reclining seats wee great. It lowed until it was stopped by the rear seat. Took naps like that on cross country trips. Wish list; Get a B210 and upgrade to manual 5 speed trans, gets 10 more mpg on the highway. Change the one barrel carburetor to a throttle body fuel injection. I think Holly makes one for $850 that will work in this. The 10.5 gallon fuel tank sat upright behind the rear seat. The hatchback model's 10 gallon tank was under the rear of the body like most cars. I would find if the hatchback tank could be duel mounted to give a 1,000 mile range between tank fill ups on highway driving.
Awesome video. I had one (possibly nicer than this example). I sold it and was disappointed in the sale price. It had some carb issues that I couldn't solve, but wish I still had it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0IuGVjNSyZc.html
Good video. As for the cool factor I think you missed it insomuch as you failed to mention the body lines and overall styling. I think the little car deserves at least a 7!
Gas Mileage - WAY OVERSTATED! 32 mpg was more like it for the manual B210. I bought a 1976 B210 back in 1978, and drove it until 1989. The mpg the kid stated, 50 mpg, was not possible back then. It was unbelievable back then to get 32 mpg, and that great mpg stayed great for many, many years. Many cars nowadays still can't get anywhere near 32 mpg. I currently drive a 2000 Toyota Echo (my 3 rd. one ) which gets 41 mpg, and would be a comparable car, only newer and more gas efficient. I liked the B210 car. It had no A/C which is not pleasant in California's 100+ summers. I really liked that it used the pointless distributor, which was a new addition, and made it easier to tune up the engine, and made the engine run really good. If only America could make great, little cars like the B210 and the Echo - both Japanese cars. However, they are not real comfortable for long-distance driving.
your rating i feel are low for this car. this is not a sport car it was an economy car. i would fill mine b210 up for $8.00 and go for 300 plus mile a week. love it
This was my first car. I’m not sure I have a picture of it. My biggest memory was driving it across country with my best friend. We reached within 50 miles of our destination and spent our first night in a motel driving from California to St. Louis, Missouri. When we woke up in the morning the radiator water was frozen. They hadn’t put any anti freeze in it and we had to have it heated up. Maybe with a blow torch. It was below freezing definitely. This would have been around Christmas time. We were both 21/22. When we were getting ready to head back to California the battery was dead. I sat in the car while others pushed the car to jump start it multiple times. Everyone is frustrated. There is ice in the parking lot. Turns out you need to turn the key to jumpstart a car! Who would have thunk it. No problems driving back. The drive to Missouri was more memorable than the drive home to California. Unfortunately we did not have the time to site see.
I learned to drive in an F10.....as I recall, a very unusual clutch design....you could change the flywheel, pressure plate and disk with the engine and transmission in the car....throw out assembly came out via the right inner fender and the rotating parts out of a mail slot cover on top of the bell housing. It was my Mother’s car bought new in 1978....my aunt bought a new B-210 at the same time with the same A14 engine. I drove both and the F10 was noticeably faster.
Not orig paint, not orig wheels, had to do with on it for a month. $4500? Trust fund Crazies? That much should have given you a mint condition thoroughly sorted 30k orig mike example. Maybe a grand? Pushing it.. but it was in a barn sitting for years?!?
I just located some files of slides I took of my Sports 800 when I took delivery in Iwakuni, Japan in 1968. This was at my local Toyota dealer. There are also pics of it on the road on the Imazen highway painted silver. If you’ll send me your e-mail address I’ll send you a zip file with the pics. They might be useful in restoring your car. The pics are large jpeg files and can be blown up very large for ease of viewing. Art Tafil, natstek@aol.com
Hello! I am looking forward to buy Eunos 20B. Is there any possibility for you to sell your Cosmo and if not do you have any info where I can get one except from Japan. Thanks
Had a B210 I sold in 2015 for $4000. It was in nicer shape than your Honey Bee but also had been repainted. Mine ran really nice when it was sold. I feel the buyer got a good deal. Here was my close up to sell it. Loved that car. Was sad to let it go. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UC7IUQnvNZY.html
Less is more! The Datsun Honeybee is awesome, I would take it in a heartbeat. With some decent engine work or a swap to a larger L series engine, or maybe even a turbo motor, this thing would be very quick.
