Berkeley Street Sighting - 1957 Fiat 600 Multipla

Can we all agree that specialized repair shops are awesome? One hidden gem in the odd, anti-car People's Republic of Berkeley is an unassuming little corrugated aluminum building with no sign, located next to a creepy-looking old house with the word "eternal" painted on it. This is Conrad Stevenson Restorations, a treasure trove for lovers of vintage Alfa Romeos, Fiats and the occasional classic Ferrari or Lancia. This is a man who builds race cars and races them, too, whether it's for the 24 Hours of LeMons or the Monterey Historics. But he has an eye for the unusual as well. Naturally, he has a Fiat 600 Multipla. Scratch that, he has at least two.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Fiat 600D

It's funny how certain vehicles are unique enough that you can search for them on Flickr. Go ahead, type 'san francisco fiat' in the Flickr search box. This car is a veritable rock star compared to most vehicles in The City. It shows up at least 13 times on Flickr from a variety of photographers. In several of them, it's misidentified as the more well-known Fiat 500. It's actually a Fiat 600, and as best I can tell, it's a 1965 600D.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Honda N600

Quite possibly the tiniest car featured thus far on this blog, the Honda N600 was the first Honda car officially imported into the US. First introduced in America as a 1970 model, it was a larger-engined version of the N360 hatchback sold in Europe and Asia from 1967 to 1970. It was the precursor to the popular Civic compact, and boy was this car compact. It rode on a 78-inch wheelbase and was only 118 inches long overall. The N600 was powered by a high-revving 599 cc two-cylinder making a maximum of 45 horsepower, good for an 81 mph top speed. Weight was just over 1100 lbs. As an economy car of the era, the little Honda was fantastic. You could get 30 mpg in one of these. That seems pretty good, but technology has come a long way since then. The 2011 Ford Mustang V6 claims 31 mpg, in a much larger car that makes over 300 hp. Put into perspective though, this car was made when most vehicles on the roads in this country were averaging less than 10 mpg. The N600 was discontinued after 1972.