#Honda TN-Acty

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Honda TN-Acty Big Cab, 1982. A face-lifted version of the first generation Acty truck with a cab extended by 100mm (note the small window in the C-pillar).

[oldmotors]

Honda’s very first four-wheeled production vehicle was a tiny Keitora - the Honda T360. Production started in the summer of 1963 - a few months before Honda’s more well-known S550 sports car. The company was only 14 years old but was already a huge force in Motorcycles. Four-wheeled vehicles were a natural extension. The concept of the Kei class was that it was dimensionally limited but also offered big road tax advantages and low entry prices - it was purposefully designed to put Japan on four wheels for real and the plan worked - although trucks designed for work were as big a part of the plan as cars. - The T360 eventually gave way to the forward-control TN360 and TNIII, TN-V, and TN7 that evolved from it. All were built for the 1960s set of Kei rules - engines up to 360cc and very specific dimensions. But emissions laws, pared back tax advantages, and consumer demands for bigger cars eventually hurt the 360-cc formula Keis. By 1975, Kei sales dropped from 750K/year in 1970 to 150K. Honda actually dropped all of its Keis except the TN7 after 1974. In response to demands from Suzuki and Daihatsu, the legislature upped the engine limit to 550cc that October in hopes of a revival. Kei trucks, of course, were for working - and there the need was constant. Honda did not revive Keis until the 1980s, but belatedly responded to the new rules by replacing the TN7 with the all-new Acty in 1977. - The Mk1 Acty was powered by a 545-cc twin derived from a motorcycle engine, and while it looked more like the other entries in the class than the TN7 had, it served Honda well for 11 years, giving way to the Mk2 in 1988. Though Keitora design was formulaic by the 80s, the Acty was a little different than the other Kei trucks - for one thing, it was a unibody. Second, the mid-engine (at first a 545-cc EA05 triple and, when the limit was upped to 660cc in 1990, a 656-cc EA07) a was much further back than in some other Keis - just in front of the rear axle. This made for a good and quiet ride at the expense of off-road ability, but the Acty came 4WD if you wanted it. The early Mk2 Acty had styling related to the Honda Today Kei car, but gave way to more generic looks later. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5iinC2FYvX/?igshid=njciu202ax89

[ukclassiccars]

eBay: 1987 Honda TN-Acty,VAN, Full mot,with lots of spares http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=2&toolid=10039&campid=5337444570&customid=Classic-Cars-UK&item=223367524663&vectorid=229508&lgeo=1&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=2&toolid=10039&campid=5337444570&customid=Classic-Cars-UK&item=223367524663&vectorid=229508&lgeo=1&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Honda Acty Van SDX, 1980. The Acty replaced the TN series in 1977 with a van version joining the kei truck in 1979. The version with a rear seat arrived in June 1980. The sliding doors had centre mounted handles so that the same pressing can be used for either side of the vehicle.