On Monday, we presented this week’s shifter and asked you to identify the make and model of the vehicle whence it came. Thanks to the age and low quality of the photo used for this week’s contest, we received plenty of clever guesses ranging from “Unidentified Gear Shifter” to “Toyota Dot Matrix.” While no one actually identified the shifter—which belongs to a 1964 Honda S500, by the way—we consider the colorful commentary was an overall win.
Anyway, the S500 pictured here is from Honda’s original press materials. Closer to a four-wheeled motorcycle than a car (two-wheelers were Honda’s expertise at the time), the S500 featured a 492-cc (0.5 liter!) dual-overhead camshaft inline four initially producing 39 horsepower at 8000 rpm. Power was sent to the rear wheels via a shaft mated to a pair of independently sprung, motorcycle-like chain drives that doubled as swing arms. 
39 hp @8000
Source: CarAndDriver
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