The S800 is a

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

from

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

. Introduced at the 1965

Tokyo Motor Show The , called (TMS) until 2023, is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recog ...

, the S800 replaced the successful Honda S600 as the company's image car. With a redline of 8,500 rpm, it is one of the highest-revving sports cars produced for street use. The S800 competed with the

Austin-Healey Sprite The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car produced in the United Kingdom from 1958 until 1971. The Sprite was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, two days after that year's Monaco Gra ...

MG Midget The MG Midget is a small two-seater lightweight sports car produced by MG Cars, MG from 1961 to 1979. It revived a name that had been used on earlier models such as the MG M-type, MG D-type, MG J-type and MG T-type. __TOC__ MG Midget MkI (19 ...

Triumph Spitfire The Triumph Spitfire is a British sports car manufactured over five production iterations between 1962 and 1980. Styled for Standard- Triumph in 1957 by Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti, the Spitfire was introduced at the London Motor Show i ...

Datsun Fairlady The Datsun Sports (called Datsun Fairlady in the Japanese and Australian markets and simply given a numerical designation alone in other export markets), was a series of roadsters produced by Nissan in the 1960s. The series was a predecessor to th ...

, and Fiat 850 Spider.

History

Like the S600, the S800 was available as either a

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

or roadster, and continued the advanced technology of its predecessors. The 791 cc

straight-4 A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

engine produced 70 hp (52 kW) at 8000 rpm, thus making this Honda's first 100 mph (160 km/h) automobile, but still allowing for 35 mpg (6.7 L/100 km). In April 1967 the car was described as the fastest production 1-litre car in the world thanks to its high revving engine (up to 10,000 rpm) and the manufacturer's history of manufacturing powerful relatively low capacity motor-cycle engines. Early examples continued to use the

chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...

and

independent suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in ...

in the rear. 752 roadsters and 242 coupés were then produced. After that Honda switched to a conventional drive-shaft,

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle, or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically, they have a ...

rear end with four radius rods and a

Panhard rod A Panhard rod (also called Panhard bar, track bar, or track rod) is a suspension link that provides lateral location of the axle. Invented by the Panhard automobile company of France in the early twentieth century, this device has been widely use ...

.Buckley, Martin.''The Illustrated Book of Classic Cars''. Anness Publishing Ltd, 1997, 2003, p. 146-7. 604 roadsters and 69 coupes were built with this setup before

disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the #Calipers, calipers to squeeze pairs of #Brake pads, pads against a disc (sometimes called a

rake Rake may refer to: Common meanings * Rake (tool), a horticultural implement, a long-handled tool with tines * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (poker), the commission taken by the house when hosting a poker game ...

rotor) to create friction. There are two basic types of brake pad friction mechanisms: abrasive f ...

s replaced the front

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. In 1967, the S800 became available in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. By this time the model had the more conventional drive layout as stated above, with predictable handling and a firm ride. It was also cheaper than the

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Performance Cars of the original Mini series with uprated drive train and brakes, called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and also the successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (mar ...

and

, in Britain. In February 1968, the S800M (aka S800MK2) was introduced with flush mounted interior door handles, side marker lights outside, dual-circuit brakes, lean burn carburetion under the bonnet and safety glass. These changes were made for the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

market, but the car was never exported there officially. Production ended in May 1970 with 11,536 S800s produced. Honda did not manufacture another S roadster for nearly thirty years until the release of the S2000 for the 2000 model year.

References

External links

* {{Early Honda vehicles S800 Sports cars Cars introduced in 1966 Cars discontinued in 1970