Could the Honda S800 be the most extraordinary car most of us have never heard of? Parked alone, it looks like a typical 1960s Japanese sports car of its era. But seen next to the smallest current Japanese hatchback you might recognise, the Toyota Aygo, its size becomes apparent. The Aygo is 3.45m-long. The S800 is 3.3m. The smallest current Mini 3.82m. This feels like a car you should put on rather than get in.
Its tiny size isn’t the really extraordinary bit. That’s under the bonnet. Many modern cars have a rev-counter measuring engine speed, and in most the red line starts at around 4000rpm for diesel cars, or 6000rpm for petrol. In the S800, it starts at 8500rpm, but there is plenty of race-track footage of the needle sitting at 10,000rpm for what seems like eternity. You wince waiting for the explosion or laugh maniacally at the frenzy.
Is it any wonder that the S800 is one of the go-to cars on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo? In real life, the at-the-wheel experience of the S800 is unique in an era that feels like it is repressing enthusiastic driving. Fans include former F1 designer Gordon Murray and TV host Jay Leno. “If this had Porsche written on it, it’d be $250,000,” Leno has said of his 1964 S600, a model that evolved into the S800. As it is, S800s fetch $40,000-plus Stateside, with “perfect” models topping $50,000. “You really have to wring every last bit of power out of it,” adds Leno. “And that’s where the fun comes. An amazing car for its time.”
Murray, who had to have the interior adapted to fit his 6ft 4in frame, adds: “When the S800 was announced, I liked the design and the fact it was small, but most of all that its engine revved to 10,000rpm – Formula One stuff in 1965.” Following alterations, “it was even better than I expected – such a great drive and gear change”.
Darby Harris, 22, is a race-car technician whose grandmother drove an S800: “Mine has a great fun factor, sounding like a race car and feeling like you’re travelling 150mph when you’re doing 60mph. I’m 5ft 1in, so it’s a perfect fit.” Rob Hubbard, car specialist at auctioneer Bonhams, puts some of the revived appeal down to broader market forces. “These ’60s Japanese sports cars are becoming more and more popular because people realise just how good the engineering was,” he says. Of the S800, he adds: “It’s a fantastic, revvy engine in an upholstered rollerskate… a hell of a contraption.”
The high-revving engine is all the more impressive when you consider that the £900 S800 was launched when the average midsized family Hillman Minx motor would turn to shrapnel if pushed much beyond 4500rpm, and the MG Midget, the nearest S800 equivalent at 3.48m-long, was done by 5500rpm. The design started with the 1963 S500, motorcycle-maker Honda’s first car, followed by the 1964 S600. Honda introduced the 800cc motor in 1965.
But it remains a game of cat-and-mouse to find one – Hubbard has sold “just three in 12 years”. There are about 60 registered for road use in the UK, with maybe 60 more sitting in various states of disrepair or restoration, says John Tetley, chairman of the Honda S800 Sports Car Club, adding: “Top-condition convertibles go for around £20,000 – coupes slightly less; useable for £7,000.” Lawton Chen, the club’s secretary, says: “Most change hands within or via the club. We know about almost every one for sale. Our website has a public-facing cars-for-sale section, but there are more in the members-only section.”
In the US, the Honda Sports Registry’s Brian Baker says the S800 market is the strongest it has ever been. “In 1981, when I first got involved with them, everyone thought I was crazy,” he says. “Values never really appreciated for about 30 years – until Jay Leno bought one in 2007. Now I get weekly enquiries, but they are difficult to find in any condition, and almost impossible to find ready to drive as there are very few specialists, like myself, who can properly sort them. I’d estimate only 25 per cent are roadworthy.”
But once discovered and driven, the S800 is addictive. “You can enjoy it in all sorts of circumstances,” said Tetley. “Eight-thousand revs in second gear is around 45mph. You can really use it and not get into trouble. A couple of police officers came to look at mine while I was fuelling up recently. They were amazed by what was effectively Grand Prix engineering under the bonnet, and I explained I could drive it like a race car. They raised an eyebrow. ‘But without breaking a speed limit,’ I added. Silence. ‘Cool. Carry on,’ they said.”
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April 12, 2021 at 10:56AM
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Remembrance of things fast – the hunt for the Honda S800 - Financial Times
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