[PTA SC] Toyota Sports 800 @ 1279 pounds

quote:

The revered and iconic 2000GT was not the first sports car from Toyota. Rather, it was the tiny Sports 800.

In 1955 Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry encouraged the development of a so-called People’s Car—a Japanese Beetle, if you will. Much of the postwar Japanese auto industry was based on licensing agreements with overseas manufacturers, but MITI wanted its automakers to undertake design and development, along with export, independently.

MITI’s plan called for cooperation on a single new vehicle. The automakers balked and went off on their own. Toyota’s variation on the theme was the Publica, which launched in 1961 after development got bogged down when the original fwd architecture saw a detour to a rwd design.

A year after the launch of the Publica two-door sedan, Toyota showed a prototype for a Publica-based sports car with removable roof. The production version would wait until 1965, but that still beat Porsche into production with what we now know as the Targa top.

The Publica sports car was called the Sports 800, which took its name from its sports car styling and 790-cc 2U engine, a two-cylinder, horizontally opposed and air-cooled little pumper. Fed by a single carburetor in the Publica, in the Sports 800 a pair of carbs were used, boosting output to some 45 hp.

By combining that engine with a lightweight chassis and aerodynamic body, the Sports 800 was capable, Toyota said, of 90 mph and better than 50 mpg.

Fewer than two dozen Sports 800s made their way to the United States, but the cars were popular at home, where they were known as Yota-Hachi, a combination of the last letters in Toyota and the Japanese word for 800.

Now Yota-Hachi might look like something designed in Italy, and you don’t have to squint too hard to see some Saab Sonett in there either, but the car was created by Japanese aircraft designer Tatsuo Hasegawa.

The Sports 800 stands slightly more than 46 inches tall, but it is less than 141 inches long and less than 58 inches wide. It weighs 1279 pounds.

The car remained in production until 1969. This left-hand-drive Yota-Hachi (it was built for export) is owned by Marv Specter, who first saw a Sports 800 on a visit to the Toyota museum in Japan. When Specter returned home he found one, own-ed it for more than a decade, then sold it and bought this one from its original owner.

With Specter’s experienced hand (he operates Specter Off Road in Chatsworth, California, a major supplier of Toyota Land Cruiser parts) manipulating the manual choke, the two-cylinder engine fires and, once it does, the little sportster runs well. It is quite responsive and extremely dexterous.

The Sports 800’s driver has a fine—if close to the pavement—view over a louver­ed hood that has elevated rearview mirrors set well out on the front fenders. Speaking of louvers, the vents in the C-pillars provide airflow through the tight but comfortable interior.

The clutch has a light pick-up and the four-speed manual gearbox is easy to manipulate—once the driver learns to be patient with the long throw from second to third gear. Steering is quick, the turning circle miniscule.

The Sports 800 is fun to drive—at least on a short trip. Specter says he never ventures more than 45 miles from home in this tiny Toyota.

In 1965 a Sports 800 won the All Japan Car Club Championship race. Two years later a Yota-Hachi finished third behind a pair of 2000GTs in Japan’s first 24-hour enduro.

Toyota brought five cars to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. Along with a recent F1 car, an IMSA-winning Eagle, a Japanese GT-winning Supra and the 1999 Le Mans runner-up, a Sports 800 racer took its place among the celebrated machines.

quote:

Op vrijdag 4 mei 2007 18:13 schreef PeuRac het volgende:
oeh, k kwam een canadees meisje tegen vandaag, die werd helemaal gek toen ik vertelde dat ik een Alfa had en dr weer een ga kopen

quote:

Op dinsdag 22 mei 2007 22:10 schreef Alexxxxx het volgende:
Herm mag dan een domme mongool zijn, dit keer heeft ie wel gelijk

quote:

Op dinsdag 5 februari 2008 21:48 schreef Alexxxxx het volgende:
Te koop: Joegoslaaf, weinig gebruikt. Ogen onlangs nog gereviseerd, weinig onderhoud, goedkoop in de vaste lasten.

quote:

Op dinsdag 19 februari 2008 19:09 schreef BaraCuda het volgende:
Ik heb ook een piemel

quote:

Op dinsdag 19 februari 2008 20:49 schreef Sjoewe het volgende:

[..]

Ik woon al 3/4 jaar samen.
Ik doe regelmatig de afwas.
En ik ben al 5 maanden van de Gaulies af.

Heb je zin om mee te gaan kijken naar een Vectra station?

quote:

Op donderdag 10 juli 2008 22:51 schreef Paladijn het volgende:

[..]

niet eens gezien, maar zo'n toybota sports is natuurlijk veel toffer.

quote:

Op donderdag 10 juli 2008 22:57 schreef Paladijn het volgende:

[..]

Wat is er tof aan een Audi camper die toch niet off-road kan?