The Honda S800 was not a 'One Off' exercise on the part of Honda. It started life as a small 360 cc car which was intended to suit the Japanese and the tax incentives given to owners of small cars with limited engine capacity. Mr Honda put together a team of young engineers whose eldest member was only 28 years old. The brief for the project was to have "sports appeal", something normally missing in this tax free sector. It should also give a taste of what a competition vehicle was like and must also be a vehicle that they would like to own themselves.
   The team, by mid 1962 had managed to put together a small two seater sports car, utilising an engine similar to the Honda T360 commercial truck. The car measured in at 2990mm long, 1295inm wide and 1146mm high. The engine was 356cc capacity and developed 33 BHP at 9000 rpm!. The engine was a 4 cylinder, twin cam, with a roller bearing crankshaft and two twin-choke carburettors. The mechanics were fitted into a neat ladder chassis. The final drive incorporated a rear axle positioned just behind the drivers seat, from the ends of the axle where two independently sprung chain cases which took up the final drive to the wheels.
   The S360 was produced in prototype form only and did not make it to production. The natural progression of the S360 was of course to make the car more powerful and along came the S500 (although this model was not exported). The capacity was increased to 531 cc's which developed 44 BHP, again with the similar engine configuration as the S360 and independent suspension and drum brakes. All the models so far were in convertible form only, it wasn't until 1964 and the S600 that the option of a 'Fixed head' Coupe became available.
   The S600 with 57 BHP was introduced in March 1964, with quite a power advantage over the S500. The production increased to an output of 5210 cars in 1964, rising to 8779 cars in 1965. The car up to this point was for the home market only, but it wasn't long before the S600 started to appear in Australia and at least two racing versions of the S600 appeared in the U.K.
   One of these cars was believed to be the famous Jack Brabham/Denny Hulme S600 racer (DPL 5OOB) which earned a class win at the Nurburgring. This car whilst on a promotional tour of the U.K. was believed to have been destroyed in a garage fire in Newcastle. Happily this was not the case, and the car instead lay undiscovered in the back of a workshop for many years. It has been exported to Germany, where it has been restored and is now raced again in F.I.A. Historic Races.
   All the markets up to now were R.H. drive, but by late 1965 L.H. drive cars were starting to appear throughout Europe, notably those countries with taxation advantages for small capacity engines. Although the S600 was not marketed in the U.K. six cars did find their way here. In early 1966 Honda undertook further development of the 'S' type which involved the engine capacity being raised again to 791 cc. This model still retained the drum brakes and chain drive independent suspension of the S600, and in October 1966 two coupes and a convertible arrived at King George V Docks retaining the above features; the S800 had arrived.
   The convertible (LYY 832D) was put on show at the 1966 Earls Court motor show and is now currently owned by a club member. The Coupes were owned by a Midlands based dealer and registered HON 1D and HON 800D. A total of six S800's came to the U.K. during 1966, but it wasn't until 1967 that the S800 was imported in any numbers.
   It appears that the chain drive S800 was a very rare beast indeed, it was expensive to produce and so a decision was made to rationalise the S800 with a live rear axle. Undoubtedly, we all appreciate that the Honda S800 cannot have been easy or inexpensive to produce, so to stay competitive with rival sports cars in the export markets, economies had to be made. So when the major thrust of S800's arrived in 1967, the cars had the familiar specification of a live rear axle, front disc brakes and 70 BHP, (at 8000 RPM), to meet the Spitfires, Healey's and Midgets head on.
   There were, however, big problems for Honda in the U.S.A., where traditionally the British sports cars had cornered the market. The rapid development of the Mk2 S800 (as we know it) was a direct response to the American safety legislation; hence the recessed door handles, side marker lights, hazard warning lights, and dual circuit brakes. All this effort had one major drawback - the engine, despite its sophistication and the ability to produce high amounts of power from a small cubic capacity, was considered "dirty" in environmental terms, with a high proportion of unburned hydrocarbons (*). The loss of the all important U.S. market led to the S800 being discontinued. The annual production figures showed that the S800 never met the output of the S600, yet the S800 was intended for world exports.
   Production tailed off in 1969 and finished in early 1970, the end of the first real car from Honda, but we intend that it will be seen on the roads for many years yet.
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