It was the very first Toyota Sports car, and one of the earliest Japanese sports cars of all - only Datsun’s Fairlady series and Honda’s S500 (barely) preceded it. Today on OldMotors.net (link in bio - read more!) we look at the Sports 800, better known to fans as the #YotaHachi. Like most cheap sports cars - it initially cost about ¥595,000 (about $1,700 in 1965 dollars) - it was descended from a more proletarian sedan. Just as the Hillman Minx became the Sunbeam Alpine, so too did the Toyota Publica become the Sports 800 - but the transformation was exponentially more dramatic in the case of the Sports 800. The Publica was Toyota’s answer to Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s call for a national car. Initially inspired by the Citroën 2CV, the Publica ended up a rear-drive car due to costs, but was powered by an air-cooled twin and was extremely basic and durable. It fit the fill for basic transportation, but exciting it was not - despite a nice double wishbone front suspension that made it a capable handler. In booming 1960s Japan, Toyota wanted to attract younger customers, and turned to creating a sports car version of the Publica to do it. The first step was to create an exciting concept car to gauge interest. Here Toyota turned to ex-Nissan designer Shozo Sato - a chain-smoking eccentric who loved to paint oil paintings of vintage cars in the studio and who was demanding perfectionist in his design work. Chronic health problems eventually led Sato away from Nissan. Sato created a sleek, bubble-topped concept called the Publica Sports for the 1962 Tokyo show - the same show where Honda launched the S500. The task of making the car was then handed off to Toyota’s engineering legend Tetsuo Hasegawa, a former aircraft engineer who had spearheaded the Publica project. Hasegawa transformed the car into a lightweight sports machine by engineering out excess weight - the unibody was made of thin-gauge steel and aluminum was used extensively. The Publica’s flat twin was punched up to 790-cc and 45hp (from 28), and a star was born, appearing in the spring of ‘65. It was a track terror but impractical - and just 3,131 were sold into 1969. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDW5VhcFn9-/?igshid=gepoo23e1jun
