>>Toyota Sports 800

Toyota Sports 800

Toyota Sports 800
Manufacturer	Toyota
Also called	UP15, Yotahachi
Production	1965–1969
Predecessor	None
Successor	None
Class	Sports car
Body style(s)	2-door roadster 2-door coupe
Layout	FR
Engine(s)	H2
Length	3580mm
Width	1465mm
Height	1176mm
Curb weight	580kg/1276lbs
Related	Toyota Publica, Honda S800

The Toyota Sports 800 was Toyota Motor Corporation's first production sports car. The prototype for the Sports 800, called the Toyota Publica Sports, debuted at the 1962 Tokyo Auto Show, featuring a space age sliding canopy and utilizing the 28 HP power train of the Toyota Publica 700, a Japanese market economy car.

In 1965, the car went into actual production, with chassis code UP15 and an increase in engine displacement from 700cc to 800cc, and dual carburetors, which increased horsepower from 28 to 45. This engine was sufficient to power the light 580 kg car around town at 45 mpg or on a race track up to about 100 mph.

The car had aerodynamic styling by Shozo Sato, a designer on loan from Datsun, and Toyota engineer Tatsuo Hasegawa. Hasegawa had been an aircraft designer in World War II and the resulting Sports 800 was a lightweight and agile machine.

The Sports 800 was one of the first production cars featuring a lift-out roof panel, or targa top, pre-dating the Porsche Targa. The aluminum targa top could be stored in the trunk, when not in use.

Between 1965 (Showa year 40) and 1969 (Showa year 44) approximately 3,131 units were built by the Kanto Auto Works. Only about 10% of those vehicles are known to have survived, most being in Japan.

Production Tables show 1,235 cars manufactured in 1965, 703 in 1966, 538 in 1967, 440 in 1968, and 215 in 1969.

The vast majority of the 3,131 cars were right hand drive, but some 300 were left hand drive models, built primarily for the Okinawa market (Okinawa, having been American occupied, drove on the "other side" from the rest of Japan). A very limited number of left hand drive cars were used by Toyota to "test drive" in the US, but Toyota made a decision not to import or sell the cars in the US market.

There are subtle design differences between the years. Change over from non-synchro to synchro first gear occurred in 1967; a grill and bumperette change in 1968; and side marker lights in 1969, are among the noticeable differences. The basic body design remained unchanged.

An air-cooled 790 cc horizontally opposed two-cylinder boxer engine powered the vehicle. The 0.8 liter 2U (45 bhp @ 5400) was produced from 1965 through 1969, while a similar 2U-B was produced from 1966 through 1976 (in 1975 the Dyna Coaster Bus manual shows that Toyota used the 2U-B as a separate auxiliary engine, just to run the air conditioning unit for the bus). The 2U was also used in the Publica (UP20/UP26) and MiniAce (UP100).

Weight was kept down by using aluminum on selected body panels and thin steel on the unibody construction. For the first few years of production even the seat frames were made of aluminum. Curb weight is 580 kg.

In 1977, Toyota produced a one-off prototype Sports 800 GT. The GT stood for Gas Turbine rather than Grand Touring. This was one of Toyota's early forays into hybrid technology.

There are both Japanese and American Registries on the Internet. Owners are encouraged to register their vehicles.

References

• Toyota 2000GT Sports 800, Neko Publishing Co., Ltd.
• Toyota Publica & Sports 800, Miki Press.
• Toyota Sports 800 Production Figure Documents from Toyota Motor Corporation, Global External Affairs Division.
• 1968 Toyota Motor Sales, USA Press Release.
• 1975 Toyota Dyna Coaster Bus Manual.