Honda S800

[Walker570]

Anyone on here old enough to remember these little beauties ? I had one back in the late 60s early 70s and it was way ahead of it's time. Fantastic little engine with one carb per cylinder which would rev round to 8000 no problem and cornered like it had Velcro on the tyres. The grip on the back end was amazing and I remember being down in Adge's country playing in it, in deep snow and came across a police Austin 1100 half way up one of the steep climbs out above Stroud somewhere. It was screwed across the single track lane. I asked if I could help and the two frustrated policemen looked at my car then me with disdain. I climbed back in drove up the bank around the 1100 backed up, produced a top strap and pulled them half a mile onto level ground. If I remember I had to go and close the mouths of those two because they could not believe what this little grey machine had just done. Used to wind up Midget drivers as well. Wish I had one today. Mind I could probably get in it, but would need my neighbour with his Manitou to come lift me out :-)

Edited October 30, 2016 by Walker570

[UKPoacher]

I remember them. Trouble with Jap cars back then was that a) they were too small - even the family saloons were tighter than a pair of drainpipe jeans and b) they rusted before your eyes. I would imagine that the S800 would be akin to sitting in dodgem car.

[wisdom]

Just had a look on a classic car site and they fetch good money.

[UKPoacher]

There is a growing attraction for micro cars. My Brother-in-Law has just bought a Bond Bug. He already has the earlier Mk. B which is the open top three-wheeler 'powered' if that can be stretched to its limits, by a Villiers 200cc two-stroke. I was browsing in a local vintage car dealers and there was a BMW Isetta 'Bubble Car' priced at €28,000. They were about £600 brand new at their launch.

[Walker570]

Just had a look on a classic car site and they fetch good money.

I know I know!!! Why did |I sell it ? Ah well along came this Escort GT, bright red it was and had been languishing in the front of the dealers for weeks looking really sad and as has been said, the S800 was a tight fit for me, my wife, my Labrador and my in laws because they did not drive, so a four seater was required. Mind I did put a set of 13 inch wheels and some nice rally tyres on that Escort plus a few other slight mods and spent a night now and again exploring the back lanes of Wales and Derbyshire .

[Walker570]

Issetta was it 1960 ?? Front door with steering wheel opened up? Tried to persuade my dad to lay out for one. Not permitted on here for fear of waking up the mods, what his comment was Then some German decided to put three wheels on a fighter jet cockpit, but for amorous nights out, useless.

 

No I still dream of having enough spare dosh to seek out one of those S800s. I could always crawl out on my hands and knees

[UKPoacher]

I know I know!!! Why did |I sell it ? Ah well along came this Escort GT, bright red it was and had been languishing in the front of the dealers for weeks looking really sad and as has been said, the S800 was a tight fit for me, my wife, my Labrador and my in laws because they did not drive, so a four seater was required. Mind I did put a set of 13 inch wheels and some nice rally tyres on that Escort plus a few other slight mods and spent a night now and again exploring the back lanes of Wales and Derbyshire .

 

I wet to a classic car race a couple of months ago. The race is a few laps around a street circuit and there are about twenty classes from proper vintage 1920 - 30's Bugattis and the like and more modern classics. One race consisted of 20 souped up Porche 911 models driven by drivers who looked like they meant business, plus one very ordinary looking Ford Escort Mk.1 in duck egg blue. The Ford peed all over the German cars and lead from start to finish. Turned out to be a rare Lotus Escort with a paltry 1557cc under the bonnet. I went all nostalgic when it came back into the pits.

[Walker570]

Yep! My mate had one. We took it in turns to drive and navigate. I drove, he navigated, he drove I navigated. He shortened my life for sure in that car, I saw more of the road through my side window than through the screen . This was before stage rallying, which is basically racing off road. The old days rallying was as much about navigation as ability to drive or even what car you had.

Those cars made a lovely sound from those twin Webers, distinctive. The first time I saw one was on the Front at Nice, before the start of the Alpine back in 1968 I think, we drove over and followed the rally. Roger Clark had a plain white works Escort with the extended wheel arches no one had seen before. Memories flooding back

Edited October 30, 2016 by Walker570

[McSpredder]

Fantastic little engine with one carb per cylinder which would rev round to 8000

One of our engineering lecturers from those days used to point out that if you measured engine efficiency in bhp/litre, the S800 was looked far better than the Sprite/Midget.

 

I have a feeling that efficiency as measured by fuel consumption might have been less impressive. What sort of mpg did you achieve?

 

HowManyLeft says there are still 50 of the S800 models in UK, and I imagine the number brought into this country might have been fairly small. Car survival rates fascinate me. Plenty of Herald/Vitesse models still driving round, but I very rarely see a 105E Anglia, even though production must have vastly outnumbered that of the Triumphs.

[gustaff]

Yep! My mate had one. We took it in turns to drive and navigate. I drove, he navigated, he drove I navigated. He shortened my life for sure in that car, I saw more of the road through my side window than through the screen . This was before stage rallying, which is basically racing off road. The old days rallying was as much about navigation as ability to drive or even what car you had.

Those cars made a lovely sound from those twin Webers, distinctive. The first time I saw one was on the Front at Nice, before the start of the Alpine back in 1968 I think, we drove over and followed the rally. Roger Clark had a plain white works Escort with the extended wheel arches no one had seen before. Memories flooding back

night rallies and twelve car club rallies in seventies fond memorys all on public roads and tracks meeting ****** up farmers onthere way home from after hours sessions at there local and avoiding local old bill patrols

[UKPoacher]

One of our engineering lecturers from those days used to point out that if you measured engine efficiency in bhp/litre, the S800 was looked far better than the Sprite/Midget.

 

I have a feeling that efficiency as measured by fuel consumption might have been less impressive. What sort of mpg did you achieve?

 

HowManyLeft says there are still 50 of the S800 models in UK, and I imagine the number brought into this country might have been fairly small. Car survival rates fascinate me. Plenty of Herald/Vitesse models still driving round, but I very rarely see a 105E Anglia, even though production must have vastly outnumbered that of the Triumphs.

 

There are loads of BMW Isettas about too. Usually found parked right up to the back garage wall with a corpse inside

 

It is surprising how few of the mass produced, popular at the time Ford models survive these days. But then again, you don't see many Austin 1100's, 1800's or 2200's about either, or any of the old Rootes group or Vauxhall cars so perhaps it is more about whether the models were regarded as worth keeping rather than numerically / statistically based?

[McSpredder]

It is surprising how few of the mass produced, popular at the time Ford models survive these days. But then again, you don't see many Austin 1100's, 1800's or 2200's about either, or any of the old Rootes group or Vauxhall cars so perhaps it is more about whether the models were regarded as worth keeping rather than numerically / statistically based?

Cause of death: incurable tinworm.

 

I remember a chap who returned from East Africa in the mid-1960s, bringing a Phase II Vanguard that still looked immaculate after seven years in a dry climate. Eighteen months of UK damp and road salt converted the whole thing into ferric oxide.

(Edit: It was of course a Phase 3 Vanguard, not a Phase 2 at that date.)

 

Herald chassis was certainly not immune from rot, but the steel thickness meant that welding was fairly simple. Maybe repairability is an even bigger factor than desirability?

Edited October 31, 2016 by McSpredder

[four-wheel-drive]

I would have loved to have had one when they first came out I also liked the 4 wheel Burkley they also use bike engines I also liked the bug eyed sprite but I have always been to big to fit in and not look stupid.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=honda+s800&biw=1366&bih=645&tbm=isch&imgil=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%253BNaVoebSHG9TzjM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FHonda_S800&source=iu&pf=m&fir=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%252CNaVoebSHG9TzjM%252C_&usg=__iE-BYIUkdzhETnxDK48uurjVMfU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj4jPGMkYXQAhUHLsAKHd4HDjoQyjcIOg&ei=EEUXWPjEM4fcgAbej7jQAw#imgrc=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%3A

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=honda+s800&biw=1366&bih=645&tbm=isch&imgil=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%253BNaVoebSHG9TzjM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FHonda_S800&source=iu&pf=m&fir=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%252CNaVoebSHG9TzjM%252C_&usg=__iE-BYIUkdzhETnxDK48uurjVMfU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj4jPGMkYXQAhUHLsAKHd4HDjoQyjcIOg&ei=EEUXWPjEM4fcgAbej7jQAw#tbm=isch&q=burkley+cars

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=honda+s800&biw=1366&bih=645&tbm=isch&imgil=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%253BNaVoebSHG9TzjM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FHonda_S800&source=iu&pf=m&fir=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%252CNaVoebSHG9TzjM%252C_&usg=__iE-BYIUkdzhETnxDK48uurjVMfU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj4jPGMkYXQAhUHLsAKHd4HDjoQyjcIOg&ei=EEUXWPjEM4fcgAbej7jQAw#tbm=isch&q=austin+healey+sprite+mk1

Edited October 31, 2016 by four-wheel-drive

[amateur]

I would have loved to have had one when they first came out I also liked the 4 wheel Burkley they also use bike engines I also liked the bug eyed sprite but I have always been to big to fit in and not look stupid.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=honda+s800&biw=1366&bih=645&tbm=isch&imgil=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%253BNaVoebSHG9TzjM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FHonda_S800&source=iu&pf=m&fir=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%252CNaVoebSHG9TzjM%252C_&usg=__iE-BYIUkdzhETnxDK48uurjVMfU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj4jPGMkYXQAhUHLsAKHd4HDjoQyjcIOg&ei=EEUXWPjEM4fcgAbej7jQAw#imgrc=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%3A

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=honda+s800&biw=1366&bih=645&tbm=isch&imgil=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%253BNaVoebSHG9TzjM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FHonda_S800&source=iu&pf=m&fir=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%252CNaVoebSHG9TzjM%252C_&usg=__iE-BYIUkdzhETnxDK48uurjVMfU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj4jPGMkYXQAhUHLsAKHd4HDjoQyjcIOg&ei=EEUXWPjEM4fcgAbej7jQAw#tbm=isch&q=burkley+cars

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=honda+s800&biw=1366&bih=645&tbm=isch&imgil=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%253BNaVoebSHG9TzjM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FHonda_S800&source=iu&pf=m&fir=QoGhlX5D_kFiFM%253A%252CNaVoebSHG9TzjM%252C_&usg=__iE-BYIUkdzhETnxDK48uurjVMfU%3D&ved=0ahUKEwj4jPGMkYXQAhUHLsAKHd4HDjoQyjcIOg&ei=EEUXWPjEM4fcgAbej7jQAw#tbm=isch&q=austin+healey+sprite+mk1

 

My younger brother and I bought an engineless B65 Berkeley in our teens - this one should have had a 328cc Excelsior engine in, but we thought that it might be interesting to put a 692cc Enfield Meteor engine in, to turn it into a B95.

We spent a merry six months or so finding all the conversion bits and restoring the body shell and actually got it going.

That's when we realised that the B95/B105's had substantially thicker fibreglass bodies for a reason. It was exceedingly quick but absolutely unusable as a car.

We passed it on to another optimist