Japanese Nostalgic Car

The 1965 Sports 800 isn’t Japan’s first production sports car (the Honda S600 predates it by a couple of years) but it is definitely Toyota’s first foray into a sporting vehicle. With a compact 45hp, twin carbed, pushrod boxer-twin 790cc motor under the bonnet, the plucky little 580kg coupe could be whanged to a Honda S600 matching 95mph. Compared to the Honda roadster, the Toyota car is about 10hp down on power but 80kg down on weight, so the performance in the day would have been competitive. And just like the Honda S roadsters, the Sports 800 was a complete sales flop, only selling 3300 between 1965 to 1969 (to the Honda’s 11,000).

But the thing that people most remember about the Sports 800 are its tiddly, toy-like looks. Even if you see a picture of a real one, it’s exaggeratedly egglike proportions require a double-take to ensure that it isn’t actually a close up of a Choro-Q toy that you’re looking at!

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SuperStreet have today thrown up a great little feature on a gorgeous green 190hp TE27 Levin (known as the SR5 in the US), so head over there and check it out.  With so much focus on the better known classic Japanese performers like the Nissan and Mazda offerings, it’s great to see not only a Corolla getting press exposure, but also one in such fantastic condition under and outside the hood.

[via SuperStreet]

The Toyota Corolla has now been in the Australian market since 1967, and today—forty years later—Toyota Australia have announced that they’ve now waved off their millionth ‘Rolla in the suburnt country. Marketing fluff aside (“Corolla has always captured the imagination of the buying public.”), it’s a pretty special day.

While they’re no longer the brilliant subtly designed little rear-wheel-driven machines of yesteryear, the Corolla is an important car in the Australian market and it continues to be a massive seller. Good work, Toyota, but give me the TE27 any day!

[via Aus Car Advice]