1970model Honda S800 Coupe

Honda Yellow in the 1960s was a color imbued with a special meaning—a declaration of “challenging the world.”
Standing before me, this 1970 Honda S800 Coupe wears its original Honda Yellow in strikingly vivid condition. Having undergone a full body restoration several years ago, followed more recently by further refinement and a complete mechanical overhaul—including the engine—by a well-known specialist shop, the car radiates an exceptionally fresh aura, vivid and alive right before my eyes.

That restoration extends comprehensively from the engine bay to the interior, betraying not the slightest hint that this is a machine well over half a century old. To eyes accustomed to today’s ever-growing sports cars, its astonishingly compact proportions feel refreshingly radical, irresistibly stirring the impulse: “I want to get in and drive it.”

“Since you’re writing about it, take your time and really drive it to be sure.”
With those warm words from the veteran owner—who has owned several S800s and, over many years, driven countless legendary cars from around the world—I finally give in to that impulse and climb aboard.

Opening the lightweight coupe door—its front and side windows raised by 40mm to ensure adequate cabin space—and settling into the beautifully preserved original seats, I am instantly enveloped in the pure world of the S800.

The tachometer before me is marked all the way to 11,000 rpm (!), with the red zone beginning at 8,500 rpm—an astonishing fact in itself. Rising from the tall center tunnel, a short shifter emerges, transmitting a direct, mechanical connection to the gearbox.
That crisp, delightfully precise shift action—so characteristic of the S800—further heightens the driver’s anticipation, and together with the low driving position visible through the windshield, promises an exceptionally sharp driving experience.

Cradling the slender original steering wheel, legs stretched forward from the low hip point of the seat, operating the ABC pedals naturally—this layout is pure 1960s European sports car philosophy. The immaculate, crack-free crash pad, the woodgrain-style meter panel Honda once used to evoke luxury, and the minimal array of original switches all aligned in period-correct fashion—each detail sends a shiver through the soul every time it’s touched.

The day’s shoot began on a bitterly cold morning.
Pulling the choke and gently turning the key, the Honda AS800E air-cooled, four-stroke inline-four DOHC engine springs to life without the slightest hesitation. This alone is astonishing. There’s no unevenness whatsoever; the engine spins up with remarkable smoothness, and with just a light blip of the throttle, the tach needle leaps upward. In that moment, one can’t help but feel: “This is the DOHC engine Honda built when it returned to challenge the world on four wheels, after conquering it on two.”

“Air-cooled Porsches are SOHC… there’s nothing else like an air-cooled DOHC engine,”
I muse, indulging in such thoughts as I work the short shifter, progressively stepping up through the close-ratio gearbox. The responsiveness is so immediate that I can’t help but grin to myself.

Once the engine oil is fully warmed, I press the throttle further, stitching together the revs in short bursts. The high-revving, air-cooled DOHC engine surges effortlessly all the way to 8,500 rpm—utterly free of hesitation—delivering pure, unfiltered driving joy straight to the driver.

It feels less like “revving an engine” and more like being drawn upward by its razor-sharp response, naturally using every bit of the 69 PS produced from just 791 cc at 8,000 rpm. This is a sensation utterly impossible to experience in high-power, large-displacement engines—a deeply immersive, almost addictive feeling that anyone who grips this steering wheel will instantly understand.

Rev it even harder, and thanks to motorcycle-derived lightweight pistons and a highly precise crankshaft and valvetrain, the engine note becomes lighter still. Vibrations fade away, almost like an electric motor, and the originally lightweight 740 kg body seems to grow even lighter as speed builds—an entirely novel sensation flooding the senses.

This agility, born of an exquisitely balanced chassis that feels impossibly modern for a car conceived over half a century ago, is the true essence of the S800. The pure, high-fidelity control feel—gradually disappearing from today’s bloated, safety-driven sports cars—is fully concentrated within this compact body.

What’s fascinating is how, with every drive, more elements resonate with your sensibilities.
This late-production 1970 S800 Coupe, for example, is right-hand drive yet features a mile-based odometer. As evidenced by its dual-circuit brake master cylinder, it was originally exported to the UK and returned to Japan in 1999.

Despite lacking a brake servo—as was typical of the era—the split front/rear dual-circuit master cylinder delivers an exquisitely balanced pedal feel. Heel-and-toe downshifts—now often suppressed by modern ECU controls—come effortlessly here, making every interaction deeply satisfying.

Deceleration rises in perfect proportion to right-foot pressure. After selecting the correct gear, you set the car’s attitude on corner entry, apply just a hint of steering input, and feed in the throttle to exit cleanly. That seamless flow—the feeling—is there, alive and vivid.
It’s why you find yourself enjoying each upshift and downshift, seeking out the next enticing corner, and pushing on just a little farther along familiar winding roads… again and again.

Having completed its body restoration several years ago, and more recently undergone a full engine and mechanical overhaul at a renowned specialist—shortly before being featured in Car Magazine issue No. 497—this 1970 Honda S800 Coupe proves that it is only when driven in earnest that its engine, chassis, and controls unite as one cohesive whole to respond to the driver.

That is precisely why, even more than half a century later, it continues to deliver genuine driving pleasure with such ease.

And behind this irresistibly compelling sensation, one cannot help but imagine the clear intent and philosophy Honda sought to present to the world at the time.