The 25 Best Japanese Sports Cars Ever Made

3. Toyota Sports 800

The Toyota Sports 800 was the Toyota Motor Corporation’s first production sports car. The vehicle went into production in 1965 and was meant to directly compete with the Honda S500. The engine was a 800 cc dual carb four-cylinder that produced 28 horsepower. The engine was powerful enough to propel the vehicle at 45 mph in town or 100 mph on the race track. Tatsuo Hasegawa, an aircraft designer in World War II, designed the Sports 800. The vehicle was one of the first production cars to have a removable roof panel, or targa top, pre-dating Porsche’s Targa. Most of the vehicles produced had right hand drive, but around 300 featured left hand drive for the Okinawa market. Due to Okinawa being American occupied, they drove on the “other side” of the street.