Nitto Toyota Sports 800

Toyota's first production sports car was the Sports 800. It first made its debut at the 1962 Tokyo Auto show, but it would not enter production until 1965. Styled by moonlighting Datsun designer Shozo Sato and Toyota's Tatsuo Hasegawa, the car was a lightweight (around 1200 pound) two seater with a targa top and an aerodynamic shell, inspired by Hasegawa's background in aircraft design. Toyota actually beat Porsche to market with a targa top, as the Sports 800 was one of the first cars to come from the factory with this lift-off roof panel.

The car was powered by a rip-snorting, fire-breathing 800cc flat twin, which produced a whopping 45 horsepower. That may not sound like much, and it isn't, but remember, this was a tiny car which weighed in at 1200 pounds, so the Publica-based engine could propel the car to 100mph. Suddenly the modern Toyota 86 doesn't seem too underpowered now, does it?

Though innovative, the Sports 800 never quite lit the sales charts on fire. In it's four-year production life, just over 3,000 of the little targa roadsters were built, sold exclusively in Japan at Toyota Public Stores. It is believed that today, only around 300 remain.

So I suppose it only seems fitting that the kit of this rarity is a rarity in itself. This is the first (and so far, only) Nitto kit I have in my collection at the moment. Nitto was a Japanese model kit manufacturer with a diverse product line, which ran the gamut from auto subjects, military, aircraft, and even dinosaurs. Nitto went bankrupt in 1988 and while a few of their 1:76 scale military kits were eventually reissued by Fujimi, the 1:24 Toyota Sports 800 kit has never been reissued, to my knowledge.

The box art is simple but pleasant. Note the image at the top right showing the separate hood, trunk lid, and targa panel. Yes... this is a full detail kit! Or as it says in the fine print... " Authentic reproductions of engine, chassis, interior and other detail of the original for the advanced modellers' satisfaction."

And upon opening the box...

The body, chassis, tires, targa panel, and a tube of glue are blister-packed to a piece of cardboard.

The black plastic sprue dominates the box, and contains the chassis and interior components. Many parts are delicate and all have a pretty nice level of engraved surface detail. I'm reminded an awful lot of a Fujimi Enthusiast kit, or one of the nicer full-detail Tamiya kits.

The small blue sprue contains the rear package tray and inner door panels.

The chrome sprue contains the wheels, headlight bezels, air cleaner housings, and even seat belt hardware!

A smaller satin chrome sprue contains the transmission, wipers, plate frames, and other details.

All of the clear parts are molded separately, and there are two small decal sheets... one featuring stock markings and another sheet for racing graphics.