S800 bulge was ‘decoration’ !?

The S800 took its performance to the next level. The grille is still a distinctive feature of the exterior. According to the designers of the time, it was based on the grille of the Ford Mustang. The power bulge was fitted as a sign of high performance, but it seems to have been for appearance only: Takashi Miyazawa, who joined Honda in 1959 and was assigned to the Sculpting Department, recalls that he admired the Triumph TR4 and had the bulge fitted, but that it was just for decoration. The other reason he was told was to clear the carburetor, but it seems to have been an afterthought.

Honda at the time was thus full of energy to realize Soichiro Honda’s dream as his own: at the 20th anniversary of Suzuka in 1983, Soichiro Honda drove the Curtis, which he had once driven and raced, around Suzuka. As he got in, he said to me with a straight face, “Do you think I can drive it?” I felt as if he had said it to me with a straight face, but apparently, he was saying it to the person next to him. Nevertheless, I still remember his high-pitched voice with vitality and his piercing, penetrating gaze.

translated by DeepL