77-Year-Old Former Toyota Employee Creates Wooden Electric Car for Just a Few Hundred Dollars

An older man who retired from Toyota
He built his own EV
Inspired by the Sports 800

An elderly Japanese man who built an electric car after retirement from Toyota is a hot topic. Mr. Kato Tomoaki, 77, who lives in Toyota City, built an electric car over 1 year and 3 months. The EV he made is a single-seater, and the exterior is finished with wood with a subtle sheen. It has a license plate attached to it, so it is a real car that can be driven on regular roads, and it is also adequately equipped with essential devices such as turn signals and headlights.

Mr. Kato said he used a commercially available electric vehicle as a frame to build the electric vehicle. Parts such as tires, handles, and headlights were removed from scrapped cars and recycled, and he used a large amount of thinned-out cypress wood to attach to the body.

Built for just a few hundred dollars
Test driving in progress

Mr. Kato spent only on consumables such as screws and adhesives to build this car, and thanks to this, he was able to make the vehicle for only a few hundred dollars. As a vehicle enthusiast, he had admired the Toyota Sports 800 since his youth, and through this opportunity, he personally built an electric vehicle modeled after the Toyota Sports 800.

In an interview, Mr. Kato said, “I’ve always liked vehicles, but when I tried actually to make one, I failed repeatedly,” and “I kept making it, breaking it, making it again, and breaking it again.” The wooden EV that he made is currently undergoing test driving to participate in automobile-related events held in Toyota City.

Toyota’s pioneering sports car
The Sports 800

What kind of vehicle is the Toyota Sports 800 that became the model for the vehicle that Mr. Kato personally created? The Sports 800 was Toyota’s first mass-produced sports car and the first car that could remove the roof panel altogether. It emphasized the aerodynamic and curved canopy reminiscent of a spaceship, which was in line with the global technology trend of space development at the time.

In terms of vehicle size, it fully embodies the feel of a small sports car with a length of 3,580 mm (140.9 inches), a width of 1,465 mm (57.7 inches), a height of 1,176 mm (46.3 inches), and a wheelbase of 2,000 mm (78.7 inches). The Sports 800, which featured a groundbreaking design at the time, was the work of Shozo Sato, a designer from Nissan Motor Company, and Tatsuo Hasegawa, a designer from Toyota.

Limited production run of 3,131 units
Discontinued after 5 years of sales

The Sports 800, which went into mass production in 1965, was equipped with an 800cc engine, which was 100cc larger than the previous model. Dual carburetors were installed to upgrade the maximum output from 28 horsepower to 45 horsepower. This engine allowed the mini sports car to reach a speed of 79 km/h (49 mph) and a racing speed of 160 km/h (99 mph).

In the case of the Sports 800, about 3,131 units were produced at the Kanto factory from 1965 to 1969, and it is said that about 300 units remain. However, it is analyzed that it was difficult to export overseas at the time, and considering the economic situation in Japan in the 1960s, luxury sports cars did not sell well. Due to this situation, the Sports 800 was discontinued after being sold for 5 years.