The other NSXs that never happened, Honda reveals 2 previously unseen mid-engine sports car concepts

Honda turns 75 in 2023 and the company is also celebrating another milestone anniversary this year as it has been 60 years since the H brand spread its wings and dreams to the automotive industry. 1963 was the year Honda unveiled its first production vehicles, the T360 truck and the S500 sports car.

It might seem unusual for a sports car to be Honda’s first-ever production car but that approach put the H brand on the map. To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Honda Magazine is publishing a series of sports car concepts that were never before seen by the public.

For now, only two are unearthed with a few more expected to be unveiled in the future. Both concepts have a mid-engine layout and showcase the vision Honda had in mind for the sports car segment.

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The first of which is the Honda V8 Sports concept from 1973-74 and despite being the older model of the two, it has an engine displacement that would excite fans. Honda has never made a production car powered by an 8-cylinder engine though there were rumours during the development of the first-generation NSX and Legend in the 1980s that a V8 engine was considered.

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Based on this newfound revelation, it turns out that Honda pondered offering a V8 engine to one of its cars a little more than a decade earlier. Honda’s CVCC engine was one of the first engines to meet new American emissions regulations in the 1970s and though it was offered on the Civic, Honda was thinking big for the technology.

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Since Americans love the V8 motor, Honda figured a V8-powered sports car could appeal to buyers. The key points were that it should be environmentally friendly and fun to drive. The latter saw the development team debating between a front-engine, rear-wheel drive (RWD) layout or a mid-engine RWD setup.

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Eventually, the team decided on the MR approach and even built a life-size clay model that resembled a Ferrari 308. Sadly, it never went beyond the design stage as the 1973 oil crisis hit Japan and America, switching focus from gas-guzzling engines to ones that prioritise fuel economy.

The second concept from the past is a brash, futuristic design concept. It was supposed to slot between the kei-sized Beat and the flagship NSX in Honda’s mid-engine sports car line-up.

The “Small Midship Open Sport” concept from 1991 had different names based on the photos. The project was called the Wave Project while the design sketches called it the Acute.

When it reached the exterior and interior design mockup stage, the concept was called the Blast as stated on the side and the steering wheel.

According to the information provided by Honda Magazine, the 2-seater roadster concept was to be powered by a 1.6-litre engine taken from the Honda CR-X. Just like the V8 Sports concept from around 2 decades earlier, the project was scrapped but the open-top design element was carried over to the front engine, front-wheel drive (FWD) CR-X del Sol which was launched a year later in 1992.

Also read: 15 reasons why the Honda CR-X is one of the best cars ever made

Carmakers have plenty of designs and concepts that were developed or ideated internally which will never see the public eye. Even the concepts that were shown to the public are merely used as a study to gauge perception before being greenlit for production.

As shown by these two Honda concepts, certain circumstances prevent some of these concepts from going beyond the prototype stage showing how challenging it is to turn dreams of mobility into reality.