That Time Forgot: Honda HSC

A supposed successor to the original NSX, perhaps? Probably so, but it didn’t make the cut. Let’s travel back in time and talk about this car, in today’s installment of That Time Forgot.

Unveiled at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, the HSC was a futuristic and sleek sports car concept for its time. The car also received a feature at the Geneva Motor Show and was also branded as an Acura for the 2004 North American International Auto Show. The name stood for “Honda Sports Concept” or “High-performance Sports Car” depending on who you asked.

Powered by an i-VTEC 3.5L naturally-aspirated V6 producing over 300 horsepower, the HSC was made of carbon fiber placed on an aluminum frame. A 6-speed paddle-shift gearbox was standard. The exhaust pipes were made of aluminum and the car had swan doors.

Immediately after it was released, speculations arose saying that the car was meant to be a successor to the NSX, but Honda never confirmed this. After its tour of the auto show circuit, development on the HSC went silent; it was only in 2005 when the HSC was confirmed to be purely a concept car, with no plans for production. It was subsequently followed by the Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept (or ASCC, shown below), which was in turn followed up by the Acura NSX concept which eventually came the next-generation Honda (or Acura, depending on where you live) NSX.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten all that history out of the way, let’s talk about the reason why you’re here: the history of its Hot Wheels counterpart.

Designed by Mark Jones, the Honda HSC (Hot Wheels calls it the Acura HSC Concept) was introduced in 2005 as a First Edition. It was first released in the above silver color scheme, replicating that of the real HSC. A notable feature of the HSC is the plastic insert headlamps, something that not a lot of castings have; the headlamps are part of the window piece.

There was a version of the HSC featured with Faster Than Ever wheels, with nickel plated axles for less friction. Faster Than Ever HSCs are apparently very, very fast even though the casting is notably very light.

This casting features a plastic base with the distinctive cut-out Hot Wheels logo which graced cars from 2005 to 2006; this logo was designed and patented by ex-Hot Wheels designer Nathan Proch. Due to cost cutting, this logo has since been removed. The base is made of plastic; the silver Hot Wheels logo is part of the interior piece. 

This casting received a total of nine releases and was last seen in 2014 as a Mystery Model in the above colorscheme.

Now I’d want this casting to return to the lineup, although I have other castings I want to return more than this. Despite this, I hope you now know a little bit more about Honda’s high-performance sports concept car, and as usual, I’d do it again any day.

- Grunty