The Prelude was a highly pragmatic move on Honda’s part to expand into the then large and lucrative sporty coupe market. The Celica was making hay and Nissan’s latest 200SX (Silvia) was catching on too. Honda took the longer wheelbase platform of the yet-to-be released the gen2 Civic sedan and wagon, messed around a bit (a bit too little) with the suspension pieces and settings, threw in the Accord’s 1750 cc CVCC four and transmission, and wrapped it in a body that was looked exactly like what it was: a cross between the Accord and the Civic, where the clay model was set in front of a misting fan.
The result was, well…a bit forgettable. Not really bad or ugly, and actually a perfectly typical Honda in most ways, but it just didn’t exactly click. The Celica of the times was a huge hit. But then it was styled in Southern California. It was all too painfully obvious that the Prelude wasn’t. And 72 hp from the 1751cc CVCC four a bit modest even for the times. Or maybe we had unrealistic expectations. DOHC, 16 valves and V-TEC were still a Quaalude-induced dream away. This was Honda’s mild-mannered era, at least in the US.
That’s not to say that the gen1 Prelude was an actual dud; it sold some 172k units in the US alone. And it got its share of love. But it simply lacked the zing necessary to make a genuine impact with enthusiasts. And thus it was a disappointment, at least to thos that knew Honda was capable of more.
The Prelude premiered in Japan in November of 1978, and this first commercial for it was shot in England. The Prelude arrived in the US in March of 1979.
This being a 1981, it has the revised dash, a more conventional affair than in the ’79 & ’80.
Here’s the original design, a more futuristic and unusual approach.
Here’s a close up of the tach within the speedometer. There are warning lights int he rectangle in the center of the cluster.
The back seat was a rather cozy place, not surprisingly.
Given the huge enthusiasm there had been after the introduction of the first Civic and then the Accord, I suppose it would have been unrealistic to expect Honda to hit three homers in a row. And it really was a perfectly fine little coupe, with all the qualities that had made its donors so desirable.
Honda learned their lesson well. The gen2 Prelude more than met the expectations of what a Honda sporty coupe should be. And the gen1 Prelude certainly didn’t set Honda back any in its meteoric ascent in the US. It just made us realize that Honda wasn’t perfect. Which may have been a good thing for all involved.
My folks bought my sister an ’82 Prelude, in maroon metallic, when she went to college. Of course I drove it a few times, including one memorable late night hoon session through the winding, hilly roads of a large local cemetery. Fortunately, no-one was killed.
Anyway…these Preludes were pretty fun, sporty cars, though not sports cars. Quite sprightly (although my sister’s was an automatic), sporty handling, yet comfortable with lots of content for the money. The high build quality was in stark contrast to other sporty coupes at the time, like the Camaro or Mustang.
These were popular cars with younger women and so earned a “chick car” reputation, deservedly or not. I also had a fraternity brother who had a new Prelude at the time and he got a lot of grief for his “chick car.”
When I got out of law school I was slightly acquainted with a young accountant who had been out in practice for a few years. He had one of these. It struck me then as an intelligent car that combined practicality with some sportiness. But I did not think it was for me. I wanted something more serious. I considered (briefly) a Supra and a Mustang GT before alighting on a VW GTI in 1985.
The Prelude was probably a better car, but it did not have the street cred I was looking for at the time.
In the minority as usual, this is my favorite generation of the Prelude.
I just like the no-nonsense, conservative, clean design. In the 80’s I owned cars with more guts and more gusto than this car, but had my tastes been more mature (If I can really consider my tastes at 50 “mature”, which is highly questionable) I’d have very much liked to have owned one of these.
I had an ’89 Prelude S that handled like it was on rails. Great little car, but I had the base model which had the smaller 104 hp engine as opposed to the 135 hp engine in the Si. Although the car fun to drive and easy to maneuver, the small engine really affected performance and was obviously underpowered.
That generation of Prelude is probably the finest. I still want one, in Si trim, 4WS or ABS.
I happened to be in Japan when these first appeared, and actually recall the first one I saw, as it took me a little while to figure out what it was. It just seemed odd, frankly. It didn’t fit my expectations for a Japanese market car with its bland styling wand inbetween size – big (in Japan) for a 2+2 and small a four passenger car. Oh, and did I say bland? I was a Honda fan by that time, but look at one of the Prelude’s JDM 2+2 competitors, the Isuzu 117, with its 1.9 liter DOHC engine .
I know which one I wanted at the time.
That’s a good looking little car!
Absolutely no comparison!
I remember the blurb from the Road & Track test of this car – “After introducing the efficient and attractive Civic and Accord, Honda has introduced the inefficient and unattractive Prelude.”
I liked these cars then, and still do today. They were so refined and well-finished compared to the contemporary domestic competition, that any faults seemed minor in comparison.
My mom bought an ’81 Camaro Berlinetta (232 V6, THM200 automatic) new but she said she really wanted a Honda Prelude.
Hondas went for the full sticker price in those days.
A good deal meant that the dealer sold the car to you at the sticker price, and didn’t require you to pay the sticker price, plus $500 for floor mats and mud flaps.
Yep, I remember with both these and the gen2 Preludes, you had to put your name on a months-long wait list in order to receive the privilege of paying full sticker price, plus.
My mom really wanted one but my dad said, “To hell with that BS”. She never ended up getting one.
Years ago, when I had a ’77 Accord, I heard a “click-click-click” when making turns. Yep, a CV boot in front had torn, and the joint itself was getting ready to fail. A used axle and joint assembly was tracked down, and it turned out to be from a first-gen Prelude. It went in perfectly. There was significant under-the-skin sharing with the Accord.
Haven’t seen this generation of Prelude in years! It amazes me just how small it is; it looks like a “prelude” to the CRX. The steering wheel on the earlier model looks similar to the one fitted to the second generation car (one of Honda’s first “spaceship” cars to my 13-year-old eyes in 1983/84). Interesting use of the Quaalude reference as I remember “Car and Driver” referred to it in those terms back then. I know there aren’t many left now, but would a VTEC or Type-R engine from an Integra fit?
I always thought of this version as the Civic Monte Carlo. What it gave up in practical usability, it (attempted to) make up in style. Like you said, it wasn’t unsuccessful, but neither was it a smash hit.
These were popular in Uruguay as, believe it or not, luxury cars. If I remember well they came with a 1.6, non CVCC engine. They were brought with lots of equipment, though Honda is the only brand I remember to offer here mostly everything as optional. You would pay about 20K (1980 American dollars, a basic Chevette cost about 9K) to get yours. They were usually bought by 50-plus people, with no children. For a little less you could get a fully equipped 4 door Accord. All Hondas here were considered more sophisticated than other Japanese brands.
In 1979 I was 10 years from becoming a Honda convert so I just considered these to be a curiosity bordering on being an oddity. I remember pointing out one of the first Preludes I would see to a co-worker as we stopped somewhere on our north California air base.
While I still think these are OK cars, the concurrent Celica made this Prelude look like a nicely turned out clown car.
The video moves to Italy later on I think, but earlier in rainy Britain I recognised the village at 1:15; it’s Finchingfield in Essex. Here’s a picture of it in 1965 (sorry, no Preludes then):
Bernard, please convince me that the car at 0.43 isn’t a mustard yellow Marina…..
If only I could come up with a convincing alternative…
Mind you, I didn’t see a falling piano.
Where I found the ’76 Accord a refreshing design when introduced, I was starting to think Honda’s styling was disappointingly too conservative when the first Prelude and the ’80 Civic were released. I actually found the ’80 Tercel hatchback more interesting to look at.
Always wanted one of these when they first hit and still do.
My Dad had an ’81 ‘lude dark blue, light beige interior. Pro: sunroof. Con: hideously slow with automatic
I like the side profile well enough, but the two ends are about as sporty looking as a Cutlass Ciera.
I think a big problem that faced the first Prelude was timing; Mazda’s stellar RX-7 beat the Prelude to market by nearly a year, and stole a lot of thunder within the marketplace. Mazda had a cheap technological curiosity with legit performance to back it up. The Prelude drove and looked like an Accord if you just chop the rear seat real short, and then add in a trunk… The first couple years in the US, a Prelude was really not that much cheaper than the Mazda at all; something like $500 if that. Believe it of not, Japanese RX-7’s had optional back seats, so they were considered direct competition to cars like a Celica or Prelude, sat in the same tax bracket, yet could absolutely destroy them performance-wise for the same money. They sold very strongly as a result here, as well as Japan. I’m sure that had a hand in making the first Prelude an also-ran for the times.
I could never see the point of these cars. As a young single guy in a well-paying job I would much rather have had an Accord hatchback that this awkward-looking lump. When you don’t need four seats a coupe is nice in theory, but this was neither sporty or good-looking, so in my mind it was a pointless exercise.
Fast-forward to the release of the next-gen Prelude, and I could certainly be persuaded. Style matters.
I lived and worked in California at the time of the first generation Prelude . The twentysomethings I worked with called it the “Quaalude” as noted in the second paragraph of the article