No, it doesn’t have a padded top, wire wheels or a stand-up hood ornament, but how often have you seen a Honda with a two-tone paint job? I know it’s a bit subtle in this picture, but the lower part of this Accord is a decidedly darker shade than the upper. Hardly a big deal, but then I just don’t seem to remember ever noticing one before. Have you?
Honda Cars of Bellevue (Nebraska) did this to some of its 1990 and 1991 Accords. The sharp paint lines along areas not hidden by the moldings looked a bit… inelegant.
Looking at this photo got me thinking that perhaps my dad’s first Japanese car (he was a Ford guy up to this car) was a bit “broughamy” Below is a picture I found which is exactly like the 79 Datsun 510 he bought. Two tone paint, whitewalls, etc.
What do you think?
There were many Japanese “broughams”, some much more so than the 510. Think gen1 Cressida, or Datsun 810, or…
But Honda pretty much bypassed that design trend in Japan.
Japanese car makers hung bling on everything they could think of, Luxury in the American market they thought and they were right, Thanx guys Id rather they concentrated on driving dynamics.
There is one in town here, but the two-tone runs at a ~30º angle from the bottom front of the door back up towards to the C-pillar. Red & white, and it looks like it was applied with a couple of partially frozen cans of Rust-Oleum. I’ll see if I can grab a photo of it today in my travels.
Admittedly, it really does not count…but, you did ask.
All you have to do is write the word Brougham in any CC headline, and you are guaranteed to get at least 50 comments under the article.
It is, perhaps, the most nostalgic car naming convention of the last half century.
Broughamtastic!
Which has me seriously worried about the degree of senility of the readership of this site. How anyone can revere the stinking low point of the American auto industry is beyond me.
It’s whatever you know, right? As a kid, all the cars in my life were broughamy. That is my “normal”. (And man those cars were a helluva lot more comfortable than the cars of today.)
Yes, we do forget how crappy the plastiwood looked and how most of the throwaway cars were completely used up by the time they hit 100,000 miles, but so what-I still love them.
Well, Paul, seen from this side of the pond, the closest thing to an Accord Brougham would have to be a Rover 600 Series, basically a re-skinned Euro Accord with lots of (fake) wood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_600_Series
Here’s the shot I meant to show:
I do not ever recall seeing a two toned Accord back in the day. I would have paid attention, as we had a blue 88 in the driveway for quite awhile. For the record, I still like these a lot.
Two years ago while on vacation in Florida and cameraless unfortunately, I spotted a Camry two tone with a full vinyl carriage top. It was apparently some dealerships “Palm Beach” model.
The darker shaded lower portion as in the shown photo of the Honda looked just fine. But the matching fake top really was garish.
Early Acura Legends came with a factory two-tone on some models. I guess you could say it was a larger, Brougham-ier version of the Accord…
My sister had that exact car for many years and loved it!
I recall seeing quite a few of this model Accord in two-tone here in NZ. Most likely used Japanese imports. Many in two tone silver, and also quite common in white over silver. Never seen one in this brown/tan combo.
Most of em these days are two toned primer/factory colour, yeah used Jappas have all the bling and most of it still works those are the parts that convey reliability to people all the accesories still function but you cant keep headgaskets on the damn thing
Yep, you’ve just reminded me about the white over silver CA Accords that used to roam our roads. I think all our NZ-new CA Aerodecks were two-tone from the factory.
The top trim Accord EX-L, with Navigation, is the modern “Regency Brougham” equivelant.
Actually, for 2013, the Touring replaced the EX-L as the top trim level.
http://automobiles.honda.com/accord-sedan/price.aspx?Model=CR3F9DKNW
There is no doubt that the 1987-88 Nissan Maxima GXE was at the height of its most “Broughamy” existence – just look at its pillowy/buttony interior! (It was in 1989 that the Maxima became known as the 4-door sports car and its image changed forever). My Dad had a 1987 GXE with gray leather. It was a car that tried to be luxurious and somewhat sporty at the same time, with the 6-cylinder ‘Z’ engine. He liked his Maxima but always felt it was a car that was trying to wear too many hats. The ads for it even brag about its luxury. I’m glad the 1989 body style defined it as a 4-door sports car. It always seemed to fit that description better than a luxury car.
Look at those seats!!!!!!!!
I thought a Sterling was a Brougham-ed Honda
Back in the 1980’s Honda dealers got creative with different things to justify their over sticker markups. A little paint under the bodyside molding–no problem just $1295. Stripe–a bargain at only $295. Just add paint and rust protection for another $895 and the dealer can make what he thinks is a fair profit on a car he couodn’t get enough of.
I agree with Acd-
Not factory, dealer installed paint (and markup).
A few years back I remember seeing a 1st gen Lexus LS with a padded coach roof. White with dark red canvas (not vinyl) roof. The C-pillars had gold Lexus badges. It actually looked pretty good, even with the standard Lexus wheels.
I vaguely remember in New England when the gen 3s were about to be replaced seeing 2 tone gray “SE”s, maybe a different designation. Don’t remember if Honda made SEs back then or if it was something done by the dealers. They looked like parts from the DX, LX + LXi were installed to use the parts up.
Honda has a habit of making a model near the end of that generation that contains stuff not normally found on existing package.
My sister has a 2007 Accord 4 door VP (Value Package). Basically a DX with some LX stuff tossed in.
That generation was the best car I ever owned. I had a 87 LX, dad had a 86 DX, sister had a 88 LX. All manual shifts and 4 doors. I think between the 3 of us we got about 500,000 miles out of them. I did about half of that total.
Then there’s the Acura Vigor, essentially an Accord with a stretch chassis, plasti-wood interior and chromey front clip.
OK, it was actually more than that–Honda went to the trouble of not only fitting a 5-cylinder, but mounting it north-south in a FWD car.
But going by period reviews, it still drove like a dolled-up Accord with more body shake and fewer MPG. So a bit of a Brougham in spirit, if not in styling (and a prime CC candidate too, if there isn’t one already).