This car prompted a bold realization: There are very few of these critters left on the road. This is especially true in the salty wintered Mid-West.
For a good history about the early days of the Honda Accord in the United States, Paul covered it here. This Accord seems to be about the same size as the current Civic, doesn’t it?
This Honda sure appears to be well-loved and used regularly. Perhaps it has been massaged somewhat, also. While not seen in the pictures, the front brake calipers were quite large – and yellow. I cannot ascertain the model year of this Accord, although it is from 1978 to 1981. Any insight from our trusty and knowledgeable commentators is quite welcomed.
Found within 100′ of where I spotted a Cadillac Allante (here), I’m thinking there might be some places where spotting cars is like fishing in a bathtub, where you are almost guaranteed good results.
Just about every one of these I’ve ever seen has been this color green. It kind of reminds me of all the mid seventies orange Volkswagens but uglier. No love here.
I think they only came in green, silver or beige, I have never seen one in another color.
In Rhode Island where I grew up, there was a car dealer who had a radio ad for these that went, “silver, green, beige; beige, green, silver!”
However, I recall some sort of special edition (something Honda did frequently with Accords), probably toward the end of this design’s lifespan, in burgundy with matching velour interior.
The original 1976 Accord came in only blue, silver, and a sort of metallic copper. There may have been other colors offered later on in the 1st gen’s lifespan.
There was indeed a special edition for 1981 (Believe it was called the LX). Car & Driver was aghast at the thought of a $10,000 Honda in their road test.
Even the current Fit looks like Goliath next to one of these. To think that one of these could and did take 4 (or possibly 5) people on thousand-mile journeys is amazing, not the least because today people demand 3 rows to serve a family of four.
My college car. Utterly dependable and easy to work on. That pretty green color was common and I think this is an 81. I wish there were more of these around so kids could see a real Honda before they started making hideous, overpriced, overblown status symbols. New Hondas are the antithesis of this masterpiece. You’d think if you spent 40k on a Honda minivan you count on the transmission not quitting barely after the warranty.
Back in college, around 1989 I was the dorm car guy, and got to offer advice on the various maladies of our student grade transportation.
One girl had an early Accord, which her father had fixed up and repainted. She called me down one day and showed me her front wheel. She’d had to drive off the pavement and it was now curiously tucked under.
I crawled under and had a look, the mount for the front control arm had mostly torn off due to rust in the boxed section, it was hanging by a thread of metal.
She called her Dad and he told her to drive it home for repair (on the Interstate). I had to call him back and convince him that no, it can’t be driven like that.
Being the dorm car guy got me a few conversations with some really cute girls, but never more than that…
A quality automobile, from back when Detroit couldn’t be bothered to learn how to even spell that word.
Until it rusted out from under you. Honda can build a decent engine, but rust-resistant cars seemed to elude them until more recently.
Silver dollar rust bubbles under the paint.
There was also a cam lobe lubrication issue at that point.
The Honda dealership in West Chester, PA where I purchased my 09 Civic has one of these sitting on their showroom floor. It’s a tan hatchback. I don’t know if it runs or whether it’s original or restored, but it’s mint. They also have an N600 there.
Just imagine if you could talk to the original owner of that car and tell them that in about 30 years the Accord will be 1500 pounds heavier with a 250+ hp V6 and leather seats and it is basically the modern day Cutlass or Regal.
And, if that’s not enough for you, you can get a Honda minivan that weighs 4500 pounds and cost $45,000!
Or you can now buys whole line of Honda luxury cars too..
As a teenager back in the 80s, I never in a million years could imagine that was the direction they were heading.
Looks like the edit fcn stopped working. Sorry about the typos.
Funny– back in those days we thought that exactly the opposite would happen — that in the future a Cadillac (not to mention Cutlass or Regal) would be the size of a Chevette or Honda. Reality flipped that completely! Guess it’s pretty hard to predict the future.
I bought an identical ’81 from my dad in 1990. After 9 years in Massachusetts it needed a rear floor fabricated before it would pass Maryland inspection.
Its cam lobes were worn down so it wasn’t very fast but even then it felt luxurious.
– Chris
I believe they only offered it in silver, red and this green in ’81.
FWIW the Civic was this big by 1990.
Red, or like burgandy ish color, I forgot about that one.
These were great cars but I cannot remember the last one I saw strange once upon a time they were everywhere.
“StreetGlow” (which is what the stickers in the back window say) is a company that makes underbody neon for cars. I see there is no fartcan muffler as of right now… I pray that there is not one in its future.
My current neighbors worship at the temple of Civic and Integra… I am getting quite tired of the exhaust noise.
On the other hand, Soichiro would be rolling in his grave seeing today’s bloated accords, or even worse, the Crosstour version! Would never see the light of day if he was still alive.
Don’t forget the Mint Green velour interior and the Hondamatic 2-speed transaxle..(shudder…)
Unlike many, I find the styling pleasing. A touch bland…but attractive.
In 1978 I was, forcibly, in the market for a car. After being burned on one used car, I wasn’t going there again. Unfortunately, the Honda Accord was about $1500 over my budget
(I LAUGH at that now! $1500 is what I allocate for a weekend getaway! I just lost more than that on a Chinese scooter that tossed a rod!)
…and the Civics were all sold out. That meant, since I couldn’t wait, a Chevette (Shove-It).
I don’t know if that was a win or lose. The Chevette threw a rod at 35,000 miles; but the Accords I couldn’t afford, and the Civics there weren’t around, all dissolved into rust in about the same time.
These also came in a tan (1980) and beige (1981). I think the door mount rear view mirror changed between those years, but I’m not sure. By 1980, the Hondamatic was gone and replaced by a “proper” 3 speed automatic. In US cars at least, they were fitted with catalytic converters beginning in 1980, and I think their drivability improved tremendously. My 1979 Accord LX was a nice car ruined by poor driveablity and reliability. I think the 1980 models were somewhat of an improvement.
This car is rather handsome to me, and always has been. Far better looking than that thing they sell now. I hope this owner doesn’t “rice” it out any more than he has already.
Rust, oh yes they did. In 1988 i needed a $500 beater and found a tan 1980 version of this car. It was severely rusted by 7 Chicago winters (hence the low price) but the car ran great for another two years until when driving down a city street something in the rear end broke with a loud clunk and sent the car yawing uncontrollably, scared the crap out of me. A rusted through component of the suspension was i believe the diagnosis. The only car I’ve ever owned that was killed by structural rust.
I’ve always loved these cars. I think this one is either an 80 or an 81 as those taillights were only found on those two years.
1980, they still had the 2spd Hondamatic, in 81, they got a 3spd automatic if I’m not mistaken. By the late 80’s, I think they had switched to a 4spd autobox, just as many others were doing the same as well.
My Dad had a ’76 hatchback that was blue on blue, but with the 5spd manual. They only came in 3 colors early on. In ’76 and I think ’77, the Accord came in gold, silver and blue. I’d take the blue hands down. It was a beautiful shade of it and the blue interior was handsome.
I know by ’78, a bright red was available. Heck, the Civic came in more colors than that. You had gold, silver, at one time yellow, a red/orange, I think a basic red, turquoise, bright green, orange, and white, depending upon the year made. I know as the Tacoma Public library had/has the manuals for those early Civics and a few of them had the colors listed inside.
Loved those cars, always have and I drove an ’83 Civic hatchback with the 5spd manual for 6 years in the 1990’s and loved that car with a passion, probably one of, if not my favorite car besides the Mazda.
I remember the owners better than the cars. In 1980’s Silicon Valley they were driven by angry middle aged white women on the verge of bankruptcy and menopause. The refrain “Hondas never break” and “Why do the parts cost more than my Cutlass?” were common.
And who the hell designed those goofy carburetors they all had?
I saw many of these disappear before my eyes back then due to rust. Our K-Cars didn’t.
Trouble was, the drivetrains in these things could have soldiered on many more years with Ziebart dutifully applied to their bodies.
Oh the possibilities!
Did “factory Zebarting” treatment add anything to the life of AMC products?
I don’t believe so.
I’ve come to believe…either a vehicle is equipped to deal with winter salt spray, with plastic shields, drainage, galvanized metal and surface protection…or it is not.
Ziebart seems to not be a critical factor. Do Ziebart cars from the 1970s jump out at us today?
My only firsthand Ziebart experience was on a family car of a high school friend. They had an early 1970 Falcon (the last of the real Falcons) that the original owner had Ziebarted. In northeastern Indiana, these were fairly rustprone cars, and rusty Falcons were everywhere by the late 70s. But by 1978, that little gold Ziebarted 70 had but one single place where rust was starting – the right rear dogleg ahead of the rear wheel, where the plastic Ziebart plug had fallen out some years earlier. My friend’s family bought the car used and never took the car back for any follow-up treatments. It seemed to me that the Ziebart worked well on that one. It was certainly a better product/treatment than the many competitors that dealers were starting to apply to cars in the late 70s (Rusty Jones, Rust Check, etc).
Dad was a Honda dealer mechanic through the late 70s/early 80s, these Accords used to be everywhere – but hardly ever see them now. I never saw a silver one back in the day, it seemed most of our Kiwi-assembled ones were white. Certainly helped the rust stand out once it began! Great cars though, and nice to see such a well-preserved feature car – it looks very pretty in that shade of green, and the window tints and blacks alloys work well.
Mine 81 was the same green.
The car was so flimsy if you jacked up the car and opened a door on the jacked side, you couldn’t close it because the unit body flexed.
Had a accident where the back end had to be fixed. The Ford autobody shop that I took it to, was very impressed with the construction. The manager there pointed out a arm in the trunk that attached the fender to the car was covered in foam wrapping. He had no idea why that was, but it impressed him very much.
I can still remember the footprints of my girlfriend’s feet on the ceiling of my 1981 green Honda Accord LX. Saw lots and did lots with that Accord. A good coming of age vehicle. Great memories with that car.
Wow. This is the 81 and it’s the exact same color my parents bought new when I was 11. I remember we went to look at one at the dealership and ours had to be ordered and I remember feeling that was the longest month ever waiting for it to arrive. My mother named it Sweet Pea. 5-speed manual. I paid my dad $1000 for it when I started driving in high school. Gosh I wish I never sold that thing in college. I want this exact model and color again and I want to restore it.
Those rims are hideous though LOL