I’ve seen this green gen1 Accord sedan in the driveway of this house for quite a few years, and I’ve posted it before. I figured it was someone’s long-term love. But even the most steadfast romance can come to an end, so it is with this Accord. it’s now been booted out to the curb, and has a For Sale sign on it. But maybe the seller isn’t all that motivated, or even a bit ambivalent, as there’s no price or phone number.
Just this homemade sign in the windshield. Is that going to attract potential buyers? Ok; maybe it’s listed on craig’s famous list or such. The other question is: who’s going to buy it?
Is a gen1 Accord sedan collectible? Or will it just go to someone looking for cheap wheels? I’d like to think the former. Maybe someone who had one back in 1978 or so, and wants to relive the experience? How many forty-year old Accords are left, especially in such nice shape?
Like all Hondas of that era, the upholstery has a particular lack of stamina. Well, it has to have some sort of weak spot. Oh, right; the rust! Well, obviously that’s not a problem in Oregon, despite our long, wet winters. There’s not a blemish on the outside.
The back seat looks surprisingly good, except at the top of the head rests, where the UVs have hit it.
Are you interested? If it’s still there, I could knock on the door and let her know. If it’s back in the driveway, I won’t bother. Love can be fickle.
Am I interested? Oh si, si, si! I paid $600 for a used, end of its life, first generation Accord in the Midwest in the late 80s and it was a lovely car. Like this one it came with the standard equipment sheepskin seat covers over the torn upholstery but unlike this one was nearly completely consumed by rust -my goodness that car was rusty. After two years of solid service through some brutal winters the frame finally rusted through and that was the end. So this one, with no rust? wow
I just pondered the same questions about this one listed on Tampa Craigslist last week:
https://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto/d/honda-accord-81/6731746633.html
It’s still listed for sale, and looks amazing, with only 75,000 miles.
My first love drove the exact car, sheepskin covers, 5-speed and all. Fond memories.
If I were interested at all it would be as a driver, and while I’m sure this little car has lots of life left in it I’d hate to use it daily, both for the sake of its preservation and because with that few miles in so many years I’d imagine there are lots of components that might crumble or fail from age and disuse.
I love it! I had a ’79 hatchback with the semi auto. Too bad this one has an auto but I can’t tell if it’s the semi-auto or the three speed…
I’d take the one in Fl because I’d have to have a 5 speed in a car like this. I find it funny that it has a light for both the oil change and oil filter change. I’m assuming they both come on at the same time?
I think my 79 had different intervals for each. Like 7500 or so for filter. My interior was perfect when it rusted away in 1992.
As much as I like this car, I have to be honest with myself: If I am going to fight the problems of a decades-old car it is simply going to have to be something more interesting than an Accord sedan. Perhaps I have driven too many Hondas since the late 80s.
Yeah, I know what you mean, I’d prefer the hatchback as well 🙂
It’d be neat to drive around for a bit but would likely get old rather quick. And interior upholstery work is far down the list of things I want to do. I remember my ’79 Mazda 626 interior, the cloth was hanging off the seats in strips by the time I got it in 1985. It was simply amazing how quickly the upholstery failed in SoCal on at least most Japanese cars.
On the upside, this seems to be one of the few cars in Eugene with an intact driver side door panel!
Thinking about “how quickly the upholstery failed.” Memories…
When I was fifteen in ‘78, my folks bought a ‘68 AMC Rebel for commuter duty to replace the ‘72 Vega. They only paid $400(?), and it only had 35k miles. It was apparent it was little used over it’s 10 year life. The interior was perfect, with dealer-installed clear plastic covering the seats of green plaid cloth. It didn’t take more than a month or so until the plastic covering cracked up, and we ripped it all out. Then after several more months, the cloth essentially disintegrated. That was a horrid looking interior one year later.
I also recall about the same time, in ‘79, when me and friends started driving. Joe’s folks let him use their ‘74 Coronet sedan. That cloth front bench seat literally had only about 10% of the fabric remaining.
This car, same color, has a small but significant spot in my automotive memories. A young male single colleague bought one, new, when they first came out. We were both recent-grad mechanical engineers, and we worked in a large ground floor office with large windows that looked out onto the parking lot. I think I knew everyone’s car. Even among the older engineers, and those with kids, there were few four door sedans and even fewer four door imports. Four door wagons (RX3, Colt, Datsun 710)? Sure. At least two Porsches and a Corvette? Yes. A few Vegas and Beetles, Civics and Rabbits, pickups and Detroit two doors, a handful of Mustangs, a Z28, a few full-size vans, etc. As far as I can remember, only our chief engineer drove a four door and it came from Michigan, not Japan.
When, a few years later, another young, single male engineer bought a 1st gen Camry, I was equally surprised, but in hindsight these years (approx 1980-85) were the beginning of the import sedan era, capped by the Taurus era. And now it’s over. This is a true collectible in my opinion. Not only the catalyst for a whole generation of cars, but the car that moved Honda from small hatchbacks to a mainstream, almost generic, car in the US.
Either the OR or FL car (depending on the preferred transmission) would be superb choices for a Honda aficionado with the wherewithal and know-how to keep them in top running shape as a daily-driver.
Otherwise, well, maybe not so much of a good buy. For a car that old, a well-preserved Toyota of some sort would be the best bet.
I never understand people who won’t advertise a price. Price determines if I’m interested. No price, no interest. Car dealers do it too. “Checkout our website” they advertise. So you go to their website and see pictures of used cars with no mention of mileage and where the price should be it says “Call for our price”. No, I don’t like playing games and they’ve already started and we haven’t even met yet.
Oh, yes, that drives me nuts! Once they have your contact detail, they hound you endlessly about once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to bag the best deals, if-you-don’t-accept-our-offer-we-send-the-thug-to-you threats, the-manager-will-fire-me-if-you-don’t-accept-my-offer pleads, etc.
That happened to a few friends of mine. There ought be a law against that kind of practice!
I occasionlly come across a craigslist ad with no phone number or email address or any other way to contact the seller.
This Honda appears in outstanding condition. And well maintained. Telltale signs of neglect, like brake dust (and rust) on the front wheels, is not apparent. The paint is only mildly oxidized. Chrome appears excellent. The owner might be attempting to filter potential buyers with the lack of info. Serious buyers will pursue it. And they are in no rush.
I’m fascinated by some design details. Blackout trim was already becoming popular by the late 70s. Interesting that the rear view mirror and rear licence plate light fixtures are still chromed. Neat to see the large, flag style mirror as well, not aerodynamically integrated yet. The interior design: seat design/patterns, door panel; design, textures, has aged remarkably well. If not the material durability.
I don’t know if the rear door windows went all the way down on these Accords, but I like how the rear quarter window width was enlarged somewhat, potentially helping to allow the the rear windows to go down fully. I’d rather have a smaller rear window (width-wise), than one that only goes down part way, or not at all. As on the Fairmont, Citation, Malibu, early K Cars, etc. I know the issue on those cars was partially window hardware depth.
I put my car on Craigslist for a high price. People would call and say I was too high. I responded with “yea I know but I’m just kind of feeling it out” Found a buyer who was willing to pay it and let it go.
Another thing, if you put new upholstery in a car it will make a lot of difference in how it rides. Worth every penny to have it done right, imho.
I was more impressed with the later generation Hondas (Civics and Accords) than this one.
My Inspector Clouseau nose suggests the following:
Beloved Honda misbehaved.
Long-term owner cracked the sads and in a fit of pique – note the Trumpclamation mark after “sale” – stuck that sign in the window. Au revoir, mon cherie!
And had regrets, or at least, doubts, later, when she snuck back out and tore her number off the bottom of the sign – note the A4 paper and the suspicious jagged edge at the bottom.
But enough pique percolated for the sign to stay.
Thus, in conclusion, you see why the sign is ambiguous to the point of uselessness for the casual passer-by, and that is because her thoughts are divided amongst themselves too.
And a thought divided amongst itself cannot stand – stand being interrupted, that is – so as a caution, Msr N, I advise that you do not knock on her door, as my nose tells me yours may end up broken. Or kissed, but nothing in between.
I rest her case, as I suggest you do hers.
“note the Trumpclamation mark“
Just curious- Are politics such an important part of your life that you can’t discuss a 40 year old car without them?
Sports have already been ruined by the injection of politics, please don’t do the same to old cars….. If you must do so, I recommend TTAC, but please, not here, okay?
Thank you.
Oh, and what the hell is this all about?
“– so as a caution, Msr N, I advise that you do not knock on her door, as my nose tells me yours may end up broken. ”
Nice, real nice.
In ordinary usage, an exclamation mark expresses finality or an emphatic connotation, and it is inherently amusing to see one out of it’s usual context on a simple “for sale” sign. It inadvertently (or perhaps intentionally) seems to express frustration, leading to the nonsense I wrote “explaining” the sale. The President’s unending use of exclamation marks to finish his tweets is equally confounding (and also may or may not be intentionally so), and are distinctive enough that they very nearly amount to a trademark, hence the reference. Which in any case doesn’t amount to a criticism – or endorsement – of his politics.
Now, all that said, I take your point about politics (except on unavoidable occasions where it relates to some historical/policy issue explicitly inherent in a post) and I agree that the expression, mild as it was, shouldn’t have crept in.
But from hereon, may I suggest that it is in your best interests to pass over anything you see with my name in the comments, because even though I have taken the time to answer your first point at length, your second indicates that that was doubtlessly time wasted.
I’m only replying to your post because it was last. Not taking sides. This is one place where we all share an interest and/or love of cars and trucks. That is all that should matter here I think. This is our escape from all that stuff. Politics is toxic now and we must not let it contaminate what is good about this place. We can all disagree on politics or laundry detergent or potato chip brands somewhere else. (Pringles are still awesome!)
Agree entirely, and as I said, the expression I used shouldn’t have crept in.
This must be an ’81 or maybe ’80? The grille was different each year but I can’t remember what order they were in. I do remember that when the Accord sedan was first introduced in the US in 1979, you had only two color choices, silver or red, and no interior color choices (red only, but that’s enough). The unexpected standard feature: illuminated rear ashtrays. Without looking I’d bet the 2019 Accord doesn’t offer these, much less two of them.
My dad had one of these, a hatchback with a 5-speed, as his first Japanese car, replacing a 77 Plymouth Volare whose best feature was that the root beer brown paint hid the fact that the front fenders instantly rusted through. Yes, Chrysler replaced them for free, as they did for every 76 and 77 Volare and Aspen but that didn’t improve my dad’s opinion of it. It’s worst feature was a never-fixed perpetual stalling problem. My dad sold it cheap and good riddance.
In contrast, the Accord was amazing. It just ran and ran, requiring only oil changes and a set of front brake pads in 90,000 miles, at which point he was actually to get some money for it on a trade-in. Yeah, as many people point out about this generation of Honda, it rusted but nothing like that damn Plymouth. With the 5-speed, he loved bombing around in the Accord; it was his kind of car.
Would I buy one now? Nah. It was a great car in its day, but now it’s a 40 year old car that isn’t sporty or collectible, and parts are going to be hard to find. For the same money, I’d get an old 60’s American car with some style.
Kids here love old Hondas, that thing would sell for a princely sum especially as it isnt rusty.
If this wasn’t an auto, I’d totally get it. I had an 81 Honda (a Prelude, though) that was great, until it dissolved. It was totally used up, dead by the time it was 8 years old (and IIRC less than 130k) It Completely rusted out, (the front bumper fell off while I was driving it, and both front fenders flapped in the breeze because they were barely attached) it burned a quart of oil every tank of gas, each piece of the cooling system failed one at a time (needing an expensive tow each time) and half the electronics didn’t work (I had to tape the headlight switch in place to keep the one light that worked, on) But the thing is, it was really fun to drive, it still got 30mpg, and it always started even in -30 Wisconsin winter… if I could find another one that wasn’t half gone, I would do it.
Oh, and I had a roommate that tried to sell her car like this person. She printed out a page with just the words “for sale” in about 10 point type-like what you’d use in a book report or paper, and laid the page on the back package shelf. Then was completely mystified that nobody bought it after several weeks. When I asked her why she didn’t put ANY other info on it, she said “I don’t give my phone number to strangers!” Well how is anyone supposed to buy it then? She still had it when we all left that apartment a year later, for some reason…
Nice car although I am surprised it has the automatic (I would’ve preferred the 5 speed), you rarely see any Honda Accord from the first two generation’s anymore, I do like that green color a lot.
My aunt had a hatchback version in the same color. This one is amazing in that there is no visible rust. I am not one of the many CC commenters that live with salted roads and whine about rusting cars.
Her car rusted from the top down in shockingly short order, not garaged, in a Los Angeles coastal suburb. The only other vehicles I ever saw rust that badly here were the first GM’s with water based paint, about 1973.
I would consider a 1st Gen Accord to be somewhat collectible if from the first two years when they turned the auto world topsy turvy in the States. Same for the first two years of the first Civic. After that they became too common, like ants, to be collectible in the standard sense of the word. I would place the hatchback Accord ahead of the four door sedan.
In the late ’90s my Dad had an ’84 Accord 4-dr with 4-spd auto. It was nicer even than my partner’s 2011 Fit.
Things I remember about that car: it had nice styling and nicely integrated big bumpers, a roomy interior that was exceptionally well-finished with no painted metal or sharp edges showing and lots of thoughtful touches like storage bins everywhere and a well-thought out instrument panel. That car also had the smoothest 4-cyl engine I have ever seen, even in the dead of winter you could start that thing up cold and it was glass-smooth. Unfortnuately the car had some rust issues on the frame when Dad bought it, which his mechanic patched up as best he could and it passed a safety here in Ontario. Dad loved that little car and drove it for over a year before the rust demon got too bad and it had to be junked.
These little Hondas from the early-mid ’80s were jewels.
Shame about the Honda-matic, otherwise that’d be a great weekend driver and budget-friendly classic for me! My family just missed these earliest Hondas, when we immigrated in 1992 we ended up with a $750 well-rusted root beer brown ’82 Civic Wagon with the “5-Speed” badge proudly displayed on the back. A fellow emigre bought a maroon 2nd gen Accord, an ’84 or ’85 as I recall. I remember riding in the back and being impressed with the red velour and cigarette ashtray in the door. We then worked our way up through the Civic generations, an ’85 Sedan (5speed, light brown) that was somewhat less rusty than the ’82, then a ’90 Wagon (FWD, automatic, brown again) bought when it was a 4 year old used car, we kept that until 2007 when an ’07 Fit (back to a stick shift, but boring grey) took its place. The Fit has been serving faithfully, although a life of spending nights in a heated garage in Ithaca NY has not done favors to its sheetmetal, rot is setting in where the rear bumper attaches.
“rot is setting in where the rear bumper attaches.”
I have something in the works on this topic. Stay tuned.
My brother and I implored our father to Fluid Film it a few years ago and to do a better job of keeping it washed, but he’s kind of hands-off on that stuff. It’s too bad, it’s a quite low mileage car that is mostly just a city and rural run-about, hauling gardening tools and beehives and taking my dad to and from work. Quite a little tank on snow tires too, I’ve been rather impressed both with how it can climb the hill their street is on, as well as their rather steeply sloped grassy property.
If it were a stick shift, I would be game. Interiors are workable and the lack of the tin worm makes it interesting.
Once these appeared in the market, the Honda juggernaut never stopped.
I wonder if you can do a B series/ 5 speed swap into these.
Were all of them green? I can’t remember seeing many first generation Accord four doors in any other color. I also don’t think the hatchback came in green either, my memory is they were always gold, silver or blue.
I could have it completely wrong but I think Audi and then other Germans started galvanizing steel bodies first, followed by American companies and then Japanese.
I had a 1981 Mazda. Remember how Japanese cars back then had radio antennas that sprouted from the A pillar? I lived in San Francisco about two miles from the ocean, meaning fog with some salt content. It took about a year for the hole where the antenna sprouted from to start rusting out. Many tales of woe and intrigue ending with it getting totaled (not my fault – an approaching intermediate Buick turned left in front of me at an intersection on San Pablo Avenue at the last second.) I was really glad to see it go.
I remember a Bay Area friend’s three year old Honda Accord like the one here with rust on a seam at the base of the windshield.
Last year I finally had to get rid of my 1990 Pontiac Trans Sport. Plastic body, so obviously no rust. Only 140K miles. First and last ten years in the Northeast. The bases of coil springs on the rear axle were collapsing from rust. The spare tire was hung on a cable under the rear floor. I found that it had disappeared at some point. The steel plate at the end of the cable was gone – no doubt rust again. I’ve read about engines falling out of these when the support rusted out – probably because the rest looked good so the owner didn’t suspect the rust worm at work underneath.
My sister’s Subaru spent a lot of time commuting across Masschusetts on the turnpike. You can imagine it driving in a cloud of salty water spray. After a few years absolutely everything under the hood was rusty.
Until every single piece of every car is galvanized or aluminum or plastic or carbon fiber or something the use of all that salt on the roads in the snowy regions is costing billions of dollars a year in externalities. We don’t worry about the bodies any more, but there’s the rest rusting away.
Aluminum in salt air is not corrosion-proof. A freind’s 300SD Mercedes hood and trunk lid are dissolving near the beach.
This is a much smaller car than a 2018 Civic. Eleven inches shorter, six inches narrower, nine inches less wheelbase, and of course 800 pounds lighter.
Open the doors and check for rust at the base of the A pillars.Most I’ve seen
are paper thin in this spot with RUST.
We had the burgundy analog of this car; a 1980 bought used in 1982. It was the first of a series of six Accord sedans. It was still looking great inside and out when we traded it with just over 100k miles. One of the indicators of Honda quality was the super-shiny silver paint on the wheels, which still look very nice on the subject car after all these years. Silver wheels in 1980’s VW Bugs were likely to be already showing rust on the dealer’s lot.