In 1975, Toyota, Mazda and Datsun just about every made available Us citizens 4 unique auto models. Even Fiat had three distinct styles to provide here that yr, but the only automobile American Honda sellers carried at that time was the Civic. The next product calendar year, Honda released a model-new vehicle that was greater, improved-equipped, and additional potent than the very small Civic: the Accord. People initially-technology 1976-1980 Accords bought like mad, turning the The united states Honda Motor Enterprise into a major automotive player on our shores. Here’s a single of those heritage-laden Accords, finally retired at age 42 in a Denver self-assistance auto graveyard.
Relevant: 2023 Honda Accord very first glance
For the initial few of a long time, the Accord was obtainable below just as a 3-door hatchback. For 1978, the Accord four-door sedan appeared, completely ready to do fight with cramped rear-wheel-generate four-doorways.
The 1st-generation Accords had been run by Honda’s CVCC-outfitted E-sequence four-cylinder engines. This one particular has a 1.75-liter model, sending 72 horsepower to the front wheels. That would not audio like considerably, but this car’s control bodyweight was a mere 2,130 lbs (about the similar as a new 78-horse Mitsubishi Mirage and about 1,000 pounds lighter than the 2022 Accord). By 1980 requirements, the Accord was reasonably speedy.
The CVCC procedure ran so clear that Honda did not will need to put a catalytic converter on this automobile. That meant that 1980 Accord entrepreneurs could operate cheap leaded fuel (which remained obtainable for on-freeway use right here as a result of 1995). This is a 49-point out car, not legal for sale new in California or at elevations over 4,000 feet (1,280 ft lower than the car’s present-day parking location).
The CVCC process, which associated independent rich/lean combustion chambers and a puzzling two-in-a person carburetor, became unworkably sophisticated by the center 1980s. In 1980, the vacuum-hose tangle hadn’t come to be too overwhelming (in comparison to the “Map of the Universe” rigs of 1985). CVCC was nonetheless the envy of the automotive world, although electronic gasoline injection would quickly shove it apart.
You wouldn’t know it from this motor vehicle, which baked in the solar for a long time in advance of coming listed here, but the initially-technology Accord’s interior was pretty great for a person observed in these kinds of an economical auto.
The 1980 Accord sedan’s list of conventional capabilities was outstanding for the time. Power steering, tachometer, clock, vacation odometer, intermittent wipers, tinted glass, distant aspect mirror, and tinted glass ended up all included at no more value. Those orange rectangles under the odometer are the routine maintenance-reminder indicators, which the shop was intended to reset following servicing (couple of did).
This a single even has air conditioning and what may well be the initial AM/FM/cassette radio.
A 5-velocity manual transmission — moderately sporty components for 1980 — was conventional equipment, and that is what is in this car. The strange two-pace Hondamatic transmission was still offered, however Honda released a true three-pace automated in the Accord that 12 months (new Civics with Hondamatics were readily available listed here all the way by means of 1983).
This pinstriping appears to have been used early in the car’s daily life. I am fairly sure it wasn’t a factory possibility.
These autos ended up really rust-prone, although this after does not have horrible rot in the usual sites. The sunlight burned the paint off in spots and rain and snow did their get the job done while this automobile sat in a industry or driveway for at least 20 a long time.
The MSRP on this car or truck was $6,515, or about $24,810 in 2022 pounds. The Volkswagen Dasher (acknowledged as the Passat elsewhere at the time) was the 1980 competitor most mechanically related to the Accord, and it value $7,790 for a five-doorway hatchback. Toyota’s Corolla sedan was a bit scaled-down and its rear-wheel-drive layout gave it a claustrophobia-inducing interior, but you could buy it for just $4,298. Meanwhile, the roomier Chevy Quotation compact sedan could be ordered for just $5,378 with a V6 motor.
I imagine the 51,772 miles showing on this car’s odometer could be the real ultimate mileage looking through, because it can take numerous a long time for an interior to get this nuked.
As the world is having more substantial, so need to Honda.
In its homeland, the Accord was regarded as a sizeable luxury car. Starting off with the 1982 model calendar year, quite a few US-industry Accords would be designed in Ohio.
