Junkyard Find: 1982 Honda Prelude
The first-gen Honda Prelude didn’t sell particularly well in the United States, being very small and not particularly quick for a sporty car, but it had Accord reliability and some examples managed to survive on the street for decades. In this series, we’ve seen this ’81 and this ’82— both silver cars with red interiors— and today we’ve got another ’82… in silver, with red interior.
Believe it or not, this vacuum-hose tangle got even more complex as the early 1980s became the middle 1980s. This is the relatively simple non-CVCC, 49-state version.
Still, these engines worked pretty well. Once rigorous emissions checks became standard in many states, though, it became a nightmare to get these cars to pass.
Was any other color interior even available on the early Prelude?
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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My 2nd car was an 81 Prelude like this. Mine was dark blue (and rust!) with an "Ivory" interior and 5-speed. It was 7-8 years old when I got it, with 99K. The AC never worked when I had it. And, unlike everybody else I heard about with the "legendary Japanese Reliablilty", pretty much every week something else broke on my Prelude. The radiator split open, the water pump quit, then the heater core broke and shot coolant all over the interior. Then, the heater control valve broke, and I couldn't get any heat into the interior. THe car burned a quart of oil every 500 or so miles, and got worse. ONe of the front fenders almost fell off due to the rust. THe master cylinder failed. THe headlight switch melted, and I couldn't turn on the headlights (or use the turn signals) On and on and on... I kept getting things fixed, until one day I leaned on the front bumper and it fell off. I had it towed away and bought an Escort. (Which ended up at the junkyard with less than 80K on it, which is another story...) SO yeah, my Dad had a diesel-powered Oldsmobile he put close to 200K on it, and I got the ONE lemon Honda in the USA. Go figure.
Does anybody knows where is the car on picture located. I need some parts. I have an 81 and 82 and they are very reliable. 1 is first owner the 2nd is second owner. I love them. I love PReludes, I have a 3rd and 5th generation as well. Please let me know if any of you knows at which yard this prelude is. thank you