I generally am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to first gen Accords as they are one of my favorite cars but this one has puzzled me for a few years. I believe it is a Japanese(?) Accord brochure. The sedan with the square headlights baffles me. I have never seen another picture ever of a first gen Accord with square headlights. Does anyone have any insight into this strange Accord? Also of interest is pinning down the year. From a U.S. perspective, the yellow car has 1979 only wheels but '80-'81 bumpers and tail lights while the sedan has the '76-'79 bumpers but '80-'81 grille. Confusing, but I understand that different markets used different parts at different times.

I don't know much about Honda but we do have these square light 1st gen. Probably JDM model only. We've been importing a lot of used JDM cars, to this day.

I think I solved this one. Posting this question renewed my interest in these illusive square light Accords and upon further searching I stumbled upon a Japan-based first gen Accord club. I was eventually able to fumble my way through indecipherable Japanese fonts to find these two pictures of JDM Accord 1800 sedans. It appears that they also have a unique trim piece on the leading edge of the hood that is fatter in the middle than the round headlight versions. The square headlights actually look a little out of place in that grille to me. However, those JDM mirrors are amazing. Sorry, this thread was probably a little trivial as most people are probably not as insane for first generation Accords as I am.

No worries, I love these little details. I had never seen a square light Accord before either. But I did move this to the Honda Garage section.

Do you think it was the 1800s that had the square headlights? A lot of Japanese marques used square lights on higher trim levels.

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It looks amazing. I still have to learn alot of trim info on the accords( know too much of civics trim pieces).I think those square lights look cool

i like the white one the best.

As far as I know, in Japan Honda offered 1600 and 1800 Accords in both sedans and hatchbacks. I believe the 1800's were the higher level ones. In the US though, we had 1600's in '76-'78 and then only received the more powerful 1800 starting in 1979, but our first generation Accords all have round headlights. Wierd.

I'll have to scan my catalog with the square headlight 1g Accords in them. I believe they were called the "Accord 1800." Japan got all sorts of different bits than any other country got. You could get US style bumpers, or European/JDM style bumpers. Color-matched, or chrome bumpers. Not to mention the 2nd Gen Accords had the matching, nearly identical Vigor. It's like they basically took all the Accords from all the different markets and sold them together. I think you also had the option of buying CVCC or non-CVCC engines as well as 1600 and 1800 engine options.

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1981 Accord Hatch (1stGen) - 1984 Accord Sedan (2ndGen)

Oh here we go, guess I did scan it:







There's more pages with the hatchback and stuff. This is my favorite catalog.

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1981 Accord Hatch (1stGen) - 1984 Accord Sedan (2ndGen)

I like those circle headlight Accords, but the square ones are real nice too.

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1980 Cressida MX32
Old Series Garage

Awesome catalog pictures! I can see all kinds of strangeness with the trim and wheel selection on those Japanese Accords. I only have the US first generation brochures. Looks like Japan had many more options than we did. I like the Japanese Accord hatchbacks with the color matched bumpers. I would really love a set of those fender mirrors. At first I was unsure about the looks of the square headlights but they are kind of starting to grow on me. Thanks for the information.

That makes sense. In those days square headlights cost more than round ones so it was usually considered a higher end option. But It think the angry glare of four quads can't be matched

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I want some of those FENDAMIRA too. I've got a bunch of single mirrors, about 7 of them, but none of them really match at all. It's like some have chrome, some don't, slightly different designs and whatnot...

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1981 Accord Hatch (1stGen) - 1984 Accord Sedan (2ndGen)

Squares FTW! Nice detective work. I love little puzzles like this.

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92 Honda Civic - 65 Ford F100 V8

I agree, every time I look at my 81 Corona mean mugging me.

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1987 Nissan "Datsun" S12 200sx XE notch
1988 Acura Da3 Integra RS
1981 Toyota Te72 Corolla
1983 Toyota Ae72 Corolla

I found a few units of the all-black mirrors but didn't buy them. Same as those on 2nd gen Civic CX I guess?

Wow...never saw square headlights on a first gen. My first car was almost a '77 hatchback, but the guy sold it the day before I got all the money together. Wow, that was 25 years ago.

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1982 Prelude

13" pcd 120 ET 35 , just fit into 1st gen Accord

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