GALLERIES: The American Honda Collection, Part 02 — Soichiro’s Dream

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From a shed in the middle of a burned out lot in 1946 to a small US subsidiary selling motorcycles in 1959 to their first US-sold car in 1970, the company Soichiro Honda founded has come a long way. In Part 01 of our visit to the American Honda Collection, we looked these humble beginnings. But Honda wasn’t done yet, and was about to go farther. A lot farther.

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The cars of the American Honda Collection come from many different sources. In the early years, they sold every car they could build. A few years ago, however, they began quietly amassing cars for the collection you see here. Some were bought back by the company, others were donated by devoted fans, and some are cars that have been retired from the press fleets. There are gaps, but the museum is always looking for clean, stock examples of landmark models.

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The compacts in Part 01 comprised just a small part of the collection. Facing the Civic row is, naturally, the Accord row, starting with a 5-speed 1978 Accord hatchback. Debuting three years after the Civic, it was another genre-defining car for Honda. It was one of the first compacts in the US to be sold standard with cloth seats instead of vinyl, intermittent wipers, an AM/FM stereo, and luxury of luxuries, a tachometer. All this could have been yours in 1976 for the low, low price of $3,995.

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On November 1, 1982, the first US-built Honda rolled off the assembly line in Marysville, Ohio wearing the license plate USA 001. This model year 1983 Accord is not that car, but one very similar to it (the original resides at The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan). Honda acquired this 8,000-mile example from the private collection of a Muncie, Indiana dealership.

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Representing the third-gen CA5 is a 1986 Accord. Matched with the fourth-gen Civic, the duo took Honda from a maker of humble, competent economy cars to the best family haulers money could buy. Double-wishbone suspensions, multivalve engines, and sharp styling that didn’t make you feel like you were “settling” for something that could haul the kids.

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The goodness continued with the fourth-gen Accord, made even better because the hatchback body style evolved into a full-on wagon. The longroof is the body style Honda has chosen for its collection, rather than a sedan or coupe. This was this Accord that won Honda the best-selling car in America from 1990-92, and Hampshire Green is a particularly handsome color on this 1991 EX wagon. Oh, how we wish it was a 5-speed.

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The Accords displayed go up the fifth-gen coupe. This iteration’s customer base was probably one of the greatest demographic spreads in automotive history. By the time these debuted the Honda-dominated 90s tuner movement was in full swing. Souped up versions of this exact car flooded college campuses and weekend strip mall parking lot meets all across America.

Following the Accords are three Preludes. The blank space is where the 1979 we drove goes, but beside that is a 1983 Prelude much like the one that received the JNC Award at JCCS this year. Unfortunately, neither was a 2.0Si, but given their scarcity it’s understandable. Hopefully one will be added to the collection someday.

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The Prelude collection then skips a generation to a red fourth-gen, a Milano Red 1993 with electronic four-wheel-steering. When looking at the evolutionary chart of the Prelude, the otherworldly styling of the fourth-gen is a big left turn, but now that its all but nonexistent, we miss seeing its bizarre men’s loafer silhouette prowling the highways.

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We’ve said much about Lexus and Infiniti in recent years as those marques reached the 25-year mark, but Honda was in fact the first to launch a dedicated luxury subdivision. On March 27, 1986, sixty Acura showrooms opened their doors. The first models offered were the Legend and Integra. Though much was shared with smaller cars in the Honda family, designers and engineers were able to give the cars with their own identities.

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Acura doesn’t make a coupe any more, but these early two-doors set the standard for sporty models that had an upscale feel. The RLX is the equivalent of the Legend now, and it’s hard to imagine any luxury brand coming out with a flagship coupe nowadays. With these, Acura planted the seeds for what would become an automotive revolution.

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That revolution would come with the second generations of these cars. The DA Integra quickly became a tuner favorite, and the Legend Coupe was the deluxe whip for pimping, back when the word had a very different connotation. Unfortunately, the Integra in Honda’s collection is a GS rather than a top-spec twin-cam GS-R, and the Legend is an automatic. In a strange turn, Japan never received the 6-speed manual. That was a lot of gears at the time, and what really set the USDM Legend apart. It would have been great to see that option represented in the American Honda collection.

We are, however, extremely happy to see a DC2 Integra Type R in the museum. The king of 90s tuners is perhaps the finest front-wheel-drive sports car ever built. It’s not just an Integra with an insane 9,000 rpm engine; Honda’s engineers made thousands of improvements to the body and suspension to create an apex slicing ginsu knife. Many did not escape the tuner craze unscathed, which makes it all the more astounding that the example in Honda’s collection has less than 4,000 miles on it.

Perhaps even more astounding is the final car in the Acura row, a 2004 NSX and its odometer reading of just 78 original miles. 78. Even the trip meter reads 77. The reset button has been pushed perhaps one time in its entire life. According to Honda, 2004 was the last year of NSX production and though we prefer the design of the slimmer, pop-up headlight-equipped version, you will probably never find a cleaner Honda flagship anywhere.

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Soichiro Honda loved racing, and most of Honda’s international race winners live in the Honda Collection Hall in Japan. However, the company has a rich history of motorsports on US soil, and the back wall of the massive room is lined with American Honda’s competition cars, ranging in everything from a Dario Franchitti’s open-wheeled CART Reynard powered by a 900hp, 16,000 rpm turbo V8 to a Acura ALMS prototype still sullied from battle at Laguna Seca.

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Included in the mix is the impossible-to-miss neon orange of Peter Cunningham‘s RealTime Racing cars. Though you might remember him best for campaigning a similarly liveried Integra, the team’s NSX raced in the World Challenge series from 1996 to 2002. Its peak performance came when it won the overall championship in 1997 with a 400hp 3.2L, but it was supercharged to over 500hp in its last two seasons where it notched six wins. Overall, RTR competed in 50 races and tallied 14 wins.

Several concept cars lined another wall, unbuilt ideations like the FC Sport, a hydrogen fuel cell-powered sports car, or the P-NUT, a Personal Neo Urban Transport module, or the 1995 Acura CL-X, which led to the CL production car.

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The 1997 GRX Concept had a motorcycle engine and looked like a futuristic CRX. It was eventually refined to the J-VX that augured the original Honda Insight, but you can still see how its rear haunches appeared on the production CR-Z nearly 13 years later.

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One of our favorite Honda Concepts ever is the Spocket, a sort of CRX ute with a sliding hardtop convertible roof. What’s more, you could drive your Honda motorcycle right into the bed for easy hauling.

With all the gorgeous cars in the collection, it’s easy to forget that Honda’s was a motorcycle builder first. On a raised deck, a small gallery served as a reminder of some of the company’s non-automotive creations, landmark bikes like the 1971 CB500 K0 and 1983 V45 Interceptor. In fact, Honda has an ever larger warehouse of bikes, which we were shown but not allowed to take photos in.

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Though it looks old, the Honda Dream 50R is actually a replica of an early race bike built in 2004. The original, the 1962 RC110, had only a 50cc engine and 7 horsepower, but it revved to 13,500 rpm and symbolized Soichiro Honda’s dream of international motorsports competition.

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The 1970 Honda US90 was the first ATV sold in America. The name was changed to ATC 90 in 1971, for All-Terrain Cycle, but the balloon-tired three-wheeler created a whole new class of off-road vehicle. Notably, the 20-inch low-pressure tires were said to exert less pressure on the terrain than a human foot, allowing for no-trace excursions in nature.

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Before it was a minivan, the Honda Odyssey was was a lightweight off-road vehicle powered by a single 248cc cylinder and variable ratio automatic transmission. It was an interesting time in Honda history, where they were imagining not just cars and bikes, but creating mobility of all kinds.

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It has been said that Honda’s passion lay with being an engine builder first, and that the cars were simply a way to sell more engines. Some of the oddball conveyances we saw seemed to support the theory, but nothing proves it more than a small corner of the museum dedicated to the motors themselves, including the EG Civic Si’s D16Z6, a DC Integra GS-R’s B18C1 and the Acura Legend’s C25A V6.

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Last but not least is a replica of the first American Honda storefront, which opened for business at 4077 Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles back in 1959. Before it sat a white Super Cub 50, the first Honda sold in the US and, at over 60 million and counting, the best-selling motor vehicle of all time.

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Starting from that tiny office, an automotive empire was built. It’s almost unfathomable to think that only 20 years separate Honda’s first US-sold car, the N600 we saw in Part 01, and the tour de force that was the NSX, but that was the never-say-die spirit of Soichiro Honda at work.

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The American Honda collection doesn’t have all the cars we’d choose, or even one of every model. But the beauty of it is that even Honda’s more familiar achievements are given a place of respect. That respect is deserved too, because although commonplace, Civics and Accords were still imbued with a certain Honda soul that made them anything but ordinary. Honda-san is gone, but touring the collection and seeing the 55 years’ worth of evolution in one place provided a moving reminder of the old man’s contributions to motoring.

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28 Responses to GALLERIES: The American Honda Collection, Part 02 — Soichiro’s Dream

  1. Nigel says:

    If there was a public tour, I think two or three times would be needed.
    (Thanks for posting this very cool collection).

  2. mister k says:

    love all these old hondas. now if sochiro’s ghost would crash a board meeting and demand they stop building behemoths, we’d be all set

  3. BigNickel says:

    That three wheeler is awesome! I’ve never been a modern Honda fan but I love their older cars. I’d love to take a tour of this place.

  4. JHMAB2 says:

    What beauties….It’s unfortunate that the innovative side of Honda has gone. I’m sick of these cars, they’re so boring!

    I’d take a bet that the NSX was a part of the Honda Training Center for technicians, possibly that Type-R Integra as well. The training center in Denver has a mint white S2000 CR with about 20 miles on it. After a few years they auction the cars off, after going through some thorough testing by the instructor (rougly 1,000 miles of driving). I’m sure a specialty vehicle ends up in a museum.

    As for that Accord wagon, they should’ve made it with RT4WD! I’ve never seen an Accord wagon in person till a couple weeks ago at the junkyard, it had made me wanting to sell my Civic for an Accord wagon! This world needs more wagons.

    The Preludes? What can I say? I’d love to see the two Preludes we own in near off the showroom condition. They need to make this open to the public, at least on special occasions! Something interesting to me in regards to that second gen Prelude, those wheels, for as long as I can remember I’ve never seen another Prelude with black steels fitted with beauty rings and chrome center cap besides my own. However, I fitted first gen Accord center caps on mine.

    Which takes me to that first gen Accord hatchback, sniff, the car that made me into a Honda fanatic at the age of 4. I’ll never forget how amazed I was at the array of colourful lights on the dash, that green back lighting, and especially the little lights that told you if a door was open. That red interior was wild in comparison to the beige interior of our orange 70-something Chevy Nova, I loved it as a kid. I remember thinking how cool all the little details were, from the little coin pocket to the little control knobs for the climate control. I loved the wheels, I loved the lights, I even loved the Honda badges and emblems that graced the car, just loved everything about it. Just seeing that interior picture takes me back when I’d ride in the passenger seat with my mom as a child.

    Whelp…I think it’s about time I go on the search for one of these bad boys, just need to convince the wife as to why it’s a good idea. haha

  5. John M says:

    This is a walk down memory lane for me. My first legal car back in ’88 was a 1st gen. green on green Accord hatchback. It was airborne, deep in the mud, and took more abuse than an NFL…football. In ’92 I was in Japan driving a 2nd gen. Prelude. I can still hear the sound of The Blue Hearts playing on the cassette player, the smell of the salt air, and the feel of the mist from the ocean as I drove out to watch the sun rise on New Year’s day in the Land of the Rising Sun. I have also had a few two-wheel Hondas: CBR, VFR, XR, and even a 3-cylinder two-stroke MVX250F that was known to go screaming past rice fields. Even got to drive the off-road four wheeler back in the day, so I can say my Honda experience truly has been an Odyssey.

  6. The Black CRX says:

    I love the hidden Honda museum! I believe they’re planning to correct the tag on their 1G Accord hatchback that they call a ’76. While that was the first year for the Accord, the car in their collection is an LX model from the first year the luxury edition was offered, which was 1978. The wine red velour interior gives that away. And while one of the ’78 LX model’s luxury upgrades was an AM/FM stereo radio (with cassette player), the base hatch that debuted in 1976 for $3,995 came with a monaural AM/FM radio (with just the one speaker in the dash).

  7. Alvin says:

    Hey, thanks for posting this! We have a 1983 Accord too, in running but poor condition.

    Thanks for sharing and I hope there’s more!

  8. Kane says:

    Amazing ! wicked to read. Also my first car was honda prelude 4th gen, it really surprised me and anyone else who went in it. nice work.

  9. Miatadon says:

    Ben,
    Any way you can finagle a tour for the diehards who post to JNC? I did go to the Long Beach show last year, and it was great. Compared to British cars shows that I have gone to, there is a big contrast compared to the old guys who are into MGs. (I like both MGs and old Hondas.).

  10. Censport says:

    Man, what I wouldn’t give to walk through the hidden bike warehouse. My first street bike was an ’85 CB650 Nighthawk. I had it all the way to 2003, when a cellphone driver turned left in front of me and totaled my faithful ride. We have a modern Dream 50R at work, but I haven’t had the chance to ride it.

    Yet.

  11. Danny says:

    Just awesome!!!

  12. Stephen says:

    All amazing and inspired cars. Ive owned several just like these over the years.

    Hondas current engineers and designers should take a long hard look at the soul and pride that went into these cars.

    • Justin says:

      You are so right. Every Honda designer should be required once a year to spend one working day at this place to remember what made Honda the world’s best selling car at one point. They are out of touch.

  13. Jamey Snyder says:

    I’ve died and went to Heaven! Wow, what an amazing collection, however, I will need to see the line up of CRX’s to make it complete.

  14. Aaron Cake says:

    It’s official, JNC has now featured every vehicle I’ve owned. SA/FB, FC, Cosmo and now Insight. Immediately my eye was drawn to the sleek silverstream metallic Insight at the bottom left corner of the 2nd and last image. My very own 2000 Insight, sitting outside my shop right now, no longer wears its original Silverstream paint but instead sports Vipre Snakeskin Green which on occasion stops traffic and has people reaching for their cameras. Perhaps I’m biased but the Insight represents the pinnacle of Honda engineering, surpassing even their incredible F1 record. Why? Because 14 years later, the Insight remains the most fuel efficient gasoline production car ever made. And that “production” means that anyone at the time could have walked into a Honda dealer and left with a new Insight covered by Honda’s warranty, fully expecting that vehicle to be a reliable daily driver for years to come even though it was radically new and unproven technology at the time. Aluminium body, composite panels, aluminium/magnesium engine, carbon fibre reinforced fibreglass, even Collen Chapman would be impressed by how much Honda added lightness. Even with over 300K on my odometer I arrived back at the office this week after a 150 mile service call, with the fuel consumption display showing an economy of 92 MPG for the trip.

  15. Yohanes halim says:

    it’s awesome collections and photos. I love it so much !

  16. acbpanda says:

    I love that Spocket!

  17. Dave Yuan says:

    That red 2nd gen Prelude is absolutely gorgeous! (Although would’ve been even more perfect if it were in the dark blue…) I love the wheels on it. And looks like parked next to the original Insight is the original FCX, wearing a City of Los Angeles sticker? The Henry Ford museum has the very first Accord manufactured in Ohio. I wonder if it’s on loan from this place?

  18. Chris A. says:

    I think a guided tour is in order. I want in!

    Man that 83 Prelude is sick….

  19. Andre says:

    “Representing the third-gen CA5 is a 1986 Accord. Matched with the fourth-gen Civic…”

    Actually it was better matched in both style and model cycle to a third-gen Civic than the latter. Same with Integra.

    “On March 27, 1986, sixty Acura showrooms opened their doors. The first models offered were the Legend and Integra. Though much was shared with smaller cars in the Honda family, designers and engineers were able to give the cars with their own identities.”

    Yeah by re-badging existing Honda models in Japan to sell in US under the Acura monicker. All the bigger cars in Honda’s family share components – if you wanted to, you can trace the Ridgeline roots all the way to the ’73 Civic, and probably even beyond that.

    “The RLX is the equivalent of the Legend now…”

    The RLX is a Legend. Seriously guys, what were you smoking or who’s writing your articles? American Honda? Source: http://www.honda.co.jp/LEGEND/

    “Unfortunately, the Integra in Honda’s collection is a GS rather than a top-spec twin-cam GS-R…”

    All Integra models came with a twin cam engine, just not as exclusive as 2-year-only GS-R’s B17A1 – making it one of the rarest Honda engines.

    Regardless, I do wish there was a part 03 though.

  20. Sam Atkinson says:

    Where is the CRX Si and HF??

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