Hello I'm a member of the Honda Car Club of Victoria.(www.hccv.org.au )
Here are my toys, admittedly I'm might be overly optimistic & ambitious in my purchases, only two are currently in use....
This is the life of my 1979 Accord hatchback which I purchased as my first car in '90 from it's 1st owner; my Aunt who traded in her mothers Rover P6 3500V8 to buy it.
By the time it became mine she was using it as a kennel & her dog had dug through the back seat, the bumpers had been reshaped on the freeway, the paint had spider webs of surface rust beneath it from lack of polishing & her husband had backed a tractor into both front fenders...
Numerous attempts to replace these, paint it & I prang it myself -requiring its first structural repair work, although I managed to salvage its bonnet & the frt panels I had just fitted.
I have repaired it again & it now features hidden engine wiring, relocated battery & '89 honda/acura/rover integra 14x5.5' 4x100PCD alloys over '89 CRX DOHC vented discs frt & '84 Prelude discs rr.
20 badge holes welded up & a cable fuel-flap release added.
Restoration details on Page 2.
&
Modification details including 4x100 on Page 3.
For anyone who's interested I've given copies of early Accord, Civic & Prelude magazine articles to this website for viewing: nipponklassik.de
It already needs its bumpers straightened again & I'm unhappy with the bonnets surface so I haven't refitted all the side trims! But after so long without it I'm now well & truly committed to it even if it doesn't get all the care & attention it deserves - it's too dammed practical & enjoyable for its own good! I've even come to like it's relatively unusual Livorno beige colour.
Since then I have also been given another beige '79 that was abandoned at a local w/shop though that's an automatic... A 2-liter twin-cam is my favorite fantasy for it, but for the moment it's a 4-wheeled shed for my Accord spare parts.
It is just as well the Accord was a standard setting car for its era, and Japan since it has no replacement for me and is still my daily transport.
You can see below some of my other Honda purchases it has resulted in!
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My other Accord, purchased while the beige car recouperated, has led an even harder life.
I'm the 3rd owner, its original rego. number having been ANT555.
1st damaged it enough for the frt RH inr guard & strut tower to require replacement.
2nd had the back pnl replaced so that the rr 1/4s were aquariums.
3rd, I manage to tear out the LHS so that I had to replace the LHS door,sill,'B' plr,RR qtr & refit the rear pnl. (note: not even the petrol flaps are shared with '77 Models)
So after all that I repainted it & got it respectable again.
Given to my sister for the last few years (as I started using the CR-X daily) the poor thing is looking a little worse for wear again with a few minor scrapes & scratches, the paint & interior trim have died & the engine & gearbox are a bit too worn after she drove it until it overheated through lack of oil...but then it has done 357,000kms so it deserves a rest & some more attention before it returns to the road.
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Here's my modern classic;
A late '89 CR-X SiR -factory B16A VTEC with glass-roof, leather int, ALB brake & LSD options. Overly lowered private import from Japan.
Very fast, nearly double the HP of my Accords (150vs80), but actually weighs more & not as balanced due to too many options. Cannot replace Accords for comfortable cruising & while extremely capable its sporting nature & close-ratio gearbox also make it more wearing to drive in traffic (high 1st gear low 5th) & less forgiving at its (faster)limits. So I'm still happy to be driving the Accord while mum gets to shelter & use the CR-X (she'd appreciate the PWR steering more anyway).
(& in case anyone wondered I removed its original rear spoiler for visibility).
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Here's design concepts for the '79 Prelude I picked up to keep it company - I wanted the early CRX 4-spot alloys it was wearing (Aust never got the early CRX, & I thought they would suit my SiR ), so for $300 I now have a white Prelude auto with rusty roof & w/screen pillars.
I must admit that I've never considered them as pretty, practical, significant (or dare I say it -even sporty) as the Accord but their quirky individual style has grown on me & their roof-line is dramatically low.
Tempting to consider turfing the auto & chopping the roof into a convertible if I can get any info upon the reinforcements added to the various conversions that were done when they were new.
(I have a road test of the Solaire version).
But then I came across another..too cheap to refuse. Still some rust in the pillars but none in the roof, though a sick "hondamatic" automatic...so that led to yet another one that I have used to convert it to a 5-speed manual transmission. I don't like Auto's & I don't think these cars have enough power for an auto & a remotely agile or sporting drive.
More on my Prelude
Still busy though with other projects such as my commitments to Lancia Beta coupe's, Cortina's & Honda Z360, S600 stumbled across recently.
The Betas
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While on the look out for an earlier Honda, a Z360 coupe, I came across 4, most (all?) of whom are terminally rusty -who could blame them after 20+ years living unsheltered on the coast...
So now I have the best one sitting on my back porch while I weld up some of its numerous rust holes, although the poor car really is a mess with lots of body filler & crash damage involved as well...probably a lost cause unless I find a good bodyshell.
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Residing with the Honda Z's was one of the earliest Honda's (car) of all; an S600 roadster from 1965, not something I ever considered possible to own...
How could I resist!
Though I wavered for months after seeing the pieces of aluminium screwed into the holes chiselled into the footwells to make room for an engine conversion, the body filler & fiberglass in the edges of the fenders & boot-lid, the flat-sheet air-scoop grafted to the bonnet & the fact that last three previous owners have been pulling it apart...
Hope I can re-assemble it's decidedly unhealthy roller bearing 600cc 9500rpm 4 cylinder twin-cam engine, 4 carburettors & chain driven independent rear suspension. And that nothing major is missing/damaged irrepairably. Someone has half fitted a Datsun drivetrain complete with leaf sprung live axle...Badly.
And since old cars tend to congregate in the interests of survival & when it rains..., this has led to the collection of another one. Rusty, damaged & VERY incomplete, but I wouldn't pass up something that rare.
More on my S600
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Then came the Water-cooled Honda Z360 Hardtop
The car I really wanted when I bought the Air-cooled Z360 coupes -again I could not resist.
Made in 1974 this car actually shares very little with Honda's earlier Z360 coupe, Honda having made extensive changes to turn the car into a hardtop while also lengthening the wheelbase by 80mm within the same overall length to fit the entire floorpan & drivetrain of their newer 'Life' small car.
A rare vehicle since Honda was flat-out building as many Civics as possible to satisfy world-wide demand & most people realized that they could afford to pay a little bit more to buy the Civic with an engine of more than 3 times the capacity. Most importers decided not to bother, & even in japan Honda stopped making cars this small in 1975.
This amazing vehicle features factory paint with no body filler & almost no rust, protective plastic wrapping on the interior trims & a small tear on the passenger seat. But for this price you also get 4whl drums & the engineering marvel of a ?39,000mile twin-carburetor 36hp, 9500RPM, 354cc two cylinder watercooled engine with a blown head-gasket & seized engine after sitting so long with water in the bore, togeather with all the other problems of a car that has been left sitting for a 8 years (sheltered), LOTS of minor dents & a broken rear quarter glass.
Should be good fun...cars don't come much smaller - or more economical - about the size of a Mini but 10cm narrower, lighter & sane driving position. Pretty cool with all the windows wound down to show off its' hardtop. But eventually the colour must change, I'm thinking a brighter metallic green...to better match it's cheeky character (metallic purple having been their most popular colour here)...Maybe 70's racing stripes - you don't want to be run over!
More details on Page 4.
