This first-gen hatch is where it all started for Honda’s best-seller, but they’re not easy to find in all climates.
Autoweek
A few years before the Honda Accord became one of two or three nameplates that you should ever really consider buying, it looked like this. And it’s a sight that still feels familiar enough, prompting flashbacks to suburban subdivisions of the 1980s, but also distant enough for the car to now be considered a rare survivor, with the model having recently celebrated its 45th birthday.
That’s right: There was a time when you could get the Accord solely as a three-door, even though the hatch might now look positively tiny parked next to the modern Accord.
The first-gen model arrived in 1976—we wouldn’t get the sedan until 1979—and it arrived just in time to witness all the horrors of the Malaise era, and also to experience some hours-long lines for gasoline.
And in its short time here, the first generation of the Accord also managed to cement itself into American car life. Watch a movie or a TV program from the 1980s with a lot of traffic scenes, and you’re guaranteed to see an Accord of this generation somewhere in the background.
The powertrains of the Accord might now seem humble for the time, with the context of the gas crisis removed. The model offered a 1.6-liter inline-four at launch with 80 hp on tap, channeled to the front wheels via a five-speed manual or the two-speed “automatic,” which recently inspired some discussion on these digital pages. A conventional three-speed automatic arrived a little later.
What did the LX trim offer?
Quite a few luxury features for the time, including a remote-control side mirror for the driver, air conditioning, and variable-assist power steering. The dash did not look cheap at all with plenty of buttons and even a quartz digital clock, and Honda made sure to point out the LX featured two-speed intermittent wipers, steel-belted radial tires, and a coin box. An even more luxurious SE trim would arrive in 1980, offering leather seating and power windows.
But we wouldn’t see the Accord hatch past the 1981 model year.
Older millennials probably still remember a time when Accords of this generation were thought of as used cars, rather than classics. In California of the 1990s they certainly were, we’d argue, and they seemed easy to find. Elsewhere in the country it was a different story, with rust having eaten away at the wheel arches and everything else exposed to salty slush.
Keyword: Street-Spotted: Honda Accord LX