At the beginning of every school semester, I’d make a memory game out of listening to the teacher call roll for the first time, during which I’d form mental associations to help me remember the names of my fellow classmates. Our full, given first names would often be used that first time around, at which point we’d either be asked or volunteer what we’d like to be called. I’m “Joseph” in the bylines here at CC, but I am, and have always been, “Joe”, for the record.
I find names interesting and very much believe that a given first name will have a significant impact on a person’s trajectory in life, without hyperbole. It’s just my theory, and I’m sure this has been legitimately studied elsewhere, but for just one example, I’d expect a child with a more unusual or odd-sounding name to be on the receiving end of jokes from their peers more often than the “Mikes” and “Jennifers” of the world, which might lead to insecurity, toughening, galvanizing, or some other effect. My observation has been that people’s names and personalities seem to jell by a certain age to where one is an accurate reflection of the other, and the other way around.
1988 Acura Legend print ad, as sourced from the internet.
The great Mad TV sketch comedy show featured a character named Dr. Kylie Johnson (just “Dr. Kylie” in most episodes), played by Stephnie Weir, where the running joke was basically that finding a doctor named “Kylie” would be unusual. (And I’m a casual fan of Kylie Minogue.) Weir’s portrayal, complete with many Valley Girl-isms and pop-culture references, often left me literally laughing out loud on the couch. In one of my recent essays in which I had referenced my multiethnic heritage, one reader had asked in the comments whether many others of Liberian descent like me had English sounding names like “Joe Dennis” (the answer is yes), but that got me thinking about what the alternative might have been if my parents had been more adventurous in choosing my first name. What if they had gone with something from one of my paternal grandparents’ two different tribes?
Without attaching a value judgement to that scenario, my assessment is that my life would have been significantly different if my first name had been, say, Saa or Salia instead of Joe, a first name I share with a gazillion other English-speaking males, regardless of background. Joe is a common name, but given that I’m basically introverted, it fits me absolutely perfectly by not calling too much attention to itself. There are some guys who are named named after their fathers, with a “Jr.” or “II” suffix, where there’s pressure automatically built in to live up to some family legacy. Some have been given names that imply strength, like Alexander or Joan. I’ve honestly don’t think I’ve ever met a Ben or an Emily who wasn’t chill and likeable.
All this is to say that when Honda introduced its new corporate flagship for the 1986 model year, it had demonstrated great gusto to name it the Legend. An excellent and comprehensive essay on the first Legend has already been featured here at CC as written by Brendan Saur, so I recommend that piece as in-depth reading for fans of this car. I’ll join the chorus of those who lament the disappearance of actual names for models versus alphanumeric combinations. Even if a model name was coined, like “Integra”, sharing its basis with another recognizable word, “integrity”, helped give the car a tangible personality right out of the gate.
In the case of our featured car, I would think there was a lot at stake with naming it a “Legend”. There would be no wiggle room for anything called a Legend to be anything but excellent, and fortunately, this car was. The ’86 Legend was Honda’s first production car with a V6 engine, which initially displaced 2.5 liters and was rated at 151-horsepower, which was healthy for the day. The early Legend’s accolades included landing on Car and Driver’s “Ten Best” list for its first three, consecutive model years, and also being named Motor Trend’s “Import Car Of The Year” for ’87.
1989 Acura Legend print ad, as sourced from the internet.
There was a slight exterior refresh for ’89, but I’ve narrowed down the model year of this example to 1990, as this was the first year that all Legends had body-colored side-view mirrors; This one isn’t a top-shelf LS, but rather a mid-range “L” model. As such, it also has the bored-out 2.7L V6 with an additional ten horsepower, which had first been installed in the ’87 coupe and was made standard in the sedan for ’88. Nineteen-ninety was also the third year in a row that the Legend was the best-selling import luxury car in the U.S. It would be redesigned for ’91 into a smoother-looking, larger package that was a full six inches longer.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can’t think of many other makes that might have made as good a use of this model name as Honda did for this upscale model. Can you imagine a Nissan, Buick, or even a Chrysler “Legend”? And what would the actual legacy of that resulting car have been? In a best-case scenario, its substance wouldn’t have made a mockery of its name. Honda was on a hot streak in the ’80s, so perhaps their bravado in essentially calling their flagship “legendary” was justified. I still assert that they’d be wise to dust off that nameplate and attach it to a new car that’s just as memorable as the original Legend. After all, the Integra has already made its return.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Thursday, May 4, 2023.
The first-generation Legend actually got a more substantial mid-cycle facelift in Japan, giving it a prominent grille chrome headlight and taillight garnishes, but the U.S. organization apparently rejected it. Here’s a listing (no longer open) for a JDM import, which has the facelifted nose:
https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1517672/1989-honda-legend-for-sale-in-christiansburg-virginia-24073
(“prominent grille and chrome headlight and taillight garnishes” rather.)
I image the Legend had it first, but that front and the detailing looks painfully similar to the Ascot in my eyes, and I don’t find that particularly appealing from an aesthetic or prestigious standpoint (I think the Ascot pulls it off better).
The Ascot didn’t even go over well in Japan, so the U.S. organization may have had a point.
Thank you for this. I’ve never seen the JDM refresh before now and wonder why it didn’t cut the mustard for the U.S. We already had composite headlamps, so I wonder what it must have been. Granted, I’m used to the U.S. version, but I like what I saw on that model in the listing.
I think it may have come down to different priorities.
The Legend didn’t go over terribly well in Japan, where it was trying to compete in a very entrenched class of mostly very conservative domestic buyers, in part because it wasn’t seen as fancy enough. (It also didn’t have a more powerful 2-liter six, which was a big handicap since the 2.5 and 2.7-liter cars were MUCH more expensive to own.) The mid-cycle refresh tried to address those early complaints by adding more chrome, a more prominent grille, a woodsier interior, and an optional 2.0 “Wing Turbo” engine.
In the States, the Legend was successful in part because it DIDN’T really go in for the chrome-and-woodgrain ambiance of domestic luxury cars. I think American buyers who liked the Legend found its comparatively sober trim refreshing, and the mid-cycle facelift was taking it in the wrong direction for that audience. We also never got the 2-liter V-6, so that wasn’t an issue here. Since the Legend sold much, much better in the U.S. than at home, it made sense not to upset the apple cart at that point.
(The Wing Turbo engine was actually more powerful than the 2.7-liter, which would undoubtedly have confused American buyers not accustomed to the Japanese luxury car practice of offering 2-liter sixes for buyers who wanted the prestige of a six without the dramatically higher costs of moving into the over-2-liter class.)
Looks like a Yota…!!!
I remember what a big deal the Legend was back then – and in common usage among owners or fans, it was never called “Acura”, but only called “Legend”. I also remember the large number of people (me among them) who wanted one but were put off by the hefty price.
And wow, but is this thing gorgeous! But for the background cars, this shot looks like it could have been taken in 1990!
I remember reading that Acura discontinued the name “Legend” for this reason. It was overpowering the Acura brand.
Imagine if Pontiac had done that with the Trans Am name when it eclipsed “Pontiac” for name recognition among consumers! Thanks for shedding light on this. I still feel like it was a mistake on some level to get rid of “Legend” for “RL” or whatever replaced it. I also liked “Vigor”.
Normally, I try to include some pricing information in my little fact-blurbs, but didn’t this time. I’m a little surprised to learn that these cost today’s equivalent of mid-$60K when new!
Over 100k out here new and for that money you expect better mind you a V12 & series was nearly a 1/4 million and they were unreliable junk so on that scale Hondas werent a bad deal.
I have always loved aspirational names for Automobiles like Patrician, Ambassador, Fleetwood Brougham, Fifth Avenue, Crown Victoria, Imperial, etc. The name ACURA somehow does as little to impress me as the cars bearing that name. NO way could this be a legend for me! But this OLD Dog 🐕 is happy to be driving a 2OO7 LINCOLN TOWN CAR SIGNATURE LIMITED. Beautiful last generation of great AMERICAN 🇺🇸 luxury sedans. 🏆
I think aspirational names are well suited to traditional ideas of U.S. luxury cars for sure, and I also like those names you cited. Packard “Patrician” would never fly today – it just connotes stuffiness, though I love those cars. “Acura” took a little getting used to, but I like it’s high-tech, precision connotations. Well suited to this make and its products.
” … at which point we’d either be asked or volunteer what we’d like to be called… ”
Up to high school graduation in 1962 I was a “Bob”; no one gave me a choice what I would like to be called.
From that point forward I elected to be called “Robert”.
It took a while to work its way into my cohort and family, but once in, it took, I would not even think I was being targeted if someone called out “Bob”. My late sister called me “Rob” which I felt was an affectionate form of “Robert” and I liked that.
Legends came out when I was a car-less Manhattan cliff dweller, but I took notice via car magazines and seeing them as I walked to work. They looked great, and based on my experience with a 1982 Accord, they seemed to be a Honda with even more Honda goodness. But as JPC noted above, they were quite dearly priced.
There seems to be so much freedom once we reach a certain age and are able to make choices, including how we’d like to be addressed. In some cases, it’s a chance to right some wrongs! Most Roberts in my age group go by “Rob” – I know only a handful of Bob’s my age. On the other hand, my Uncle Bob is pretty cool and I’ve always liked him.
Uncle Bob huh? Okay
*Awesome*.
Gee I have an Uncle Bob even though his true name is Bartholomew.
I had to change my last name around the time the world moved online, and I learned to my horror that googling my given name turned up things (that were not my fault) I didn’t want to be public knowledge (most in relation to a creepy schoolteacher who later became a convicted child molester). In addition, there was one other local person with the same first (common) and last (rare) name who had a rather unsavory background and was prominent online, and I eventually learned prospective employers were binning my résumé before we even met because they Googled my name and thought that person was me. (I once had a employment interviewer tell me “I heard you were into (things that other person with the same name did) blah blah blah and you’re nicknamed (whatever)” and I responded “No, I haven’t done any of those things and that’s not my nickname, however that other person with the same name you found when you stalked me online goes by that nickname and likes all those things”, then as their face turned a bit red, I walked out. I realized right then that if my last name was “Smith” or “Jones” I’d slip into a sea of namesakes and this wouldn’t be a problem (conversely, I could have chosen a name that was utterly unique and also avoided confusion with anyone else). Add that my last name was also the name of a Nazi concentration camp and the name had to go.
I’m fine with “Legend” though, though I think Honda may have been better off not bothering with Acura and just selling their upscale cars as Hondas. Unlike Lexus which is sold almost globally and has its own design studio, Acura is only sold in a few countries and sold as Hondas elsewhere. While Acura (and Honda) are highly respected, I don’t think most people ever thought of Acuras as anything other than glorified Hondas. They share a common design language (especially in earlier years) and don’t seem to have obtained the unique identity that Lexus, Audi, or Cadillac have managed, even though those also share much with Toyotas, VWs, and Chevys respectively. Anyway, Acura recently brought back the Integra name; it wouldn’t surprise me if Legend follows suit.
The Legend’s DNA is clear from the moment one looks at for a split second. I liked the concurrent Accord (the one with the pop-up headlights), and the first Legend looked like a bigger, more grown-up version of one. I think the Acura brand was probably necessary in the U.S. to establish that Honda was now creating new kinds of cars, as least for a new segment.
And, oh my goodness, about the first thing. I’m so sorry. Google searches are a regular part of my job, and I can’t imagine being in the receiving end of a misperception like that.
I’ve come to consider Google searches on people’s names by human-resources staffs to be unethical. It highly discriminates against people with uncommon names (who can be easily singled out, or worse, be confused with the one other local person with that name), while shielding anyone with a common name that has a problematic record. I knew a Lisa Williams and became envious of having a name like that; she will never be trackable by an internet search.
Oh, and I still can’t believe that employer that pretended they had “heard” things about me from people they know when they actually just stalked me online and pretended they’d heard those things.
@la673: Yikes, that is a compelling if unfortunate reason to change your name!
As for why Acura: It basically came down to Honda not wanting the Legend to cannibalize and wreck the Accord. The Accord was selling very well in the U.S., and during the VRA era, Honda was taking it gradually upmarket in size and price with the CA (1986) and CB (1990) model changes. However, Honda recognized that by American standards, a V-6 Legend could be read as just a midsize family sedan rather than a luxury car, and if it were sold in the same showrooms as the Accord, a) salespeople would end up trying to shift buyers from the Accord to the Legend, and b) there would be an expectation (not least from dealers) that the Legend compete more directly with cars like the Taurus or LeSabre, which was not at all what Honda had in mind.
In Japan and in other markets, that was less of an issue because the Legend’s size, appointments, and six-cylinder engine immediately marked it as being in a distinctly different class. (I don’t think any Japanese buyer was likely to be upsold from a Corona or Camry to a Crown, even a five-number 2-liter Crown!) It was primarily a U.S. and Canadian issue, and so Acura was primarily for those markets.
(Admittedly, in Japan, the Crown wasn’t sold through the same showrooms as the Corolla or Camry, although they all carried the same brand name.)
I hear this “Americans won’t buy a luxury-priced car from a mainstream brand sold out of a mainstream showroom” often, yet there are plenty of examples where that’s been done successfully. The late-50s through mid-70s Thunderbird is a great example. Today people buy Golf R’s and Civic Type R’s that look like cars half their price. Corvettes sell well despite just being a Chevy. Jeep is trying with six-figure Grand Wagoneers. And then there’s the Platinum King Ranch (or whatever) versions of Ford, Chevy, and Ram pickups that are big (and profitable) sellers despite sharing their bodies with low-end work pickups. Indeed, attempt to sell Lincoln and Cadillac pickups went nowhere fast.
That’s true, but my point is that the decision to create Acura was the opposite: Honda recognized that they could have sold the Legend through Honda dealerships in the States, but feared that doing so would have been at the expense of their volume product.
I’m not sure I entirely buy that either — the availability of the Cressida didn’t torpedo U.S. sales of the Camry, nor did the later Avalon — but that was the rationale.
In my case, it was the last name that attracted unwanted grade-school attention: “Nudermeyer”, “Needlemeyer”, and worse.
Kids are punks.
I’ve always been fascinated with names – both people’s names and place names, and enjoy looking into their origins.
Regarding people’s names, I feel that having an common vs. uncommon first name is sort of an aisle seat vs. window seat kind of preference. Some people love the uniqueness that comes along with an uncommon name, while others like the security of having an easily-understood common name. Of course people’s preferences don’t always align with what their actual name is.
When we had kids, I proposed using my mother-in-law’s name as the first or middle name for one of our daughters. My MIL has a very uncommon ethnic name that I find beautiful. However, she was adamant that no one be named after her, because it’s frustrating always having people mispronounce, misspell or just plain forget your name because it’s so uncommon. I deferred to her wishes. Personally, when I was growing up, I was annoyed that there were always lots of other Erics, and I would have preferred something less common, but now I like the anonymity.
Regarding the Legend, the part that’s always intrigued me was the Acura name. I recall that both Honda and Nissan hired name consultants to come up with their new luxury car brand names – Honda used a company called NameLab. This firm did a lot of work for the auto industry, and came up with the Geo brand as well as several models like Sentra and Lumina. Their main criteria was that a name be understandable and suggestive of positive traits in multiple languages, hence Acura, which suggests precision engineering. I’d like to know if the same company came up with Legend and Integra as well.
I think the full name “Acura Legend” – works well. The two names go together and seem like a natural fit.
I find it convenient to have a name I can give out without having to spell it every time; I kept my given first name (Lee) which I like but even that simple name can be spelt at least 5 different ways (Lee, Lea, Leigh, Le, Li) so I’m sometimes asked how it’s spelled. For better or worse, it doesn’t specify gender, nor whether it’s my first or last name. I get addressed as “Mr. Lee” frequently, which I don’t mind even though it’s incorrect.
These are great points you make about names. I grew up in a cohort where more Afrocentric names, for just one example, became more popular among those of us born in the ’70s. To wit, I was in some classrooms where there were just as many “Toyas” as “Heathers”. Uniqueness is more highly prioritized within some families, and I didn’t mean to imply that those with unusual names automatically are set up to fail, or something. I just know I wouldn’t have dealt well with having a super-unique name, given my personality.
I also like “Acura Legend” as a make/model combination, and it’s my opinion also that the money for NameLab’s services was well-spent.
As much as I sometimes feel that common courtesy and respect for others is declining in our society, I will say that people (in the US where I live) have become more aware and accepting of foreign-sounding names. Both my first and last names were mangled, commented on, and frequently made fun of when I was younger. That happens much less often now.
Thank goodness. I feel like there’s far too much (good) awareness of the plurality of what it means to belong to / in the U.S. for certain nonsense that seemed borderline acceptable in the past to continue. Including mispronunciation of names, which is / was sometimes deliberate. I never did the “Hooked On Phonics” program, but almost anything is easy to pronounce using those basic principles.
My given name is Michael, and while my mom insisted that everyone call me that, it never worked with people outside my family, where I’m always Mike. I’m okay with that.
One thing I decided when I was a child was to never name any future son Jr. It invariably leads to the junior being given some nickname that sticks with them for life. One such example from my extended family was Billy Boy.
One uncle hated being called “Junior” after his teen years and cousin was “little Billy” always with our common Grandmother.
Some family change middle names from father to son, so no “Jr”.
That’s what my parents did, I have the same first name as my departed Dad, but middle name is different…but a lot of people don’t know we have different middle names and would still refer to me as “Junior” at least when I was young.
My Mom’s family is Slovak, and they were never given middle names…she usually uses her maiden name as her “middle” name. Her brother is the same, though both of them have married non-Slovaks and gave their children including me a middle name (to save me from being a Junior?)
My Dad moved around a lot when we were young working for different companies but in the same profession…I’m not exactly in that same one, but I ended up working for the same company he retired from. The interesting thing is that when I was growing up, one of his co-workers was our neighbor, and being much younger and as politeness at the time (he was the father of a friend I walked to school with) I’d address him as “Mr. xxx”. Fast forward about 3 decades and Mr. xxx was working for the same company (in a different city) and in the meantime I also joined the company and was working in that same city, occasionally in meetings with Mr. xxx, but I was at loss how to address him, normally I’d go on calling him Mr. xxx partly from habit, but he was the same age (or even younger) than other now co-workers I addressed by their first name by this time…so it felt like I’d be singling him out if I called him by his first name. My Dad’s Mom would address even people her age and even younger as “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss” (Ms. wasn’t quite in her vocabulary) routinely, but I think it is a generational thing, probably we’re just much less formal than they were even a couple generations ago.
As for the Acura (small amount of car content)…one of my co-workers bought a base model Legend coupe in 1988, it was a big splurge, she’s been driving a Mazda GLC, and even the base Legend was pricey (something like $26k in 1988). I rode in it several times, it was very nice, I was (and still am) into watercooled VWs at the time so though I considered a nice ’86 Accord Hatch when I bought my ’86 GTi instead, Acura wasn’t on my radar (guess they were new that year, so that’s another excuse)…an Integra would probably been on my list, but if they offered an ’86 Accord with fuel injection but without power windows, I might have gone that way…else I might have gotten a super rare Quantum hatch, though I think by ’86 they’d already withdrawn that body style at least in the US. I’m a big hatchback fan, and really like mid-sized hatches, though they seem to not be offered more years than they are offered and don’t seem to line up when I’m in the market unfortunately for me.
I think being okay with the name that sticks is ultimately the most important thing. My older brother and I were commonly called the short version of our full names, but not my younger brother, who got all syllables pronounced. I’m not sure where that came from, but there’s a lot I don’t and won’t understand about my family of origin. LOL
After all these years, I still like the design look of this car. Like a big Accord back in the day. And these Acura’s were very well put together and reliable.
It was an attractive effort that remains so today. I agree.
I, too, have a mild fascination with names. I’ve wondered how many minutes of our lives are dedicated to having to spell, at least first names, when the parents want to be different, or “cutsy”, & decide to swap a common name spelling for something with a “flourish”. “Hi, my name is Robin………uh, that’s Robyn, with a y…..BETWEEN the B & N !…..and so forth.
Building on this, some of the more popular names in baby books of recent years have variations on the spelling. “Michaela” / “Mikayla” / “Mikala” – I know examples of each (lovely women). I don’t know necessarily that the parents were trying to do too much with the naming.
After writing this essay and reading through the comments, it has made me curious to see what actual studies have been done about the relationship of people’s names and their development.
Also, “Katelyn”/”Caitlin”/”Kaitlynn”/etc.
I was a James until my first day of college… Jim from then on to all except my (British) mother. In 1970s semi-rural non-melting pot Germany James was probably the equivalent of your Liberian Saa or Salia…
The Legend at its 1986 debut showed what 1990s cars would be like. Finer materials, better fit and finish, more powerful engines, higher quality, etc.
I recall the Legend being the first Japanese car to crest the $25,000 base price barrier. One short test drive later it seemed worth every penny if not even more. Nothing in the last 3+ decades has changed that initial impression. Lexus may have firmly changed the way BMW and Mercedes did business a few years later but in SoCal at least Acura did a lot of damage to those institutions earlier than that with the Integra vs the 3series and the Legend vs the 5series and E-Class, never mind the 6 and upper end 3s when the Coupe debuted.
A company has to be quite ballsy to confidently name their car “Legend”, Honda is one of the few that could pull it off without people scoffing. One of the few names that described the product succinctly and accurately, as well as one of the corporation’s biggest mistakes when they stopped using it, throwing away so much hard-earned equity in the process.
Jim, I had to use an inflation calculator to find out that $25K in ’86 translates to about $69K in 2023. While we’re used to cars costing that these days, within the context of the mid-’80s, I could see how this was a shocking pricing entry point (also to JP Cavanaugh’s point above).
Another thing I remember was how just as the Acura Legend had been an impressive machine, how the Lexus LS400 seemed to outclass it almost immediately with what seemed like more substance. As impossible as that might have seemed when the Legend had made such an impression only a few years earlier.
I’m a bigger fan of the gen. 2 Legend (especially the coupe) and its odd longitude-FWD arrangement (also used by the Vigor). That carried over to the first-gen RL, which lasted though 2003.
The second Legend coupe still turns my head on the rare occasion I see one in traffic or street-parked. I liked the first Legend coupe, but the second one seemed to be of a much higher order, at least aesthetically.
Yes, as you said Joe, “kids are punks”. And thanks for clarifying that you’re known as “Joe” to those who know you. I know that your byline here at CC is “Joseph”, so I’ve always gone with that, even though I always suspected that Joe might be what you really use. Why? Because I’m actually “Jeffrey”, but a long time ago I started using only “Jeff” as that was what everyone who really knew me, and who was not either my Mom (being angry at me) or some kid trying to make fun of me called me.
In my case, it’s a bit more complicated as Jeffrey is my middle name. My first name is actually “John”, the same as my dad. Some 60+ (we’ll leave it at that) years ago, my parents realized that in the US, people tend to go by their first names…and they did not want me to be called “Junior” due to the fact that my dad had the same first name. His middle name – which was his actual Chinese name – was Teh-Tze (pronounced Dut-Zah) – so in fact I was not a “Junior”. But I guess in the early 1960s in North Carolina, they were prone to finding Juniors wherever they could. So anyway, I went by my middle name.
Except during that first day of school where I was always called out as “John?” “John Sun?” (bringing forth gales of laughter from the punks). All said in the best Ferris Bueller, Bueller, Bueller, Bueller voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQyVVdsKQRk&ab_channel=MovieQuotes
Until I decided to reply and correct the teacher, which then pretty much set me up for several months of abuse (until we moved…we moved a lot). Because kids are punks.
I will note that “Jeff (er) Sun” is not much better than John Sun.
And of course this is all on top of the general racism (we’d now call these “micro aggressions”) that came from having a last name that somehow didn’t fit with those names common in 1970s North Carolina (where I went to upper elementary and middle school…which probably explains a lot from a developmental psychology point of view). In fact, back in those days, even teachers joined in on the “fun” with comments such as “Where are you REALLY from?” when I stated that I’d moved to NC from MD. Fortunately, we don’t at least overtly deal with this kind of stuff in schools any longer. Progress.
Overtly, at least.
I think those early generation Acura Legends are (as JPC notes) very attractive cars. “Legend” is a most excellent car name.
I live for insights like the ones you expressed here. Thank you, Jeff. Not to say anything about your experiences growing up in NC as it relates to what we’re talking about, but I absolutely do not take it for granted that I grew up in Flint, Michigan, which had huge minority representation when I lived there. Certain things like (as you mentioned in your case) teachers making even “light” fun of names just wasn’t going to fly in any Flint classroom in the ’80s and ’90s when I was in school.
I think culture and heritage is so important, and I am glad that I did get some tribal representation on my birth certificate – just not up front, in my case.
In the mid 70s I was a couple of years out of university and my finances were in order, so it was time to buy a non-student car. I bought a 1969 Alfa Romeo Berlina, which I loved. I was sharing an apartment with my brother who is definitely not a car guy. At the time Alfa was running print ads with the tag line “Why drive a car when you can drive a legend?”. My brother picked up on it and used to refer to my car sarcastically as the Legend. So now when I hear “Legend” I still think Alfa, not Acura.
Mike, I just like that you were able to find the ad you referenced! Perfect. And about the Berlina (and I’m sure I’ve referenced this in another post on one), I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen one here in the states in the metal – not even at a show.
A high school friend had a gold 87 coupe as his first car (it was 11 years old at the time). Love this car and love these in general, High water mark for Honda. I live in Roger’s Park and I’m hoping to see this out and about. Thanks for the story.
Thanks, Ryan. It’s always interesting for me to see the “transplant cars” from other states arrive to this area and become part of the parking and traffic. I think that comes with living so near to a university.
That car is in gorgeous condition
Agreed, and I really want it to stay like that.
Throughout middle and high school I had a friend named Joe. His sister called him Joey Bean and only she could do that. Anyone that refered to him by that name immediately received the Vulcan death grip and a purple purple simultaneously. Otherwise he was the most chillax of all my friends.
Outstanding. I could never get the Vulcan-clutch right, tried though I did. Combined with the purple-nurple, that would be among the best combinations for shutting down foolishness.
What is in a name? Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. Acura Legend, great name, great car. RL? Not so much. Actually, not at all! But consider Lexus, they made their name with their car. Buyers didn’t brag about their LS400, they bragged about their LEXUS. If someone saw that their Lexus was a little IS250, they’d say “Oh.” Sounding very disappointed.
Then there are extremely popular, best selling models that have never had a name, The Ford F150. Ford didn’t even bother with giving trim levels a proper name until the Platinum and especially, the King Ranch came around. Chevy has been peddling their excellently named Silverado for decades, but no Ford owner, myself included, is making any excuses.
Cadillac has ditched all their names except for Escalade, and they would be a fool to mess with that! Likewise for Lincoln, the only sense they have shown, is keeping the Navigator label. I love that name, though I’d gladly embrace an Aviator. Lincoln also dusted off a great name, Continental, for a pretty good car that they didn’t have the nerve to stick with.
There are a lot of car makers that are known by the marque first; Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Audi. It seems to be a thing among European makes.
Sometimes you wonder what some kid’s parents were thinking when they named their kids. While uncommon names are a bane of childhood, leading to a lot of abuse, they do add a sense of distinction to an adult. Just gotta survive childhood first!