Maybe I’m later to this idea than some of my peers, but I’ve been giving more thought lately to dressing more in line with what would be expected of someone my age, versus wearing some of the more youthful styles I might have been wearing, say, fifteen years ago. It has been said of me that I look young for my age, but one byproduct of this has been that I’ve lost my barometer in terms of how someone my age is actually supposed to dress and look like. Sure, I have friends my own age, and social media has enabled me to keep up with many people I’ve known from all stages of my life. It’s just that it has become sort of a balancing act between retaining my personal, signature sense of style without looking like somebody’s embarrassing uncle. I’m just not quite at the point where I’m ready to stop caring about how I present myself in terms of my appearance.
My father was quite a bit older than my mom, and was literally old enough to have been my grandfather. There was never any threat of my being ashamed of his sartorial choices, given that he was a scholar and deep thinker who was satisfied on most weekends with wearing a golf shirt (with or without the university logo) and some khakis. He looked exactly what a professor was supposed to look like, at least in my mind’s eye. Dad never tried to look cool, but would sometimes end up looking accidentally cool when he would wear some old, outdated (what I would think of as “vintage”) shirt or slacks that my mom had picked out of the closet for him to wear that day. My point is that he was never trying to look young or hip when he was my current age. He always looked age-appropriate, and I’m sure some part of me appreciated this as a kid.
When then third-generation Honda Accord arrived for model year ’86, I was immediately confused. It had a clean yet overtly rakish look that I was just not ready for. I wasn’t used to family sedans trying to look sporty, and in the case of the new Accord, mostly succeeding. I had no issues with its typically-’80s angularity, low beltline, curved rear window, and stylish, horizontal taillamps. All of those elements came together to project a solidly upper-middle-class, well-engineered, put-together, typically “Honda” image. Walking around to the front of the car was where my personal turmoil started. Who had stuck the front end of a Prelude onto the family car? It wasn’t that the headlamps were concealed. Retractables of all sorts had hit the mainstream and were popular on some upper-scale sedans and wagons starting in the ’60s.
The new Accord four-door, however, had pop-up headlamps, which had previously been reserved almost exclusively for sports cars, and at the very least, two-doors and coupes. The only other four-doors with pop-ups that I can think of at this writing are the Aston Martin Lagonda (I don’t recall ever having seen pictures of them in my youth with their headlights in the open position) and Honda’s own Acura Integra, which followed this Accord and gets a free pass for being a hatchback. Seeing one of these Accords from the front at dusk with the lights on was jarring. It was like seeing one of my otherwise conservatively-dressed teachers of some fact-based subject like math or science show up to class in acid-washed denim, Bugle Boy cargo pants with the cuffs rolled tightly at the bottom, or with lots of hair product shellacking things into place as was the style in the ’80s. You’re just not supposed to do this. Go back and look mature.
I think of myself as being a reasonably “cool” uncle, with the qualifier being that at my core, I am, and will probably always be, a dork. Maybe that’s the part of me that learned to live with the pop-up headlights on these Accords in some act of knowing self-recognition. Buyers loved these mid-sized Hondas, making the ’89 model like our featured example the best-selling passenger car in the United States that year, wresting that title from the universally loved, first-generation Ford Taurus by over 14,000 units (362,700 vs. 348,000). This was an upset and the first time a foreign-branded car (they were built in Marysville, Ohio) had achieved best-seller status. Welcome to the end of the ’80s. A new, much more conservatively-styled, fourth-generation Accord would debut that fall, looking more like your nicely dressed, middle-aged aunt without the blonde-frosted tips.
The base engine for the Accord DX was a carbureted, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that yielded 98 horsepower, but the LXi got a fuel-injected version that put out 120 horses. The car weighed only 2,700 pounds. A period test from MotorWeek showed their specimen going from 0-60 in around eleven and a half seconds with the optional four-speed automatic transmission for acceleration that was deemed adequate but not fast, even for the day. Looking at the truly impressive condition of our featured car, I’d also guess that it has an automatic… and also that it hasn’t been doing a lot of wild acceleration runs over the course of its thirty-three years.
I saw this Accord passing slowly in traffic in front of the Lincoln Park Zoo while waiting for the bus, and I found it as intriguing as some of the animals and other creatures I had just spent time with. What struck me the most is how its once stylish and boundary-pushing design now looked very conservative compared to all the other vehicles parked on the side of North Stockton Drive. I sense it might have been a challenge to convince someone half my age that the styling of this Accord was once in vogue, or that pop-up headlights had once been a thing for sports cars and unheard of for family sedans.
I may have to continue to test the waters with each passing year in terms of what youthful-leaning styles I can get away with wearing, but I’ll never forget when Honda stylists stuck what looked like the front end of their Prelude sport coupe on their workaday Accord. North American buyers not only gave this look their approval, but declared the Accord their favorite passenger car in the final year of this series’ run. Success is ageless.
Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois.
Sunday, May 29, 2022.
If you must, the hidden headlamp 3rd generation Accord did have a fraternal twin who *was* all growed up with eyes always open to the world. I’m not sure if this one would have a different name in the traditional Japanese sales channels, but it was the same car from the A-pillar back, and was definitely sold as the Accord in some areas. It’s more of a Prelude to a yawn, as my eyes see it.
And a lower trim example.
The mid-cycle refresh sedans of this generation adopted this face in Japan, and were called Accord CA (Continental Accord). The third generation Prelude offered something similar around the same time with the INX:
I could be mistaken but I think the Euro-market Accord had that front all along (or was it just post-facelift?) In either case it makes the Accord look even more like a 15/16 scale Acura/Honda Legend, in four door form at least.
Yes, European third gen. sedans always had exposed lamps, hence the “continental” tag on the following Japanese sedans. It’s actually rather odd Japan didn’t do this from jump, as the family segment was still notoriously conservative then, and it would have created a more defined distinction from the upscale sister car Vigor; as it was, Japanese buyers did not respond all that favorably with the looks of this generation on the whole.
The “CA Accord” nomenclature was odd insofar as the chassis code for this entire generation was “CA.”
Thanks for posting those pix. I did see some pictures of the exposed-headlamp models on the internet (Wikipedia has a pic or two), and to me, it completely changes the overall look of these Accords. It looks more like a bigger, ’84 Civic, and since the smaller car was already out by fall of ’85 when the new Accord was ready, Honda U.S.A. probably felt like they needed to go the pop-up headlamp route.
My Dad usually wore old baggy suit-pants around the house with a ban-lon shirt. Alhough there are ’70s-era pics floating around of him in double-knit blazers with a white belt and shoes, his attempts to dress younger than his age were only a glitch of midlife.
By comparison, I’ve been confused in that area. With no offspring to show me my place, I have accumulated fashion faux pas for my age over the years like several pairs of skinny pants, because there they were when I went to Kohl’s. The Hawaiian inspired summer shirts I favor seem to be considered comic-cool indicators of geezerdom — when not being tabbed proud boy attire.
Even the senior gent in that Honda looks to have colored his hair. There’s no escaping age, or the delusional things we do to put the brakes on feeling too old.
The car retains some of the best elements of ’80s fashion, though: large glass area, taught flanks and Mercedes-flat alloys. It look great, wearing age-appropriate clothing.
Awesome. My dad also colored his hair (like the driver) up until only a few years before the very end. Maybe that was his only concession to trying to look younger – or more accurately, not that much older than my mom.
Agree on the hallmarks of good ’80s design present on this Accord that you cited.
I had an ’89 Accord LX1 2-door (sedan? coupe?) 5 speed from new & kept it for 12 years or so and about 170,000 miles. Took me a while to realize it wouldn’t break if I used more of the revs than I was used to doing with the American cars I’d owned previously. Lovely Honda engine song. Sold it to a friend who daily drove it for more years, and that friend then sold it to someone he knew. I’m pretty sure it made more than 300k miles.
Interesting thing about the 2 door (which Honda called a coupe) was that it was only built in the Ohio factory. If somebody in Japan wanted one, it had to be exported from the U.S. (they built some RHD cars for that purpose).
I thought the two-door notchback / trunkback was a great addition to the product portfolio. It definitely had a more premium look that the three-door hatchback that was in step with the new, upscale design direction.
Honda was obsessive about low hoodlines in the mid-80s, which it achieved in part by using their double-wishbone suspension, but the low roofline and and low seats without height adjustment meant the view wasn’t quite as panoramic as it could have been. The low seats, low dash, and low hood did make the road feel like it was practically in your lap though and gave Hondas of this vintage a sporty feel.
The U.S.-spec cars were a bit downmarket from what was available elsewhere – no power seats or antilock brakes for us. We also didn’t get a shooting-brake body style that Honda called the AeroDeck, which made the car resemble an oversize Civic hatchback. The pop-up headlamps were intended to look sporty, but Honda’s research found many thought they just made it look sleepy. So they nixed them for the next generation in 1990 saying the exposed clear-lens headlamps gave it a “wide-awake look”. Some markets got the earlier 86-89 generation with exposed headlights instead of the pop-ups too.
I remember riding in a college friend’s Accord of this generation, and I actually really liked the go-kart feeling of sitting low, with a low dash and all that glass all around. It also made the passing scenery seem like you were going faster than you might have in a more upright car that sat higher.
I bought an ’86 sedan around 2001. I was around 27/28 at the time and still relatively lithe, but I found the Accord too low to comfortably get into and out of.
What always stands out to me with a model that’s been around for as long as an Accord is just how much smaller they were 30 years ago. Essentially still a 4 or 5 passenger car with a similar wheelbase, but the 2022 version is 500 lbs heavier and 20″ longer. And overall – you can sort of see it in the posted drive-by pictures – the 1989 Accord is kinda of dwarfed by most all modern cars.
Jeff, I can’t swear by this, but when I was going a little research for this piece, I think I remember reading that the current Civic is substantially larger in every dimension than this generation of Accord. Of course, I could research it now, but I just got home from work and it’s 100 degrees outside. I’ll let someone else fact-check that one. 🙂
Let’s see:
The first 1986 Accord sedan had the following dimensions in JDM form:
Length: 4,535(178.4 inches)
Wheelbase: 2,600mm (102.4 inches)
Width: 1,695mm (66.7 inches)
Track: 1,480mm/1,475mm (58.3/58.1 inches)
Height: 1,335mm (52.6 inches)
The current 2022 Civic sedan has the following dimensions:
Length: 4,673mm (184.0 inches)
Wheelbase: 2,735mm (107.7 inches)
Width: 1,800mm (70.9 inches)
Track: 1,535/1,565mm (66.6 inches)
Height: 1,415mm (55.7 inches)
One area where the Civic is NOT bigger is engine displacement: The smallest engine available in this generation Accord was 1,829cc, while the Civic has the 1,596cc four.
Ack, still getting killed by the lack of editing. The current Civic 1.5T engine is 1,498cc
From what I recall, in racing (specifically touring cars of the ’80s era) the FIA would use an equivalency factor of 1.4x for turbo engines, later (later in the ’80s I mean) that was upped to 1.7x. I want to say F1 was similar but can’t recall offhand.
So a 1.5liter turbocharged engine was considered somewhat equivalent to a 2.1liter normally aspirated engine and eventually to a 2.55liter one.
So while the displacement isn’t actually larger, the engine is obviously creating more power due to the turbocharger etc, i.e. not exactly apples to apples if just displacement is looked at.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate this.
The way I look on this Accord, I wondered if the guys of Pininfarina was inspired by the 1986 Accord when they drawed the Peugeot 405? https://www.autoevolution.com/cars/peugeot-405-1987.html#aeng_peugeot-405-1987-14
The roofline along with the c-pillar is more or less similar.
Stéphane, I am familiar with the looks of the 405, but before you mentioned it, I wouldn’t have seen it. I see it now, for sure.
In 1989 I stopped at one of my city’s 3 Honda dealers to look at a Civic hatchback. In a case of either mis-communication or in an attempt to move me into a more expensive car the saleswoman had me test drive a new Accord 2 door coupe with a manual transmission. I was quite impressed by the overall smoothness of the car: it’s controls, especially the shifting (coming out of a J2000) and steering were a revelation.
I forever kick myself for ” settling ” for a Civic 4 door instead of that slightly more mature 2 door.
Similar here, but 3 years earlier, and instead of a Civic hatch I went with a VW GTi. I believe 1989 was the last year for the Accord Hatchback, so 1986 was the closest I came to buying a Honda.
In 1986 I’d had my Scirocco for 5 years, and though I loved it, it didn’t have air conditioning, and I’d moved to Central Texas (almost 40 years now) from the northeast. Didn’t think it was a good idea to get AC added to the Scirocco, so I started looking for another car. I spent far more time than I ever have since looking at and test driving not just different models, but different types of cars, trying to figure out what I really wanted. For instance, I also test drove a Bertone X1/9 and the Toyota MR2, which after a test drive I figured were too small for me (don’t remember why I test drove both, I could have figured that out after driving either). The cars that made that last cut were the ’86 Honda Accord hatch and the ’86 VW GTi (which I ended up buying instead). What put me off with the Accord (that was changed in subsequent years, but I wanted to buy in 1986) was that to get the fuel injected engine you had to opt for the LXi model, but that also came with power windows and locks, which I didn’t want. Fast forward to my current car, an ’00 Golf, and darned if I don’t have both power windows and locks, it got too hard to avoid them (though the base Golf had power locks only that year, got a deal on the next model up). The Accord seemed to be the “plush” choice where the GTi was the “sporty” choice. At my current age I’d likely flip my choice and get the Accord, since I no longer want super handling and the then wide 60 series tires on the GTi, in fact I regret that I can no longer buy a new Golf that isn’t at least a GTi, here in the states.
Today’s Civic I guess is larger than the ’86 Accord, but I liked mid-sized hatchbacks, they seem not to be very common, if they are offered it seems they go away after only a few years (and always seem to come out in years between when I’m in the market).
As for the J2000, the less said the better in my family…my Dad bought a new ’84 Sunbird, and it turned out to be the worst car he ever owned (his was the 2 litre with automatic). Earlier that year my Sister also bought a Sunbird, but hers turned out better, it just rusted (she lived in the northeast still)…but my Dad’s had 2 engines go bad with less than 80k miles on the car…at which time it was scrapped (less than 5 years old at the time). Took awhile, but my Dad did go back to GM for his final 2 cars, both Chevy Impalas, but he had a long string of non-GM in between. Wasn’t just the engine on the Sunbird, the whole car seemed to fall apart quickly, despite being dealer maintained per the manual. It lost its first timing belt with less than 1k on it (just about brand new).
These days, brand new Accords are hardly seen, since Honda’s #1 seller is the CRV. A long way from the ‘small car experts’ they were known as.
Regarding clothing, just don’t wear trendy outfits over 40, be contemporary, and stick to basics that stand the test of time.
I read this comment and at first I didn’t agree. But then during my morning commute I saw more Sonatas than Accords. And the Accords I did see were not new. They are in a weird place, too big to a city car and too small for families who upgrade to a CR-V.
The Accord is still selling at the rate of around 200,000 a year in the U.S., so they’re not THAT rare.
For whatever reason, it had never occurred to me that pop ups were overtly sporty, I always thought of them is a variant on a covered headlight that was incorporated into the basic lines of the car. Then again, I grew up in an era when covered headlights were mostly on Olds Toronados (pop up), Impala Super Sports (door), Ford XLs (door), Chargers (door) and Corvettes (pop up). You’d have thought the ’70s decade of doors on big Lincolns, Mercurys and Chryslers would adjusted my thinking closer to yours.
My sister and brother-in-law graduated from engineering school together, and she was very Consumer Reports driven. They bought this Honda right out of school, and shared it until they added a next generation Accord to the fleet.
So, I tended to see whole car as styled in a sort of techy way that engineers would in the absence of a styling department. The front is doing what it can to make an upright three-box aerodynamic. And, pop-ups were passably a Honda styling differentiator (Accord, Prelude) in an era when covered headlights had become rare. Sort of like Subarus used frameless door glass.
I hadn’t thought of the pop-up headlights being a Honda-specific hallmark, but in the execution of that look the way that Honda did it with these Accords and the Prelude, there’s definitely a family resemblance. That’s a very good point. And “techy” is the perfect adjective for these cars, inside and out.
Mrs. JPC bought one of these new in 1988, post facelift and a darker blue. She was in L-O-V-E with that car for the entire time we had it. She found the pop-up lights just the right touch of sporty. Me, I looked at them as an engineer’s way of cleaning up the aerodynamics in the era of big fat sealed beams. But I kept my mouth shut at home. 🙂
I remember not liking these at first, I had become used to the prior generation, which I found attractive. These did not look right to me at first. Later, I came to really like them and was disappointed in the replacement, which I found uninspired.
As for manner of dress, I was fortunate that the one point in my early adulthood where I started paying close attention to clothing, conservative styles of good taste had come back (think Kennedy era). I have tended towards that kind of look ever since. Oxford-type shirts and khakis may date me, but it is a look I am comfortable with.
JP, I hadn’t thought about sealed beam headlights and those requirements. I’m aware that the Lincoln Mark VII had them for ’84, but how many other cars had them by the time this Accord arrived in the fall of ’85? Maybe this was part of the reason the pop-up headlamps got the go-ahead.
And, I’m with you on the successor. Where I had come to really like this generation, when I saw the replacement, it looked like a giant stylistic leap backward. Not an unattractive car, but safe-looking from a style perspective – save as safe could be. Anodyne.
And that’s a great picture.
Liked those Accords from the “80’s”. They ran for years!
If you’re in a non snow/road salt state, they still do.
Good piece, Mr Dennis. I was a junior in college when this body style came out in 1986 and I loved it then. And to my eyes it is still a very good looking car. No wonder it was so popular.
Thank you! I like them, too, and I know when this one was passing me in traffic, I had to act fast with my camera, because who knows when I’ll be able to see another one this nice in the wild. 🙂
I have never found this car to be attractive.
It sits ridiculously low and with that low front end, I don’t think it looks sporty – I think it looks cheap. The hidden headlights were a plus, actually – but not enough of one. The Accord this generation looked like Grandpa in a Budgy Smuggler. Cringe. We don’t need to see that. Even when it was new, it looked more like a Civic than like a family sedan. I am SO in the minority with this opinion – I know. It was a very popular generation!
As to looking right –
I recommend dressing comfortably, but avoid looking like a hobo. Throw away your clothes if they’re over 2-3 years old. Force yourself to wear clothes that aren’t old.
Posture is important. Ronald Reagan was old, but that dude walked and stood like a hero. Stand correctly, and your belly flattens, your chest increases, and you look like a god. This is especially important if you are fat.
If your hairstyle or facial hair still looks like it did a generation ago – do anything to get rid of it. Shave that goatee, dude, along with any mustache that is biker-inspired. Change that crap up.
Burn those Hawaiian shirts – Jimmy Buffet is a sad look.
Buy new eyewear. Have the young girls at the vision care center find a few pairs from which to choose. Choose the most daring pair you like – in a few months, you’ll like them better and look better too.
If you have hair, find a MALE barber who is under the age of 50.
Always listen to the experts. Always let them dress you. Don’t tell them what you want – ask them what they would think looks good on you, then choose from their selection.
H&M, not Kohl’s. NEVER KOHL’S.
Do not dress like a high schooler. You’ll look like either an idiot or a perv.
I feel bad for guys who don’t have a young partner or kids to help. I’m fortunate to have a young wife, and young kids that have strong opinions I welcome.
Finally, what I am wearing right now, isn’t what I would have ever chosen, but had strangers yesterday, stop my wife and I to tell me how much they love my pants. And for the past six months, rarely does a day go by that someone tells me how much they love my cowboy handlebar mustache with my beard stubble.
NEVER GIVE UP!
I read this great line in an automotive article years ago, “I’m older now than my Father was, when he was my Dad.” Which lends an interesting perception on one’s own thinking about Fatherhood. There is almost the same age difference between my Dad and myself and my Son.and myself. My Dad always acted his age, while my kids have not been so lucky.
Errr… I’m surprised no one mentioned Mazda’s 323 F (BG) which also had pop-up lights. I think Mazda got it better than Honda though – perhaps because that gen 323 had a coupe-like silhouette.
Wow. The U.S. missed out on a lot of great stuff. Our best 323 didn’t have a fraction of this visual style.
I loved this generation of the Accord, especially the Prelude-like front end and the pop-ups. It looked so sleek and sporty, and as others have noted, the generation the followed was very bland in comparison. But I’ve always liked hidden headlights. I sought out an NA Miata because I wanted the pop-ups.
Pop-ups had a certain je ne said quoi, for sure. I absolutely loved them on my ’94 Ford Probe. I think the looks of certain cars were wrecked with restyles that replaced them with exposed lights. The first generation Diamond-Star sport coupes (Mitsubishi Eclipse, et. al) are some examples that come to mind.
I ran into Bambi with my 1987 Accord. Sat there while the highway patrol man shot it dead on the side of the road with his pistol. Turned out if there was even the slightest bit of venison in your popup headlights, the battery would drain. Same if there was some unexpected frost or whatever. Loved the style, but it was finicky and there was a manual popup button on the dash for a reason.
Wow… a deer mercy-killing. What a thing to witness, though I’m sure in certain places like my home state of Michigan this isn’t as uncommon as one might think.
Regarding the manual override button, with everything automated or actuated on modern cars, I can’t help but wish more things had override switches. Like an emergency crank for power windows.
Late here, but had an ’86 Accord EXL-S sedan in 2001. JDM model, 1800cc twin-carb motor with a rip-roaring 74 kW/99 hp and 174 Nm/128 lb-ft. Not a particularly energetic car (but I once owned a ’94 Honda Ascot (Accord with a different body) with the single-carb 1800 and that was glacial.
My Accord had loads of standard features (cruise control, electric sunroof, climate control) and some fabulous design details, including that lovely big wraparound rear window. The interior felt like it had been designed for me – everything was exactly the right size and in exactly the right place. The seats were awful though (low and hard), and the handling was dreadful – understeery and oversteery, and fidgety and squirmy on winding roads and sweeping bends. I sold it very quickly because as much as I enjoyed looking at it, it was not nice for enthusiastic driving.
Here is my UK spec extremely rare DOHC 2.0i-16 Accord. Fitted with the B20A2 engine. (Gold top)
1987 car. Air and Cruise. Sunroof and black with red accented velour trim. Only around 9 left. Painted white and red only.
Daily driven.