The Honda Prelude is dead. After 22 years, the sports coupe meets its maker. It's not part of Honda's 2002 line-up. Arguably America's first purpose-built sport compact car, the Prelude introduced the U.S. car-buying public to the sportier side of Honda. Over the years, the model became a showcase for Honda's most adventuresome and exotic technologies, like the three-valve head, four-wheel-steering and Automatic Torque Transfer System (ATTS), all of which debuted aboard the Prelude. Moreover, Prelude helped popularize a number of other performance-related technologies-like VTEC and double-wishbone independent suspension-that many enthusiasts now take for granted.
There's more than a little irony that the 21st-century inheritors of the Prelude's sporting reputation-the Accord Coupe, Acura Integra and S2000 roadster, to name but three-have eclipsed their grandsire, whose retirement closes an important chapter in Honda's eventful history.
Fits And Starts
Determined to enliven its image as a manufacturer of reliable, affordable economy cars, Honda introduced the first Prelude in March of 1979. But the debut happened to coincide with the second oil embargo, which certainly influenced the introduction of this "sports car." As one promotional brochure put it, the '79 Prelude "is a sports car for grown ups. People who are realistic about things like 55 mph speed limits..."
The Prelude's 1751cc, single-overhead-cam four-cylinder mustered just 72 hp (68 hp with automatic transmission) and 94 lb-ft of torque. Almost from the start, the enthusiast press dubbed the car the Honda Quaalude and demeaned its acceleration: mid-11s for zero-to-60. "Realistic" adults appreciated the car's $6,445 list price and fuel efficiency, but enthusiasts were under-whelmed, despite such genuinely advanced technology as four-wheel independent suspension (i.e., struts with coil springs), and rack-and-pinion steering. Moreover, the masterpiece engine with the ungainly name-Advanced Stratified Charge CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion)-was designed and tuned for economy, not performance.
1997 Prelude - Generation 5
Although the car's styling was a bold departure for Honda, many accused the company of plagiarizing Ford's laughable Mustang II. What's more, an innovative attempt to combine speedometer/tachometer functions on a single dial using scissoring needles was deemed unreadable.
The die was cast just the same. The Prelude established itself as Honda's rolling test-bed for unusual ideas.
On Second Thought
The car received a total makeover in 1983. The Gen2 Prelude was the first Honda to sport a three-valve head and the first to replace MacPherson struts up front with a double-wishbone suspension (Chapman struts remained at the rear). The next year, the Prelude was wearing four-wheel disc brakes, and fuel injection was finally available on the 2.0-liter Si variant in late '85.
By Marc Stengel
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