Hey to all in honda-tech, I have just joined (16/6/13) and would like to share with you my story off my lil pride n joy 1st generation 1979 honda accord. I found it in South Australia and paid $400 cash (AUD) by now you are most probably thinking "oh God, for that kind of money was its engine missing" but the simple answer is, no. Strange thing was that the car itself was just fine (apart from some cosmetics) but that comes with the cars age, but apart from some minor paint fade and rust the car itself was just perfect. It starts first time, the interior was (is) immaculate and everything works. What was super strange and i do mean "freaky" strange is that i had never in my whole entire life ever seen one of these old honda accords before, and yet somehow on the night before i went looking for a car to buy (just any car) i actually dreamt about it. By now you are cringing and thinking "yeah right" but i couldn't be any more truthful, In my dream the car was blue, was a manual, had a sunroof and was an old car with the four round headlights. The morning after, i woke up and obviously i thought nothing of the dream, i just assumed i had a dream about a random car purely because it was on my mind as i was falling asleep that i needed to buy a car, I went out that morning to find a car and i only had a $1000 (AUD) budget, i went to a car dealership expecting that i wasn't going to have any luck, as i walked alongside the car yards wire fence i was looking into their premises when right then my whole life spun round, there it was, a car that i had just dreamt of, my car. I froze to a complete standstill, still on the outside of the property i stepped up to the edge of the fence and pulled it towards me bringing the fence into contact with my face looking through the gaps. I will never forget how shocked, puzzled, and lost i was when i first saw it, even still today i get shivers and an overwhelming proud rush of excitement. I remember accidentally speaking to it from outside of the car yard, saying with a confused frown expression on my face "I just dreamt about you". Not surprisingly the car did not say anything back to me, however as freaked out as i was i could feel a good deep feeling as i looked into its headlights, its like when you stare into the eyes of that person you love, it hurts so much to look at them but if you look away you know that your life serves no purpose. Funny thing too, as i was standing there infatuated somehow by a car that i had never seen before and yet even more so 'somehow' i dreamt of it, it was then it came to my attention that the car had been kept separate from all the other cars in the yard, the yard itself was split into two sections, one section was huge and had all makes of cars old and new, cheap and pricey, then there was another section where my lil honda was locked up, it had its own yard and wasn't even parked sensibly, it was parked right in the middle of the second yard facing towards the main road, seeing it like that made me smile, it was like being back at school as a kid and your best friend gets sent to the naughty corner for making you laugh too much while the teacher is talking, and yet even though they're in the naughty corner you still look over to them as they continue to make you laugh. When i noted that it was locked up on its own i looked over to the other yard assuming that there was no more room in that yard for my naughty car, but that was never the case, the other yard had loads more room for more cars. I know its irrelevant and may seem so small to you all but every now and then i think back to why the car dealers went to all that extra trouble to lock it up on its own with even more security than all the other cars that were valued at a much higher price, just made no sense. Whatever the reason i was already captivated and the naughty honda had to be mine. When asking the car dealer about it i asked him to show me it, he seemed keen to make the sale (duh) and said yeah lets go and take it for a test drive. He grabbed the keys and unlocked the gate to the second yard, i carried on walking as the gate swung open when i heard him shout "HERE" i turned around only to see a set of keys flying in mid air towards my face, luckily my hands reacted in time to quickly cup the keys into my palms. I turned around to embrace this mystery car, at this point i had no idea it was a honda, i circled around it many times meanwhile the car dealer was loosing his patience and hinted at me to hurry up by politely saying "yeah, you can use those keys i gave you to start it up if you like". I opened the drivers side door and sat back onto the old car seat, with the metal springs gently poking into my back, quickly scanned around the inside of the car, sunroof-just like in my dream, manual-just like in my dream too, how is any of this happening? He got into the passenger seat and told me to start it up, i slid the metal key into the ignition and clicked it into the first stage only to watch all the warning lights come on and then go off and saw the fuel gauge rise, i then continued to turn the key expecting the car not to start as he had already told me that it had been sitting here a while as we made our way towards it before unlocking the gate, but that was never the case it started straight away and more surprisingly the engine was extremely quiet along with the exhaust. I looked into the mirror and revved the engine to see if any black smoke would make itself present, nope. This was becoming unreal, how can a car this old be in such great shape? We went for a drive just around the block and made small talk along the way, everything was in working in order, electrics and motor was up and running and it was still registered. So now came the time to make a deal for this dream car, i had already had a dream about this car the night before and so to see it become a reality i was willing to pay a lot more than my $1000 (AUD) budget however, i didn't want the dealer to know that. I asked him how much and straight away he came out with $800 (AUD) I couldn't believe my luck, and that was the best part, my luck seemed to be spiralling at a fast rate and jabbing away at the heavens. So within milliseconds, i decided to test my luck and Jedi mind **** the dealer and acted disappointed by his very good offer and simply said with a sigh "Oh, okay then don't worry about it,do you you have anything cheaper". You could tell he wanted the sale and said that he had nothing cheaper than this car and then asked how much i could afford. I told him, lying of course that i only had $400 cash. understandably he laughed at me, if only he had brought his x-ray vision glasses to work with him on that day, that way he could of caught my bluff and would of seen one thousand (in cash) that i had just withdrawn from the bank. He stressed at me that he can't sell the car for that much, and asked if i could borrow a couple hundred of some friends or family, lying to him again i said that it was impossible to get that kind of money. He took a long and resentful look at the car and let out an exhausted sigh and said, "alright, **** it" He reached for my hand to seal the deal and repeated the agreement "four hundred dollars". I let his hand reach mine where we shook on the deal as his tight grip clicked most of my knuckles.


So there it is, the car that i had mysteriously dreamt of the night before turned out to be a naughty little honda accord that was locked up doing time. Some may say that the story is just a coincidence and that these things can happen, others will just write it off as luck and then others would say it was in a way 'fait'. I don't believe in fait however, my first car ever was when i was 18 and that was a honda civic, so i guess in a way i was always destine to come back to a honda, well Until i got my heartbroken by the UK police who had it impounded, crushed and turned into a can of baked beans on the shelf at your local supermarket, bastards. My honda accord has traveled most of Australia, From Adelaide to Melbourne (750kms), Melbourne to Sydney (880kms), Sydney to Cairns (2,500kms), Cairns to Darwin (2,800kms) and Darwin back down to Adelaide (3,200Kms) in fact on the drive from Darwin down to Adelaide i got to witness the odometer turn over and reset itself back to zero, so i can now sell the car as brand new, hahaha. And yet despite its age it just won't give up on me its like an old stable horse…no matter what it just wont quit, or even have minor problems with the engine, not that i am asking for it to have problems. This car is simply amazing and completely cheap on fuel plus reliable.

So, now the part where i need you. I have been thinking lately that i want to restore it. Luckily for me not much needs doing to it because its already got its original parts all in place (excuse a few, i.e radio) however it does need its bonnet resprayed as it has faded and chipped, it also needs the boot resprayed as not only has it faded but it has a bit of rust on it, i would love to somehow get hold of thee original radio player that would of went in one of these old honda's, does anyone know what they would of had or where i can find one, i think i may have seen one once before but missed out on buying it. I'm under the impression that its one of those old school chrome radio's that has a red needle to show what channel you have got it tuned in to. I would also like to lower the whole car just i tiny lil bit (nothing over the top) and to also put on old school deep dish rims, the kind where the wheel is poking out just a bit. And the most obvious for those who have seen the photo's is i need a new front quarter panel on the drivers (right) side as it has a dent which is rusted, which is how i got the car when i paid for it.
So any ideas of where to get all this done:
wheels (deep dish)
Is it possible to put in a Honda V-tech engine? Then put a turbo on top of that???
Lowered suspension (however under the impression you can't change this type of suspension)
Respray (bonnet and boot)
Slight engine tune, nothing to make it loud, just fast
Original honda accord radio player
And most importantly, drivers side front quarter panel
Please help,

yours faithfully, b0y_honda

 

Hard to read sir but nice car!