1988 Honda Prelude Si

Honda's Prelude began life in the late Seventies as a sporty coupe using mechanicals that were largely borrowed from the Accord.

This 1988 Honda Prelude Si in Granada Black represents the third generation of the Prelude, a foot longer and four hundred-ish pounds heavier than the diminutive original.

Performance was well along the comeback trail by the late Eighties. The '88 Prelude Si featured a 2.0L DOHC fuel-injected four cylinder putting out 135bhp, which isn't a lot by today's standards, but compare that to the dark days of 1980, when 135 was what you could expect from a smog motor carbureted V8 in a Camaro. A 1980 Prelude only had 75 horsepower.

Car and Driver clocked a 0-60 sprint of 8.6 seconds from their test car, which also clocked a 16.5 second quarter at 83 mph through the traps. It also managed .77g on the skidpad with the stock tires.

I do miss the low hoods, chiseled noses, and pop-up headlights of this era, but they were not at all pedestrian-friendly.

This one even has a proper 1988 year-of-manufacture license plate!

These pics were snapped in August of 2023 using a Nikon 1 V1 and a 1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8 lens.