Thanks to an article I read this morning, I was thinking back to some of the weird limos you could get in the 1980s. It used to be strictly Cadillacs and Lincolns, but for a while in the 1980s, you could also get stretched versions of unlikely suspects such as the Chrysler K-car, compact Cadillac Fleetwood, Honda Accord, and probably others. A neighbor on one of my newspaper routes as a child had a dark blue Chrysler Executive, but there were none to be found… so I stretched my memory banks and thought back to a day on I280 when I saw a limo made out of a Honda Accord. Like most other people, I reacted with “why??”. And unlike most others, my other reaction was “cool!”
So that brings us to today’s car. It’s a 1986 Honda Accord limo, most likely built by Marquis Custom Coach in Canoga Park, CA. A quick online search netted this period article from the Boca Raton News about the conversion. At the time, the Accord got 25mpg and was about $24K, and in an era of shrinking cars they could be forgiven for thinking this would be the limo of the future. Find this car for sale in Salem, OR for $2000 (or a quad, if you have one lying around!).
I’m not sure this shouldn’t also be part of the Bad Ideas series, but it is based on standard Accord mechanicals that can probably be easily found in any junkyard. As it sits, the car has a manual transmission (for that gas mileage!), and a single cam engine. Depending on what trim level it started as, it would either have 98 hp (carb) or 120 hp (EFI). Either way, with the amount of aftermarket tuning gear available for Hondas, you could build yourself an entertaining family car, or a novelty wedding car!
Here’s a picture of another car that appears to have led an even harder life. For pics of similar cars, including one that makes the concept of a Honda Accord limo even more ridiculous, check out this image at yfrog and this one at hondapitstop. These were the sportiest of all Accords, with a low cowl, flip-up headlights, and a wedgy aerodynamic shape. For ideas on how to be the hit at your local j-car show, check out this thread on Honda Tech for some upgrades, both tasteful and tasteless.
Tags: 1986, accord, honda, japanese, under $2000
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September 14, 2016 at 10:22 am |
I was of many that made this car at marquis custom coach I worked on many others and convertibles as well and other project cars
September 14, 2016 at 1:24 pm |
Wow, cool… Do you recall anything about them, like how many were made? It seems an unlikely limo except if you’re concerned about fuel economy.
September 19, 2016 at 9:37 am |
it was a big hit for the high profile people from japan and some that liked a smaller version of the bigger ones they lasted a long time considering that we added a lot of pounds they still got better fuel economy than we thought they would get if you want a limo for your self let me know I can make anything reasonable or if you have funds for r and d we can build anything I also did the nice dual spring struts for the cads and redesigned the convertibles to be now known as Mazda Miata I did the Honda prelude and Subaru convertibles which they took my design and used it in japan it was a fun time to be able to be part of a company that let me go free but unfortunately the company still owed my a lot of money when they went under using my design to get money and hide it from taxes