Old honda civic brochure...

[guest2898]

Here is a brochure of the original mk1 civic, this model was massive in the states where a lot have survived...  its amazing how small it started off (much smaller than a jazz) and how much bigger it got over the years!! (now much larger than the jazz!! lol!).... the accord was the same, it was around the same size as the jazz when it first came out... look at the size of it now!! anyway, here is the brochure... 

<images removed>

[guest1844]

What was the one that was the Triumph Acclaim?
One of the houses in our street we (I include my kids in that) called the Honda House as the guy had 4 or 5 Hondas, inc an immaculate "Accliam" (ie the Honda version). Auto. All his cars were showroom spec. (He's since moved away.)
Hondas don't seem to be viewed as restoration material. Any MkI Civics left?

[JazzyB]

I believe it was called the Honda Ballade

[guest2915]

I remember those poodling about.

[guest2898]

The acclaim was indeed a re-badged ballade saloon (fitted with a 1,335cc twin carb honda unit).... The rover 213/216 range was a ballade too,.. here are some links with pics,  and some pics of the 3 acclaims and rover 213 (honda engine) i owned.... they are responsible for my honda addiction! lol. 


http://www.1stgencivic.org/1stgeneration_civic/photo_stephen_chippett_1978_honda_civic.html
http://www.carsplusplus.com/specs1983/honda_ballade.php
http://www.productioncars.com/gallery.php?car=8710&make=Rover&model=213
http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/1986-Honda-Civic-Sedan-Pictures-t22920

[culzean]

The Triumph  Acclaim and Rover 213 were a breath of fresh air when they came out, easy to drive (beautiful light steering,  clutch and gearbox), reliable (that was a word unknown in 70's and 80's British car industry) - and performance not too bad either.

The reason not many survive in the UK is that the rust proofing wasn't as good as todays cars, but was better than British cars of the time - (after 2 or 3 years most Brit cars had major rust problems).  The reason many more survive is USA etc is that in many areas of the USA you could leave an un-painted block of steel outdoors and it wouldn't rust.

[guest2898]

They were indeed a breath of fresh air! they saved BL (who were in serious trouble at the time) because they were honda powered, they of course, as you say were incredibly reliable... all 3 i owned never missed a beat and as you mentioned were quite quick too! the honda/BL partnership was a big success, running into the mid 90s. The last proper rover/honda was the 416 (re-badged concerto) i had one, it had 147,000 miles on it when i sold it, 72k when i got it... and in the 6 years i had it, it never let me down, it even still had its original clutch fitted too! the very last honda unit and gearbox in a rover was the 416 SLI auto  (later the 45, tho when it became the 45, the honda unit was removed & became the same K Series as fitted with the rest of the range, with their own auto box)  When BAE put up rover for sale i believe honda put a bid in as they had a 20% stake in the company at the time... shockingly after all they had done in the past and put in to the success of rover they were turned down in favour for BMW, not long after this. honda sold there stake and the partnership ended.... BMW only bought the group for land rover which they raped for the 4x4 technology, they run the rover side of it down and sold it for a £1 to the Phoneix group... the rest we know... such a shame, if honda had bought rover, it would still be around today making great reliable cars in britain.....
Here is the rover 416 i had.....

[guest2915]

Very interesting. My Cooper has a 1992 Rover K series engine. The engine was as sweet as. The electrics were the problem as they were always failing. I wonder when John Cooper developed the Single Point and Multi Point Infection Cooper, (SPi  & MPi) whether there was any Honda influence? Will have to go and check my books.

[guest2898]

The main problem also with the K series was that it was prone to failiure of the cylinder head gaskets, i have been told this was due to faulty cylinder head bolts, which did not maintain the correct torque setting for the gasket to stayed seated correctly, causing failiure. Once the correct bolts were fitted they were not a bad engine, although not a patch on the honda units previously used, lotus used them before switching over to toyota engines.... i was once told that the K-Series was loosely based on a honda unit (some copying went on) whether or not there is any truth in it, i dont know. As for the mini/cooper i dont know much them, apart from the original ones had the very reliable A-series engines which ran and ran...

[guest2915]

Well Alice's engine ran beautifully for around 13yrs.  It never gave up as it still started a couple of years ago when we moved it to our friend's garden.

[guest2898]

Mini's never die.... they just rest, waiting to be woken and loved again... 

[guest2915]

  Very true!

Back to your cars; have you always had a.personalized numberplate?

[guest2898]

I purchased the gaz reg plate early 1995 and its been on every car i have had since then! 
here are a couple of my other motors you may not have seen yet.... and another pic of my beloved 213

[RichardA]

Some good pics there.

Have you tried running the reg plates through the DVLA enquiry site (it's free)?

https://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/app/enquiry?execution=e2s1

Here's the result for the first Acclaim:

The vehicle details for XHH 771Y are:
Date of Liability   01 10 1992
Date of First Registration   04 02 1983
Year of Manufacture   1983
Cylinder Capacity (cc)   1335cc
CO2 Emissions   Not Available
Fuel Type   PETROL
Export Marker   N
Vehicle Status   Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour   RED
Vehicle Type Approval   Not Available

[guest2898]

Thanks richard, yes, i frequent the dvla online site frequently, its nice to see if your's and others motors are still out there.... the XHH accalim was written off in a bad frontal accident about 18 months after i  part exchanged it for the opaline green HLS, i used to see it parked a few miles away from me, on a regualar basis, then one day, to my dismay, the front end was all caved in  gutted! it was my 1st car as well.... the other acclaims did not last long too, they obviously did not receive the loving care i lavished on them....