The seller says today Good price or no dice Prelude says the car comes with some tasteful mods. We will have to decide if these…and the price-are to our liking.
Purple is a strange color. I mean, not many people are ever going to paint their house in “ripe plum” or “ugly bruise” And if a dude was gonna wear a purple suit, he might as well likely to be confused with a sworn enemy of Batman that a fashion icon. But at the same time, purple is the color of some tasty jams and jellies as well as one of the hottest cocktails around, Aviation.
THE 1985 Cadillac Coupe de Ville we looked at last Friday was painted metallic purple, a shade the company called Heather Firemist. Honly, it does type of her like a Batman villain. Many of you found the car’s $14,000 price tag nasty, sending the purple Caddy out with an 85% no-dice loss.
Fortunately, today 1998 Honda Prelude SH is not painted in a controversial way—or even half-interesting—color. It’s just plain old white. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.. After all, white goes with everything and modern fashion changes say there’s nothing wrong with driving a white car after Labor Day.
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Now, the Prelude was once Honda’s competitor in the hotly contested sports coupe class. Competitors here in the US included Toyota’s Celica, Nissan’s 240SX and Volkswagen’s Scirocco. Take a look around you. You could notice that none of these cars are built anymore. In fact, the budget-priced sports coupe category has been pretty much dead since the early 2000s. Take a fork there. It’s long gone.
For a time, however, it was quite a wealthy category and the Prelude was a highly respected member of the peloton. The car’s name was in keeping with the music-themed convention that Honda once loved at the time. This allowed the coupe to align with the likes of Jazz, Concerto and Ballad, although none of these made it to the US like the Prelude. Other manufacturers have also tapped into the well of musicology for car names. It might be fun, actually, to match the Prelude with the short-lived Electric Coda. Then maybe add an Austin Allegro for good measure.
Of course, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Stay on track!
This Prelude is of the fifth and last generation. Following its manufacture, youThe model struggled until 2001, when market forces and internal competition from the Civic Si and Accord Coupe made the Prelude an afterthought. With just under 60,000 displaced in the United States, this generation is the lowest production of the line.
According to the ad, this one has 192,000 miles on the chassis and a much more modest 50,000 on the four JDM H22A VTEC traded in. This, along with the five-speed manual, is said to “run like a dream.” All belts including cam driver changed 2000 miles back. Mmaintenance records for this and other jobs are said to organized in a folder and included with the car.
The bodywork is completely original and appears to have survived the years and miles with minimal marks. The wheels are aftermarket but match the aesthetics of the car and give it a little pizzazz unlike the “goes with everything” paint.
The interior comes across as very clean, but there are a number of mods here that may give potential buyers pause. These include a Momo sports wheel (nice), a Recaro driver’s seat on an Evo 8 (I’ll allow it) a double DIN head unit in the dash (ok) and an aftermarket open mechanism shifter ( meh). The passenger airbag appears intact, and the car comes with factory carpets and a fairly stocked appearance outside of the driver’s desk.
The car’s title is clean and although we don’t see the back plate, we can assume it was registered in California and can pass the smog here despite the mods. Oh, and that building in the back of some of the ad photos with the snow on the roof that’s so confusing? This is the North Woods Inn. They let you throw peanut shells on the floor in the bar there.
This Prelude may be part of an old ruling class that fell from power, but it still has its supporters. After all, the current owner seems to have shown her some serious love. And, it made close to 200K, so it’s not like there was no action. What can it be worth then?
The seller is asking $15,800 for the car and now it’s time for you to look into the car, the mods and that price. What do you think, does this price make this Honda a prelude to fun? Or is it a sour note?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, craigslistwhere to go here if the ad disappears.
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