Which One Wears Its Stripes Better? 1979 Honda Accord vs 1989 Mazda MX-6

Welcome back! After a week of attempting to celebrate domestic models with varying degrees of success, this week I promise you won’t see a single American nameplate here. We’re starting out with a pair of two-doors from Japanese makes with a simple connection: they both have black stripes that someone added.

I knew going into Friday’s Showdown that Corvettes, especially C3s and C4s, are a love-them-or-hate-them proposition, and that a lot of you were going to turn your noses up at both of them. But I was surprised by the positive comments, especially in favor of the C3. The disco ‘Vettes are generally seen as the Mustang IIs of the Corvette world, but plenty of you said that the C3 is your favorite Corvette body style. But the C4’s fuel injection and far more modern chassis design made it the logical choice, and the clear winner in the poll.

This is a tough one for me. The C4 was the poster-car dream when I was eleven, but the C3 is the classic Corvette shape. Luckily, I’ve driven both a C3 and a C4, both with automatics, so I can judge them by more than gut feeling. The C4 is the better driving car, hands-down. But the C3 is more fun, even with less power. And I think I’d have more success tinkering with the older, less electronics-heavy car. So I’m going to go against the grain and pick the C3.

Stripes on cars were originally just a way to tell cars apart on a race track. Briggs Cunningham is credited with the first use of racing stripes, on his LeMans entries in the early ’50s, and since then, stripes have become a symbol of speed. If it’s got stripes on it, it must be faster, right? But the truth is that there are all kinds of reasons to put stripes on a car. My dad added black stripes to the lower part of the doors on his tan VW Beetle to hide rust bubbles. I put stripes on my MGB GT just to break up the sea of yellow paint. Both of today’s competitors have had black stripes added, one rather haphazardly, and the other much more carefully. Which car is more worthy of such adornment will be up to you to decide.

1979 Honda Accord LX – $4,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter OHC inline 4, two-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Douglasville, GA

Odometer reading: 40,000 miles, but odometer is broken

Operational status: Runs and drives, needs a tune-up

Honda’s Civic was a huge hit, but a tiny car. If Honda wanted to increase its sales, it needed to increase the size of its cars. Enter the Accord in 1977. A three-door hatchback was the only body style available at first, but a year later a four-door sedan appeared, along with the LX trim level which would become the most common Accord. This 1979 model is an LX, but it’s a hatchback – and an automatic.

For 1979, an automatic in an Accord meant Honda’s two-speed Hondamatic semi-auto. There’s a torque converter instead of a clutch, but you have to shift between the two gears yourself. If you’re not in a hurry, however, you can just leave it in high gear all the time and accelerate at a more leisurely pace. Driving that weird transmission is a 1.8 liter engine with Honda’s CVCC intake design. It just had its carb rebuilt, but the seller says it needs some tuning yet. The low mileage isn’t accurate; the seller says the speedometer doesn’t work, so obviously the odometer doesn’t either. And neither, sadly, do those cool mechanical service reminders.

The interior looks pretty good, but it has aftermarket seat covers, and there’s no way of knowing what the seats look like under them. There’s a piece of tape or something on the driver’s side door panel. I have no idea what that’s about. The LX package included air conditioning, but I’m assuming it no longer works.

Early Accords came in some great colors. I think this is one of two different greens that were available. It’s actually kind of a shame that someone covered some of it up with black paint. It could have been done to hide rust, but I doubt it. The door bottoms and rocker panels look rust-free.

1989 Mazda MX-6 LX – $3,450

Engine/drivetrain: 2.2-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: East Wallingford, VT

Odometer reading: 79,000 miles

Operational status: Doesn’t say, actually

Okay, you got me: this is technically not a Japanese car. It’s a Mazda by design, but it was built in Flat Rock, Michigan, in the same factory as the Ford Probe. Under the skin, they’re the same car. But while the Probe had its own swoopy sheetmetal, the Mazda MX-6 is basically just a two-door 626. This appears to be the mid-level LX model, based on the options, but it lacks the badge on the front fender, so I can’t be sure.

The MX-6’s drivetrain is the same as the Probe, a 2.2-liter Mazda four-cylinder engine and a smooth-shifting five-speed manual transmission. It has really low miles on it, and the seller calls it a “barn find.” I assume that means it has been sitting for a while. I can’t quite read the year number on the license plate tag, but it might be a 14, which would mean it has been off the road for twelve years. Expect to do some refurbishing, even if it starts and runs fine. You’ll probably want new tires, too.

It does look a little tired inside. From the fading and the big crack in the dash, I have a feeling this car was parked next to the barn rather than in it. That’s a lot of sun damage. Apart from the crack, it’s in good condition, but all those cloth and vinyl and plastic pieces are supposed to be the same shade of burgundy.

The stripes on this one appear to be painted on too, and there are stripes on the hood as well as the sides. Someone spent some money to have that done. Actually, now that I look at it, this might be a GT model. The wheels and spoiler are correct for it. If it is a GT, that means it has the turbocharged engine and adjustable suspension. If not, then someone added GT wheels and a spoiler to an LX. See, this is why we need underhood photos, people…

Well-preserved cars like these are cool to see, but it also makes me kind of sad. They’re not supposed to still exist; they should have been driven and used up and recycled into washing machines years ago. The fact that they do still exist gives someone else a chance to appreciate them, but time takes its toll whether a car gets driven or not. You’ll have your work cut out for you bringing either one of them back to its former glory. Which one is worth the effort?