Good morning! We’ve got a short week this week, so we’re already a day behind. I’ll keep this quick. We’re going to do three pairings, and then play “track, daily, burn” again on Friday. Sound like fun? Good; here we go.
Friday’s runoff elicited a rousing “meh” from a lot of you. Others welcomed the opportunity to vote on some decent cars for once. I figure if some of you are disappointed, but some of you are happy, it’s a wash, and I’m doing all right. The Volvo 850 won, but it doesn’t sound like anyone was super-enthusiastic about it.
Me, I’d take the Ford Escort, and check with junkyards in Canada for a set of non-motorized seat belts and corresponding interior trim for it. I really like those cars, except for those dumb passive restraints.
Lots of cool things came out in 1983: The Police’s Synchronicity, Return Of The Jedi, and the Tamiya Frog, to name a few. But it wasn’t a great year for cars. The bleak time of poor build quality and emissions-choked engines known as the “malaise era” was winding down, but not over yet. American automakers were playing catch-up with a group of modern front-wheel-drive imports that were taking over the streets, with mixed results. Today, we’re going to look at one of those imports, and one of the domestic challengers. Here they are.
1983 Honda Accord LX – $2,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter OHC inline-4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Portland, OR
Odometer reading: 500,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The farthest-traveled man-made object is the Voyager 1 space probe, which has covered about sixteen billion miles since 1977. No other object is likely to beat that mileage, especially not a car, but if one were going to, my money would be on a Mercedes-Benz W123, a Lexus LS 400, or a Honda Accord. This second-generation Accord has already been to the moon and back, and it’s still going strong.
The engine propelling this car to such heroic mileage is a 1.8-liter four-cylinder, which drives the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. It’s a one-owner car with a salvage title, and I imagine whatever happened to ding the title happened when it was fairly new. At this age, for this price, it hardly matters if there’s a brand on the title. It runs and drives well, and the seller says everything works as it should. Here’s a fun fact: I believe these engines have a timing belt change interval of 60,000 miles. If it has been changed regularly as it should have been, it should be on its ninth timing belt. Not many cars can say that.
Nothing lasts forever, though, and this car’s interior definitely shows its age. The driver’s seat is not original; I imagine it was replaced because the original seat simply wore out. Even this one is looking a little threadbare. But overall, considering its age and mileage, it’s remarkably well-preserved.
The Accord’s greatest natural enemy is rust, but this one seems to have escaped it. It’s in excellent shape outside, and there’s no sign of whatever damage caused the branded title. Someone really took care of this car, and I love to see it. I only hope the next owner keeps it up just as well.
1983 Mercury Lynx L – $6,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter OHC inline-4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Odometer reading: 58,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
You know how sometimes when someone says that something is seven years old, and then they follow it up with “that’s like 49 in dog years?” I think there’s a similar thing going on here. At first glance, this early Mercury Lynx hatchback seems like it’s low-mileage, but in, say, Honda years, its 58,000 miles is a lot more. Maybe not half a million, but a lot. Let’s just say early ’80s Ford products age a whole lot faster than early ’80s Hondas.
The Lynx was Mercury’s version of the Ford Escort, which in the early days was powered (barely) by a carbureted 1.6-liter version of our buzzy little friend, the Ford CVH four-cylinder. The transmission in this one is Ford’s ATX three-speed automatic, giving this car a 0-60 time longer than the average Neil Peart drum solo. The seller claims this one was only driven to church by an elderly woman, so depending on how far away that church was, it might not have even gone 60 very often. It runs and drives fine, and has had a lot of recent service work.
The Lynx was always a little fancier than the Escort, and this one actually looks pretty inviting inside. The seats are in great shape, and the only wear and tear I see is a few iffy spots in the carpet. It has air conditioning and cruise control, fancy stuff for an economy car in 1983. I have no idea whether the cruise control works, but the seller says the air conditioning is getting serviced next week.
Outside, it’s in better condition than any Escort or Lynx I’ve seen in years. I’m sure it was garage-kept. I’m pretty sure the wheels have been repainted, but they do look good. The seller says the tires are getting replaced next week too, which would make it a good time to paint the wheels. I’d check for rust underneath, just because of where it is, but I wouldn’t expect to find much. I get the feeling Granny didn’t drive in the snow.
As much of a champion as I am of US domestic vehicles, I freely acknowledge that there’s a reason the imports were beating the pants off them in the early ’80s. Still, it’s a rare treat to see a car like that Lynx in such good shape. I have a feeling I know the answer, but which one of them do you like better?
It’s not even close. Accord all the way.
The fact that my high school girlfriend had one just like this but in silver is completely not a factor.
My Mom had a 1983 Escort twin of this car. A wheezy and coarse cacophony of a bastardized “world car” . Absolutely terrible car then and now.
My wife’s car when I met her was a Sedan version of this Accord. Objectively a better car than the Escort by a wide margin. The only demerit was that this was underpowered as well. At least it was smooth , efficient and reliable. Ironically, replacing the complicated car with Mikuni carbs would easily open the engine up. Honda all the way
Before even reading the post…Accord. I thought it must have a million miles…not too far from that, LOL.
I want to know who is going to service that R12 a/c system in the Lynx.
I was a bit iffy on voting for the Honda because I live in the mountains and I’m not sure how difficult insuring a salvage title would be, but if I’m going to put up with double digit horsepower, I would rather have 5 gears to select than 3 chosen for me.
Also always appreciate a Neil Peart/Rush reference.
I drove a friend’s 1982 Lynx with a 5-speed for a few days when it was nearly new. It was a POS even then. I can’t even imagine how slow the automatic is.
I’m shocked that this one lasted 43 years.
I’ll take the Accord.
I can’t choose. They’re both excellent examples of vehicles that do a whole lot of nothing real well while leaving even the most normcore of loins unstirred. With that said, I want both. I’d add a tan tweed bench seat to the Honda and daily it with a goal of 750k miles, and that Lynx would get cars+coffee duty after being hit hard with the lowering stick over top of some hilariously tiny Kei car wheels. Probably chromed. Maybe have it hand pinstriped on the tail with script type that says “you’re welcome.”
I’ll go with the one that’s already been to the moon and back. The Lynx might belong to a museum as I don’t feel like paying 65 Benjamins for it, not even if I had stacks of cash left.
An accord identical to that one with ~250k was supposed to be my 1st car, going with it out of nostalgia.
At half a million miles, if that Honda was ever gonna die it would have done it by now. Immortal car FTW.
I haven’t seen a lynx in decades. I don’t want to either. Honda by a long shot.
This was hard. The Lynx is in amazing shape, but even so the price is too dear. The Honda could blow tomorrow but someone would still buy it for $1000 and drop anther engine in it. Also, that poor Lynx always had the appeal of a box of tissue. Accordingly, I vote Honda.
The Accord is better in every way. Thats the reason I see Accords of this generation a few times per year in the wild here in NC, while I haven’t seen a Mercury Lynx since at least the Bush administration. No, the first one.
Either one will get you RADwood cred, but the Lynx will drop more jaws because of its insane rarity.
You just have to hope Radwood isn’t too far away, or it might be over and the next one announced before the Lynx gets you there.
This is especially funny if you are familiar with RADwood’s scheduling habits.
I would not pay that much for either, though I suppose if I had to, the manual Honda makes the most sense. Both likely will need plenty of care to keep running, milage be damned.
Buying a car generally means having to sit inside it.
Since that’s the case, the choice here was obvious.
Honda it must be.
I’m surprised that the Lynx “L” trim doesn’t even add interesting wheels.
I owned a 1983 Lynx GS with the HO engine upgrade. At ~80HP with a 5-speed stick it was not bad to zip around in. I am always dismayed to read what HP the normal engine made. And this one with the automatic?? No thank you.
If this was a vehicle I would drive somewhat regularly, the Accord is the clear winner since it’s a much better car. But if I’m buying this as a Malaise-era piece of auto history to take to cars and coffee and not much else, I’ll take the Lynx.
I’m in a similar place.
The only thing interesting about that Lynx is the Caddy it shares a driveway with.
Don’t sleep on Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster that was launched into an elliptical orbit around the sun in 2018. As the only (known) car in space, if you don’t count the Repo Man Chevelle or maybe Doc Brown’s DeLorean, it’s logged a few billion miles. It’s got a long way to go if it wants to overtake Voyager 1, but if old V’ger should meet with a catastrophic end the Roadster’s got a chance.
For less than half the price I will take the Honda, but I think for the same money I might have picked the Mercury. I am really impressed by the styling of the Honda, that is a great looking car, but I don’t really care to be the person that takes the car to 600k miles… The Mercury is also a decent looking car, and I love the red interior, but that drivetrain would be boring and I want a unloved museum piece less than high mileage road warrior.
I had an ’86 Lynx as my first car, and it was good for that sole purpose. By the time it had 118k miles, it was falling apart and my college-aged budget couldn’t keep up with the repairs.
I’ll take the Honda hands-down. Better build quality at 500k miles than the Lynx at a tenth of the mileage, plus it’s a stick. For something that old with that many miles, it looks remarkable well-maintained.
My grandfather had a Honda Accord EX very similar to this that I drove in my teens and it is an amazing car, I remember it felt almost luxurious back then. These are from an era when Honda was ascending to their peak and it shows, technical solutions, design and quality is very good. The only thing that will undo this car is rust and subpar owner maintenance. This Mercury is valuable for historic reasons but was always a subpar product compared to Honda as it does not have the workmanship, or driving characteristics, nor that sweet Honda manual transmission this Accord has. Going price for a 1983 Honda Accord with 70k mi is around $11-23k so this one looks very affordable despite the galactic mileage, it is has run that far and is still running you know it has seen maintenance.
Source?
Honda, hands down.
I have vowed for decades that I will never drive Ford products ever again.
Sorry, Mercury Lesser Feline. That Accord is just too good.