Photo : Craigslist

The seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Prelude took the ad’s pics at the ‘Golden Hour,’ setting it dramatically in both light and shadow. Let’s see how dramatic he’s been about setting its price.


I have this kind of odd vision in my head. It’s of an automotive version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’s island of misfit toys. It’s a place populated not by quirky playthings, but cast-off car brands, left there to live in shame until people’s memory of their existence fades at which point in time, so do they.

Living on the island are brands like Oldsmobile and Mercury, Merkur and Plymouth, and most recently, Fisker. Former residents included Talbot and Simca but too few people remember them and so they’re now gone. Their place will likely soon be taken by the Camaro and New Beetle.


Saab lives on this imagined island too, but hopefully it won’t fade from existence any time soon. Not at least as long as there are wonderful old Saabs like Friday’s 1979 900 EMS to keep its memory fresh. That amazingly high mileage three door proved to be in remarkable condition for its age and distance driven. At $4,500, it also proved to be a decent deal, earning a solid 66 percent Nice Price win for its troubles.

There’s another banished model name that I’ll bet hasn’t featured in your thoughts of late. That’s the Honda Prelude, a model that was Honda’s entry into an almost forgotten category—FWD sport coupes. It wasn’t alone there either; the Prelude suffering at the hands of its cheaper and more livable Accord Coupe cousin. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be thinking about the model. In fact, let’s give this 2001 Prelude SH some serious consideration.

This is a great example of the last of the Preludes as it is a top-tier SH, and it’s described as being completely stock, so we get to see the model in its original form, warts and all.


That’s not to say this Satin Silver Metallic over charcoal cloth coupe is warty in any way at all. The seller in fact, presents the car as being both 100% stock and in excellent shape. It’s not all original parts however. The suspension bits that have been replaced have been supplanted by what’s said are all OEM Honda parts. The timing belt and might-as-wells beneath that all are fairly new as well, with just 10K under their belt. The tires are even newer, with just 5K, while overall the car comes with 182,000 reading on its odo.


Bringing power to the Prelude is Honda’s H22A4 VTEC four. That’s a 2157cc DOHC all-alloy engine which by the last year of Prelude production pumped out 200 horsepower at a heady 7,000 rpm. A five-speed manual plays backup to that, sending power through Honda’s ATTS (Active Torque Transfer System) to the two front wheels. These cars had a somewhat unfavorable 63/37 weight distribution, but were still considered one of the best handling cars of the era in spite of that.


You could test this one’s handling by slipping into one of its grippy cloth buckets and giving it a go. While in there you might also notice that Honda at one time really knew how to make interiors. I guess they fired that guy or banished him off to the island since these days Honda interiors are kind of a dog’s breakfast.

This one seems to have held up well, although the seller claims the driver’s floor mat does exhibit some wear. There’s an aftermarket head unit in the dash, and a snood for the steering wheel, but otherwise appears all stock in here, and in very nice shape.


The bodywork continues the hit parade with no obvious goobers other than the typical paint fade on the window base door trim. Factory alloys seem to have been kept away from curbs and the headlamps look reasonably clear for their age.


The seller says everything works here—the A/C is cold, the heat hot, etc—and seems to have done a bit of the maintenance on the car himself. He’s not the original owner, but has fed it high-end gas and oil in the time he has owned it. The title is clear and the price tag reads $6,000.

Let’s now take stock in this very stock Prelude and that $6,000 price. Does that seem like a deal for a car that you might not have thought about in a good long while? Or, does that price make this Honda a prelude to nothing more than further obscurity?


You decide!






Note from Rob: Hey party people. We’re test-driving a new poll today—a Survey Monkey one rather than the Polldaddy job that’s been giving us headaches of late. Let us know in the comments how this one works for you. Do we stick with the Monkey, or do we move on to something else?

H/T to Khoi T for the hookup!



Help me out with NPOCP. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.