The Line Up - JAE 2018
This car will not go gentle into the good night, it rages against the dying of the light. Rage, rage against the dying of the light...
Rage, rage against the dying of the light...
The year 2001 and Honda throw in the towel, no more the Prelude...
The market for coupes seemedly dying, a profitable niche no more. After five generations the Prelude vanished?
Not so for members of LudeGeneration:
Move on to the year 2018, the scene is JAE, 'Japanse Auto Extravaganza', the festival of all things Japanese.
If you build it they will come...
The LudeGeneration stand becomes home to a rare and beautiful sight. Preludes from other stands arrive, a 'Field of Dreams' moment as others join the ranks.
The forgotten Honda prepares to make a bold statement.
Positioned with care the Ludes assemble on the bank. It's been a long time since so many lined up.
A 3rd Generation punctuates the line?
Not quite...
The 1st Gen:
The line is overseen by the elder first generation Prelude, a 1602cc Hondamatic - A barn find, completely original and in remarkable condition, registered in 1983.
The Line Up:
The spec is varied from OEM, OEM+ to tuned and highly modified.
Some of the Ludes are prepped for track work, others offer up impressive power - supercharged or turbo, one example reaching 495BHP.
The 5th Gens dominate the row - But, the presence of the 3rd and 4th reflect the Prelude's diverse and divisive looks - 4th and 5th Gen owners are to prone to sarcasm when referring to each others generation of Lude, but, we all love the 3rd.
And the perfect line up...
A sun setting over a row of rather long bonnets. Perfectly aligned Preludes continuing to rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Can I interest you in the tour?
Bonnets up, or hoods if you're a US Prelude fan, (and I know there is a loyal US Lude following). From first generation to fifth, unfortunately missing the second gen.
Apologies for the shakey cam, but no apologies for the soundtracks:
Did you spot the supercharged engine? How about the 495BHP H22 VTEC Turbo? Or the 197BHP OEM H22A8?
Bonnets/Hoods down and the long lines of a Prelude come in to focus. Note the rare bonnet spoilers, the Type S's, the front splitter on the tracked 'Turbo Lude' and just the grace of a Prelude's lines, matched by precise engineering.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light...
And so, you see, the Prelude will not go gentle into that good night, it will continue to rage, rage against the dying of the light.
To all the Preludes in the line - Thank you.
As a Prelude obsessive it was a special moment, to see so many fine Preludes lined up - goose bumps for sure. The unsung Honda had a real moment in the light. I hope you enjoyed that moment as well.
Regards
Richard.
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Comments (6)
No one knows what these cars are now. On the way home I pulled out early into lane 2 to overtake a caravan up ahead. That seemed to aggravate the VW Golf behind who immediately went hard to overtake me on the inside - so I gave the Prelude a bit more fuel to surge ahead and leave the Golf behind. It didn't bother me after that.
Wowzers what a line up!
Thanks Mahmood, I just wish I had one of those 'gimble' things for the phone, the vids would have been better. I turned into a child as the Preludes kept coming. Such a good day.
I've been looking at buying a Honda lately and never thought about the Prelude until now. Gonna take a look and see what I find!
Do it 👍 a manual 2.2 VTEC, 4th or 5th is what you need 😎
You might just be right! lol