Have you ever had a car you were supposed to be using as a cheap and sensible driver, yet you fell in love with it... and fell hard? That’s the case with my ex ‘99 Accord. God, I miss that car.
It was a car with many flaws, some pretty big ones, but when I turned the key those were all soon forgotten. The exhaust was big and stuck out a lot from the rear bumper, but it made such a nice deep growl. It had been rear ended, but those were everyday battle scars. The radio wasn’t working because it had a wiring issue in the antenna, but you didn’t need the radio when you could hear that beautiful VTEC symphony. It was a 1.8 SOHC, often dubbed as “fake VTEC”, but it was there, more then enough to put a smile on my face.
This wasn’t your usual boring, old, mid class saloon. This was a car with soul. This sounds very cliche, I know, but it’s true. She was quite literally a red hot piece of passion. There wasn’t any faded pink to be found, the beautiful red colour shined on the darkest of days without exception. I was never able to walk away without taking another look back and smiling proudly to what was my car. A proper car like only Honda was able to make them back in the 90s.
At some point I decided it was time for some new shoes, her old ones were worn and too small in my eyes (15"). I’ve decided on picking 16" JR3's, and she turned into a showstopper. The energy radiating from the car now went through the roof. She was shining brighter then any star on a clear night sky.
And than the summer came... It was hot and very dry, and me and some friends decided our destination of this year would be the Czech Republic. There was only car up for this job, and that was the Accord. Well over 2000 kilometers in one week and the car felt like it could take many more. Nearly reached 170 km/h on the German Autobahn and she was still able to go faster. The bumpy Czech roads, busy city centers and the scorching hot weather weren’t able to stop the mighty Accord. Hell, she even posed for some pics of some fellow red locals (and another Dutch tourist, never met them).
But unfortunately all good things come to an end, and so did the ownership of my lovely Accord... The true damage that was inflicted by her rear ending started to show. Next to that she also started to burn oil... and Hondas either consume no oil, or they become true oil boats, and unfortunately the latter was the case. Add in the fact that diesel became more interesting to me since I travel a lot for work nowadays meant I had to sadly say goodbye to my lady in red in favour of a younger, more serious German businesslady.
She met family, made friends, but most importantly; she stole my heart. What was supposed to be a sensible, yet interesting daily driver turned out to be a forbidden love. One that was sadly doomed to fail in favour of owning the Excel, which I can’t let go yet, if ever at all. This car really grabbed a hold of me and refused to let go. I’m even doing my best here to hold back a tear in my eye, that’s how much this car meant to me. Luckily she received another year of APK (MOT), so here’s hoping she found a loving home. I know you’re out there, and I hope you know I miss you and wish you the best. It’s not a farewell, it’s until we meet again.
