#1980s

The second-generation (1982-1985) Accord made Soichiro Honda's company a sales colossus in the United States, doing away with any residual impression that it was a mere motorcycle manufacturer with a sideline in four-wheelers. The last time we saw a discarded example in this series was way back in 2016, so today we'll admire one found in Northern California with close to a half-million miles on the clock.

Last year, we saw as early second-generation Dodge Grand Caravan in a Colorado junkyard in this series. Discarded examples of the first-generation Chrysler minivans have been much more difficult to find, but I ran across this '87 Caravan in Colorado Springs last week.

We return to Abandoned History’s coverage of the Cadillac Northstar engine this week, at a pivotal moment in the engine’s development. Stiff competition from luxury cars of domestic, European, and Japanese origin put big pressure on Cadillac. The era of the dual overhead cam engine was on the horizon, and it looked as though Cadillac was about to be left in the dust with its High Technology 4.5-liter. After hemming and hawing about an update to the 4.5 rather than the development of a new engine, GM brass decided a new power plant was in fact necessary. However, aside from the necessity of DOHC technology, the rest of the engine was just a word cloud of ideas that needed to be nailed down quickly.

Back in 2022 Abandoned History covered the development and usage of Cadillac’s all-star engine for the Eighties, the High Technology V8. As the 4.1-liter pile showed promptly that it was terrible, General Motors massaged, improved, and enlarged it into the HT4500 and finally the (not HT) 4.9-liter. But by the time the 4.9 arrived, the engine was already at the end of its service life. The General had an all-new, much better V8 that would trounce the 4.9 and bring Cadillac back into the luxury fray: Northstar.

Last year, we saw as early second-generation Dodge Grand Caravan in a Colorado junkyard in this series. Discarded examples of the first-generation Chrysler minivans have been much more difficult to find, but I ran across this '87 Caravan in Colorado Springs last week.

As I search for interesting pieces of automotive history in the car graveyards of the land, I look for odometers showing impressively high final readings. My definition of "impressive" varies by manufacturer, so Honda and Toyota products now need at least 400,000 miles to meet that threshold.