Junkyard Gem: 1979 Honda Accord Hatchback

The Honda Accord made its debut in 1976, and every single one that Honda could ship to the United States seemed to get snapped up instantly. In rusty areas, first-generation Accords dissolved like sugar cubes in boiling water, but they just kept going for decade after decade in California. Here's a '79 hatchback that finally took its last drive and will be crushed at age 38.

Accords still had five-digit odometers in 1979, so we can't tell how many miles are on this one.

If we are to judge by such clues as the comprehensively tattered interior and cables-with-turnbuckles used to keep the driver's seat in place, a safe bet for this car's mileage would be 395,490, rather than the 95,490 indicated.

The 1.75-liter CVCC straight-four in this car was rated at 72 horsepower. That was enough, because curb weight was so low, at 2,024 pounds, that this car was in danger of floating away when not chained to a parking meter.

In 1979, the plumbing needed to make the then-amazing CVCC engine pass the tough California emissions test wasn't so complicated. Fast-forward five years, however, and the vacuum-line diagram for the CVCC Hondas resembled a map of the universe. It could be worse, though.