Hatch cover?

[2ndGenGuy]

Hey does anybody know if the 1g hatches came with covers for the trunk area in the hatch? It doesn't really look like there's a place for one to go... But just in case there is one, I'd like one.

[79cord]

Yes Hatchback luggage compartment covers were availible & usually standard.
I've heard mention of vinyl covers on very early models but most were hardboard covered with a thin carpet.
The main piece was hinged & attached to the top of the back seat, with two end pieces on the body sides for it to rest on. The last piece attached to the rear hatch & went up with it, hooked on the rear window rubber at the sides and screwed via bracket to the hatch in the center.
Here's a picI found:
http://nipponklassik.de/fotos/37/04.jpg

[speedpenguin]

Dude, I'm not trying to whore the thread up or anything, but your 81 is awesome! I haven't seen it before.

[2ndGenGuy]

Dude, I'm not trying to whore the thread up or anything, but your 81 is awesome! I haven't seen it before.


Heh thanks, but it's not near as nice as ^^^^ offthahook's car ^^^^^

[2ndGenGuy]

In the US, they were standard on the LX line and dealer added accessories on the base model. I know this will make you want to puke, but... most people threw them away because they got in the way! Mine still had its pieces (there are two separate pieces), but good luck finding one. If you even had a beatup one, you could make your own in the right color and look like new.
Interesting you brought this up because I had a HELL of a time scoring one for my 84 hatch. Got one and it was ROUGH; $30 later at the upholstery shop and it looks new. Again, standard on the LX line but dealer added on the base and they rotted or people threw them out. I was lucky and finally got the only piece you really need-- the one that goes directly behind the rear seat. The other piece that attaches to the hatch itself seems pretty weak. Plus, no one can really see into the cargo area if you have the one that goes behind the rear seat. Here's a pic. of mine on the 81:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2403971/2
Yeah it would be totally worth finding a ruined one and taking it to an upholstery shop. Guess I'll have to just keep checking around and hoping I can find one.

[2ndGenGuy]

What the hell? I guess you were talking about offthahook's car. The posts are all out of order...

[offthahook]

In the US, they were standard on the LX line and dealer added accessories on the base model. I know this will make you want to puke, but... most people threw them away because they got in the way! Mine still had its pieces (there are two separate pieces), but good luck finding one. If you even had a beatup one, you could make your own in the right color and look like new.

Interesting you brought this up because I had a HELL of a time scoring one for my 84 hatch. Got one and it was ROUGH; $30 later at the upholstery shop and it looks new. Again, standard on the LX line but dealer added on the base and they rotted or people threw them out. I was lucky and finally got the only piece you really need-- the one that goes directly behind the rear seat. The other piece that attaches to the hatch itself seems pretty weak. Plus, no one can really see into the cargo area if you have the one that goes behind the rear seat. Here's a pic. of mine on the 81:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2403971/2

[speedpenguin]

These posts are ENTIRELY out of order.

[79cord]

Interesting you brought this up because I had a HELL of a time scoring one for my 84 hatch. Got one and it was ROUGH; $30 later at the upholstery shop and it looks new. Again, standard on the LX line but dealer added on the base and they rotted or people threw them out. I was lucky and finally got the only piece you really need-- the one that goes directly behind the rear seat. The other piece that attaches to the hatch itself seems pretty weak. Plus, no one can really see into the cargo area if you have the one that goes behind the rear seat. Here's a pic. of mine on the 81:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2403971/2

If you can find and LX over there, I'd think there'd probably be a good chance the main pieces would still be in the car -since they were physically screwed on to the car and easily folded up against the rear seat back, though the back-hatch piece would probably be rarer since of mine the middle supporting brkt fatigued & broke on one while on another it tore from the hardboard. Without that there's not much left holding it in place!
Australia never got an LX (or EX as it was in some markets) so early Accords with pwr steering are virtually non-existant here, though Air-con was a fairly common Dealer fitted option. But the rear cover(in black), digital clock & tinted windows became standard for '78 & on (& we never got '76 models either -nearly all went straight to the US, but got the sedan in '78).

P.S. I forgotten how much elongating distortion you had in your photos offthahook -more extreme than brochures- shame you didn't get the glassed over headlamps we did on the 2nd gen accords -after the facelift they really smoothed out the frt.

[offthahook]

Yeah, I emailed a guy in Australia who had a set of 84 front headlights and header panel off a 3 door. The lenses did look good, but he wanted like $200 just for shipping them. I forget what he had them priced at, but it wasn't worth it to me. The front end on the Australian Accords looked tight! I wish we got the power windows, locks, and moonroof, too. Hell, the coupes didn't get power locks or a power roof until 1990! But sedans got power windows and locks as early as 1981. Coupes and 3 doors got no love.

Yeah, that piece that attaches to the hatch lid tears really easily. Poor design, plus poor material makes most of them fail, especially after all this time. That brownboard isn't much more than compressed sawdust covered with some thin material. It would be easy to make the one that attaches to the rear seat if someone had a pattern to use. It would be better than the original for sure. Couple hinges, some Luan or even thin plywood, and some material.

[79cord]

I can certainly imagine the bulk of the header panel & trying to package it securely would result in hideous shipping costs. I wonder if you could get away with just the lamps?
Either way you might be better off with European market LHD Headlamps for their dipped beam pattern since I don't know how much the outer lens affects this. Europe would probably be closer as well.

[2ndGenGuy]

I'm still trying to get those lamps too. Thats all that you need. The trim around them and the header panels are exactly the same. I saw an 84 at the yard that had the headlight ass'y removed. It had the mounting bolts in the same places that I've seen for the mounting bolts on the Euro / Japanese 84 Accord lights.

Its the same unless, of course, you want the European headlight wipers. I'm dying for a set of those. People seeing that on an 84 Honda would blow thier minds. You need a different grille, since the trim below the headlights has holes for the wiper arms to come out.

[offthahook]

Man, I thought the header panel was different. Those one piece lamps would be sweet. Never knew that it was a direct bolt on using just the lamps. Are the connectors the same or would there be some electrical mods as well? Those wipers on the headlights are on point, too. That would freak people out. On an 84 Accord!

[2ndGenGuy]

Man, I thought the header panel was different. Those one piece lamps would be sweet. Never knew that it was a direct bolt on using just the lamps. Are the connectors the same or would there be some electrical mods as well? Those wipers on the headlights are on point, too. That would freak people out. On an 84 Accord!

Yeah from the picutres I've seen the header panels and everything are the same. I could be wrong, of course, I'm not trying to claim 100% positivity. But from all the pictures that I've seen, it seems pretty unmistakeable. I'm not sure now between the hatches and sedans if the lights are interchangeable or not. I guess if the assembly here in the US is interchangeable, then the lights will work as well.

Here's a fine example of sedan:
http://dtaufiq.tripod.com/honda/All_Collect.jpg

And here's a hatch with those headlights. The hatches do look like they might need a different header panel, like you said. Maybe a new grille too...
http://www.hondashowoff.com/profile_images/full/3757_1083788356.jpg

Also in those pictures, you'll notice the half clear / half amber corner-lights. I've seen pictures of the corner lights as well that are smoked, and they look sweet. I'm hoping to score a set of those too...

[offthahook]

The front ends of the 2G confuse the piss out of me. I think the orange marker lights are different on the 3 and four doors. Make sure you get a sedan set if you find some. I don't know for sure that they are "too different", but I think the part numbers are different. The whole grill issue is kinda goofy too. The core support is the same, but the grills are way different.

The grill on that red 3 door actually looks like the one I have. It's still hard to figure out if the header panel is different because the headlights are so much different. Makes it hard to really compare. I can't see the damn forest through the trees!!

[2ndGenGuy]

The other thing I find interesting are the bumper lights that some of the Japanese / European 2gs had. Some of them were split amber / clear lights. Like there was two lights in the bumper up front. Kinda wierd too.

[Hazwan]

Hey 2ndGenGuy give me some more time to find your lights:). I've been busy in the last few weeks. Plus the weather is not that good for me to go to the junkyard..

[79cord]

Must admit I wouldn't have too many problems looking either if you needed measurements, though the hatch header pnls do look 'pointier' with the covered headlamps.
Shows how many 2nd gen Accords I've been seeing -never even noticed the difference between the facelifted sedan & hatch frts - though they're probably interchangeable on the cars as well.

[2ndGenGuy]

Hazwan: No worries. I'm in no hurry on those. Weather is crappy here too, and my 2g projects have all been put on hold.

79Cord: I know that the hatch and sedan front panels are interchangeable. Somebody in town has an 84 or 85 sedan with the hatch header panel and grille on it. I don't think they realized it was the wrong part, or that there was any difference, until they got home and saw that there was a difference. :-D

[offthahook]

79Cord: I know that the hatch and sedan front panels are interchangeable. Somebody in town has an 84 or 85 sedan with the hatch header panel and grille on it. I don't think they realized it was the wrong part, or that there was any difference, until they got home and saw that there was a difference. :-D

Yes, but you would have to replace the grill and header panel like you said. I want to say the headlight bezels are the same (the black plastic surrounds), but the orange marker lights are different somehow. The core support is the same, so that joker must have used parts from a wreck to redo his front end. I bet it looked kinda weird because you're used to the different grill/header panel combinations for the 2 body styles. I guess Honda tried to sport up the 3 door model and mellow out the sedan model. That swap that was inadvertantly done probably turned a few heads!

[2ndGenGuy]

Yeah I don't think they were terribly worried about the appearance of their car. It was a gray sedan with a white header panel. I don't think it really turned anybodies head except mine. :) I notice every 2gee in town. I try to do the 2gee wave, but nobody ever waves back. :(

Try waving at somebody with a 3g. They don't even realize that they've got almost the same car. I wonder if people who own hatches even know that their car is the same as mine...

[seancornelis]

Hey are you still looking for a hatch cover??

My '80 base model came a vinyl retractable one and I believe it's still sitting in my garage somewhere. I was hanging onto it incase I ever had an Accord of that vintage again, but I'd rather see it go to good use than have it sit around collecting dust.

[wizzfish]

thank you thread, i finally know that that 'other' piece attaches to the actual lifting part of the hatch....it's been sitting in my trunk and i couldn't figure it out because the bracket was broken but now I see how it works.

[79cord]

Seems there were two kinds of covers, most common being the rigid 2-piece covers like the LX had. Dealer/aftermarket accessory covers? Heard of '76 vinyl covers.

[wizzfish]

Actgually can one of you, whenever you have time, post up a picture to show exactly how the seperate piece clips into place and i'm assuming the bracket mounts? (mine's broken, and the tabs on the sides are horribly bent out of shape).

Thank you!