2004 Honda S2000 Base Convertible 2-door 2.2l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Happy 40th birthday, Honda Accord!

The Honda Accord exemplifies the idea that if you make something great, people will flock to it. This is a car that has always offered something for everyone – quality, fuel economy, value, comfort. But why we really love the Accord is because, as former Car and Driver Editor in Chief Csaba Csere says in the video above, "it always drove a little bit better than the competition." Today the Accord turns 40 years old. Over the past four decades Honda sold more than 12.7 million of them, making its iconic sedan the best-selling car in America during that time frame. Honda likes to point out that the Accord is still young at heart, as it's the most popular sedan with the under-35 crowd. View 29 Photos Like most people, the Accord has grown larger and heavier through the years. But the appeal remains strong. The current Accord is one of our favorite family sedans, and a target that the competition rarely hits. It's the car that's synonymous with Honda in America, and in fact the first car built here when the Japanese company started production in Ohio in 1982. Honda has taken a look back at the car with the video above, which chronicles the Accord's history. The video below is a nice (if cheesy) comparison of the original 1976 model and the 2016 Accord Hybrid. And below that there's a neat infographic that compares those two cars as well as what was going on in the world in 1976 versus now. So happy birthday, Accord. We hope we're still going as strong as you when we get to your age.

Petrolicious profiles the Triple Nickel, a 1968 Honda CB160

Petrolicious often puts as much of a focus on the owners as it does on their machines in its videos, but the latest one goes even further as a short documentary that tells the story of a woman getting back into vintage motorcycle racing after an accident. Stacie B. London bought her first bike in 2009, but she jumped into the hobby with both feet. Not too long after getting her cycle, she started competing on two wheels. Fantastic cinematography is always one of the great strengths of Petrolicious' clips, but it absolutely nails the audio here, too. If you enjoy the sound of vintage bikes revving for all they can, then this is a must see. Of course, the story of someone getting into vintage motorcycle racing is also fascinating. London's 1968 Honda CB160 wears the 555 number when on the circuit, hence the nickname Triple Nickel. Not only do we get to see her open up the bike up on the salt flats, but we get to watch part of her first competition on track after recovering from a serious crash. For a relative newcomer not only just to riding a motorcycle but also racing one, London already seems to be hooked.

Honda ready for 'late 2016' arrival of Clarity Fuel Cell in US

Two years ago at the LA Auto Show, Honda showed off the first concept for what we now know is the Clarity fuel cell vehicle. At the time, Honda said it would arrive at some point in 2015. Since then, Honda has said simply that the Clarity would arrive some time after the March 2016 on-sale date in Japan and even gave itself an out in case the debut slipped to the first half of 2017. Yesterday, at a preview event at the Honda Advanced Design Studio in downtown LA, Honda narrowed that down a bit more to, "late 2016." Honda representatives said this was all still in line with internal targets for the US launch of the car. They already know when the car will arrive here, but are not yet able to say, since things like crash tests and other homologation issues could still change the timeline. The company is happy to see the expansion in the number of hydrogen refueling stations in California and is working a number of dealers in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area to get them ready to sell the Clarity. Everything that has happened since the company officially set its internal fuel cell clock has been going to plan, Honda representatives told AutoblogGreen. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from Hyundai and Toyota are available now, while those from other automakers (like BMW and Nissan) may arrive in or after 2020. Honda still won't confirm, on the record, that an all-electric model will be the third vehicle to use the platform that the Clarity and the upcoming plug-in hybrid (due in 2018) use, as we suspect. But, during a casual discussion about Honda happenings, I heard one executive say that he's busy working on the follow-up "products" that will use the platform, so this remains something to keep in mind. We recently got the chance to drive the Clarity in Japan, which you can read about here.