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Say hello to the car that changed the world. It looks unassuming and frankly very small now, but from 1976 through 1981, this was the Accord that showed that Japan in general and Honda in particular was deadly serious about making very good small cars.

                          

Five years after exploding Ford Pintos and imploding Chevy Vegas, the idea of a small car built to a standard and not to a price was an appealing one to American drivers. The first-gen Accord was jewel-like. And the demand was huge. Dealers were charging $1,000 over sticker price...and getting it.

   

The LX model was added as an upgrade from the base Accord...Air Conditioning, a digital clock and power steering were standard. And while Detroit was still pushing four-on-the-floor, the Accord's manual transmission was a 5-speed.

Power? Not much by today's standards. 72 horsepower for the 1980 model you see here. But there wasn't much weight to move, either...about 2,000 pounds. And gas mileage was astonishing...35 city/45 highway...with some owners reporting far more.

                          

And the interior was a revelation for the time...far roomier than the exterior would have you expect...with logical control layouts that were exactly where your hands would fall. This one shows the usual signs of age...which is to say, some fading and splitting of the upholstery and not much else.

For as big a seller as the 1976-1981 Accords were, they're not a common sight anymore. Though 15 years and 200,000 trouble-free miles was a common Accord owner experience, like most Japanese cars, at the 20 year point, the cost of a major repair was more than the car was worth and the owner (by then the third or fourth) sent it off to the junkyard.

As a result, the remaining ones, now between 29 and 34 years old, are starting to see values climb...one in this condition is probably $1500...you could have gotten it for $725 a decade ago. Best one on earth?  The NADA guide says $3250. That's more than half what it sold for new.

As a former early 80s Honda owner (mine was a Civic), if presented with the choice of spending $3250 for a mint condition first-gen or nearly $30,000 for the current Accord coupe, I'd seriously consider going with the classic.

(UPDATE:  Sharp-eyed TireKicker reader Paul Duca spotted the clues that this is in fact a newer Caprice. We've been able to narrow it down to 1982, '83, '84 or '85. Hit the comments section if you can help us pinpoint it to a single year. We'll change the headline and tags once we've got the right vintage)

It wasn't that long ago that you couldn't drive a city block without seeing three of these.

Oh, wait...it was that long ago. 32 model years since this '78 Chevrolet Caprice Classic rolled off the showroom floor...20 model years since its clean, classic lines were replaced by the dumpy upside-down bathtub models that themselves are becoming (mercifully) scarce.

                          

Hard to believe it now, but this was the downsized full-size Chevrolet...and GM was thought to be taking a big risk when it introduced this body style in the fall of 1976 as a '77 model. 637 pounds lighter than the previous generation, 10 inches shorter and 4 inches narrower.

What nobody realized until they saw the new one was just how badly the Caprice needed a diet. The big Chevy had been packing on the pounds since 1971 (kinda like Elvis at the time).

The new Caprice rapidly became its own benchmark.

                                  

Even in the desert Southwest, where these were a best-seller and where cars don't rust away, these aren't everyday sights anymore in any condition, which makes finding an intact, clean original all the more wonderful.

The NADA guides suggest $800-$2,000 would be enough to take one in this condition home, if you could find one and an owner who wanted to part with it. The best one on earth might set you back $2,500.

                                  

Back in the 90s, the buzz was that these were being bought up used and shipped by the boatload over to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where they hated the new 90s Caprice styling even more than we did, liked the looks of this one, knew it was virtually bulletproof (in terms of reliability..."bulletproof" tends to be taken more literally in certain parts of the world) and that its air conditioning system could allow the Caprice Classic to double as a meat locker.

If true (and there do seem to be a lot of ads for them from Kuwait online), let's hope they didn't take too many and that there are plenty still here in the USA...hiding in retirement community garages...their 55-year old buyers now 87 and ready to hang up the keys after finding the Caprice a good home.

Some vehicles just produce an involuntary smile whenever I see them...the VW Type II Transporter (or Bus) is pretty close to the top of that list.

Sure, they were noisy and slow (and one stranded me and a group of other 12 year olds on a 100-degree afternoon for several hours)...but finding one in either unmolested or reasonably restored condition is a real treat.

Truth is, you don't see many of these as anything other than basket cases or hippie van re-creations (and occasionally both)...so something that looks like it's still 1966 is a wonderful thing.

The tip-off that it's a 66?  There are only two clues. Can you spot them? Hit "comments" if you think you know.

Now here's a genuine survivor....a 1971 Chevy El Camino that hasn't been jacked up, painted metallic whatever or any other attempts to make it look "bad".

                          

In fact, these delicate paint accents, hand-done and signed by the artist, are the only appearance mods to this 39-year old El Camino. And from the looks of them, they were probably done in the 1970s.

                          

Aftermarket wheels? Nope...this ElCam has what it wore rolling off the assembly line.

                          

In fact, the only modification is a non-cosmetic one...the addition of a spray-in bedliner. Extra points for the single crushed beer can.

                           

    

As with this week's '55 Chevy Two-Ten and '62 Chrysler 300, this one could use a little TLC (in fact, it could use it more than the others) but it's complete and honest...just how we like our TireKicker Time Machines.

Welcome to a new feature...TireKicker Time Machine. And what better way to start than the car widely credited with beginning the "modern" era of post-war cars...the 1955 Chevy.

                          

You usually see these either customized or over-restored, and in a higher trim level, at Saturday cruise nights and classic car auctions. But this one appears to be a well, but not obsessively preserved original...parked in a downtown Phoenix parking lot on a weekday afternoon.

                          

This one's all there...right down to the original hubcaps...an accomplishment after 55 years.

                          

If you cropped this photo to eliminate the contemporary cars and the historic license plate and told me it was from the late 50s or early 60s, I'd see no reason to doubt it. This is what these cars looked like back in the day.

The side trim tells me that it's a Two-Ten 2-door sedan...the middle model between the top-of-the-line Bel Air and the base One-Fifty.

                         

                                                    (graphic from 55classicchevy.com)