Summer 1985 was Live Aid. Back To The Future came out. Pete Rose was corking his bat. The living was easy. If you lived in Japan, Europe or New Zealand, Honda wanted to sell you an Accord to match your easy living lifestyle. They wanted to sell you an Aerodeck.
While they never sold them over here in the North America, the Aerodeck was Honda’s way of meeting the tough demands of the 1980s Bubble-era leisure lifestyle. If you’re a yuppie who makes the most of his downtime, a four-door sedan is your dad’s car, but you’ve got too many friends to buy a coupe. They’ve gotta be able to come with you. You’re going to need room for them in the back seat. Real room. For their heads.
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Honda’s solution to that problem is the Aerodeck, which is a shooting brake 3-door wagon. Previous shooting brakes were sportscars designed to carry dogs, shotguns and tweed for crusty brits to drive out to the countryside to shoot pigeons for supper. The ‘80s lifestyle appears, from Honda’s ad at least, to be more about donning your best bowler and sleeveless shirt, standing around with your friends in a parking lot and not shooting anything. The Aerodeck, with its wagon-like tall hatch and room in the back for full-sized adults, seems to suit that just as well.
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According to Perry Shoar over at Curbside Classic, the Aerodeck, like the rest of the Accord bodystyles introduced in 1985, got a 2.0 liter twelve valve engine for the first time, as well as double-wishbone front suspension from the Prelude. America had to make do with the Ohio-built coupe instead of the Aerodeck while other markets got a choice of either shape, along with the classic hatch, sedan, and wagon.
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One of the slickest features of the Aerodeck was its rear door. Not shared with the regular Accord wagon, the Aerodeck’s door extended into the roof of the car, kind of like a rear-mounted gull-wing door. Together with the pop-out windows and the sharp sweep up along the side of the body ending at the cut-off kammback, the Aerodeck is a lot more imaginative than the upright coupe we got in North America. Maybe we just didn’t live easy enough to deserve it?
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