A two-door, built in Ohio, with a naturally aspirated V6 and a six-speed manual, sold at a mainstream price to ordinary buyers. Written as a specification rather than a badge, that is close to the original 1964 definition of a muscle car, and by 2017 no American manufacturer was selling one. Read on for how strong the argument actually is, and where it falls apart.
By the time anyone noticed it was gone, it was already too late to order one. The 2017 Honda Accord Coupe EX-L V6 with the six-speed manual combined things that American manufacturers had spent a decade walking away from: a large naturally aspirated engine, a proper stick shift, two doors, and a price that ordinary people could actually reach. Honda never marketed it as anything of the kind, and calling it a muscle car is a deliberate provocation rather than a settled claim. But provocations are only interesting when they contain something true, and this one does. The question worth asking is which parts of the argument hold up.
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The Car Nobody Noticed Until It Was Discontinued
What makes the claim worth taking seriously is that it is a statement about a specification rather than a badge. Written out as a list of attributes, with no manufacturer attached, the car in question is a two-door body sold in mainstream volume, fitted with the largest naturally aspirated engine in its range, backed by a manual transmission, priced within reach of a normal buyer, and built in the American Midwest. Read that description to somebody in 1968 and nothing about it would sound unusual. Read it in 2017 and it describes exactly one car for sale in the United States, and the badge on the grille was Honda.
What the Term Actually Meant in 1964
Start with what the term originally described, because the badge has drifted a long way from the specification. In 1964 a muscle car meant a mainstream, mass-produced body, not a purpose-built sports car, fitted with the largest engine the manufacturer could reasonably install, sold at a price a young buyer with a job could finance. Handling was secondary. Luxury was optional. What mattered was accessible straight-line performance in a car you could also drive to work. That definition says nothing at all about the number of cylinders or which wheels are driven.
Where the Accord Fits the Original Definition
Measured against that definition, the Accord Coupe scores better than it has any right to. It was a mainstream family car body, built in enormous volume, offered with the biggest engine in the range, at a price nowhere near exotic territory. It was the volume-seller variant of an ordinary commuter car with the hot drivetrain checked, which is precisely what a 1964 GTO was relative to a Tempest. The mechanism is identical. Only the badge on the hood is unfamiliar.
The Two Objections That Are Genuinely Fair
Where the argument runs into trouble is architecture. The Accord drives its front wheels, and front-wheel drive is genuinely at odds with the traditional idea of the category, both for how it puts power down and for what it does to steering feel under load. It also has six cylinders rather than eight, which for a large part of the audience is where the conversation ends regardless of output. These are not trivial objections. They are the reason the original article framed the whole thing as a fight worth having rather than a point of information.
The American Part Is Stronger Than It Sounds
The American part of the claim is stronger than the reflex response assumes. Accord production for the North American market has been centered on Marysville, Ohio, for decades, with engines built in Ohio as well, and the coupe body style was developed specifically for this market rather than adapted from a global model. By the mid 2010s a substantial number of cars wearing domestic badges were assembled elsewhere. Where a car is built and where its badge is from stopped being the same question a long time ago, which is exactly the point the argument is poking at.
278 Horsepower and a Six-Speed
The specification itself holds up. The 3.5-liter J-series V6 produced 278 horsepower and 252 pound-feet of torque, naturally aspirated, and the six-speed manual was available only on the coupe. Magazine testing regularly put it into the mid five-second range to 60 mph, which is quicker than the vast majority of genuine 1960s muscle cars managed in period testing, on street tires, with drum brakes, and without the benefit of a modern transmission. It also returned respectable highway fuel economy and could be serviced at any dealer in the country.
Why the Manual and the V6 Both Disappeared
The reason a combination this good disappeared comes down to take rates rather than engineering. Manual transmissions had fallen to a very small share of the market, and offering one requires separate certification, separate tooling, separate inventory, and separate training for every dealer. When the volume falls below a certain point the business case collapses regardless of how loudly enthusiasts complain, and enthusiasts who complain about manuals disappearing are frequently not the people buying them new. The V6 faced a parallel problem as turbocharged four-cylinders got close enough on output while doing far better on emissions testing.
An Ending That Nobody Marked
The ending itself is a matter of record and it happened quietly. The 2017 model year was the last for the Accord Coupe in any form. Honda discontinued the two-door entirely and reduced the Accord lineup to sedans from that point forward, and the naturally aspirated V6 went with it as the range moved to turbocharged four-cylinders and hybrids. There was no farewell edition, no commemorative badge, and very little coverage at the time outside enthusiast publications that noticed what was being lost.
What Replaced It, and What Did Not
What replaced it is the more revealing part. Nothing did, from anyone. The affordable two-door with a big naturally aspirated engine and a manual gearbox is a category that has effectively ceased to exist across the entire industry, not just at Honda. Whether you accept the muscle car label for the Accord Coupe or reject it outright, the underlying observation survives the argument: the formula that defined an entire era of American cars was last available, at a mainstream price, on a Honda, and then it was not available at all.
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What a joke…Honda will never be a muscle car
Cause they don’t know how
Jap scrap!
Demon
Another page to unfollow. Making a stupid statement like that. Adios dummies
its not an american car its a honda its junk
American muscle car?
Yep
Last muscle car my ass, last rice burner maybe
Tj Tanner Jose Ramos Taylor Robinson think i should get one?
REALLY!?! American muscle!?! What. About the ZO6 corvette? What about the Mustang GT ? What about the hell cats ? Ur shittin me rite?!?
I dont’t think so!!!JAP CRAP!!!!
SERIOUSLY?!?! Whatever you’re smoking you’d better quit and find some better stuff. Honda’s NEVER HAVE BEEN and NEVER WILL BE American Muscle cars. Camaro… Mustang… Firebird… Nova… Chevelle… Charger… Challenger… Barracuda… THESE are American Muscle. And not the ones they’re putting out these days…the ones from the early 60’s to mid 70’s.
Where is the Olds 442? Pure muscle!
Was just giving some examples that popped into my head…lol…I know there’s more out there.
Lol
Honda will never be a muscle car, ever
Lame
Philip Suchikul ok… nothing more to say
WTF!! Your not serious! Muscle mouse!
Field mouse..can be killed by looking at it
Doesn’t matter if it was assembled in the US its profits and company are not American
Neither is Dodge then . FIAT
Still in Detroit more American than Hyundai ever will be
Well it looks like I drive a muscle car.
Hahaha. You are a funny fucker.
May not be a muscle car but they are well built, long lasting cars that are capable of high 13 second 1/4 mile e.t.’s and I’ve gotten over 44mpg on the highway in mine.. Not bad for a daily driver..
Good for beaters…think…riding a moped.
Yeah kinda like an Olds Cuntlass. Slow, worthless and nobody gives a shit about them because it’s not a 442. If I took it to a car show I’d get about as much attention as a Cuntlass also… But it won’t leave me stranded on the side of the road for the next 2-300,000 miles if ever..
NOT!
Just stop… a front wheel drive V6 is not a muscle car.
Haaa haaa
This is a very good car, but don’t insult my intelligence by calling it an American muscle car.
Ummm…NO. Nice try, and he does make some solid points. But fwd/v6 Japanese cars are NOT American muscle…don’t care where they’re built. Challenger/Charger are the purest. Yes you have to overlook where the factories are located but thats easier to overlook than the overall flavor of the car. At best, the Accord coupe is a Japanese style muscle car if such a thing exists.
Sad,I thought Honda was Japanese
Not in my book
ShitBox
Horse Shit.
In what world is an Accrd an American car? Company is owned by Japan, I don’t care where it was built.
Muscle cars will forever be confused with pony cars.. and now, Hondas
Honda’s are great cars, but none of the rice burners would even make a pimple on the ass of a real muscle car,I grew up in the real muscle car times and drove and raced a lot of them, none of mine sounded like a bee in a beercan..
Yea, it is a joke
The caption is definitely a joke because there darn sure is NOTHING American or Muscle Car about a Ricer !!!!!!!!!!
HHHHHAHhahhhhaahhAhhhaahahah best one all day . BHAaaaAaAaaA
Super
I see three problems….1) Crappenese 2) missing 2cylinders 3) FRONT WHEEL DRIVE!