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   Back in 1981, Honda needed to expand its offerings to include a prestige car. Land Rover urgently needed to replace its outdated SD1. Both marques desperately wanted to make a big mark on the American Market. 

   These common goals led to perhaps one of the strangest cooperative agreements in automotive history. Working over a distance of 5,000 miles and through different languages, cultures, manufacturing and operating styles, the two companies put an international project team in place in November, 1982, and within three-and-a-half years, introduced the Legend to the Japanese and the Sterling to the British.

   It was an "executive" car - fast, sleek, good-looking and luxurious. Both models shared the same technical advancements and similar styling - and the Sterling even added a more typically plush British interior - but it was the Honda's reputation for operating efficiency and construction quality that ultimately spawned the Legend as the surviving twin here in the States.

   Look for those few surviving Sterlings on the road. It will be the car you can't readily identify, with a proud, smiling driver behind the wheel. This is the car that led the technical automotive revolution in the early 80's, proving that manufacturers can work beyond cultural and logistical boundaries to create a better car than either of them could've created on their own. 

   A car that true auto lovers can - and often still do - appreciate wherever there are roads to drive them.

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