Private Island Welcome for 2008 Honda Accord… in Boston?

Car companies love to host junkets. Dubai, the coast of Spain, you name it — where there’s sunshine and a ready supply of shrimp cocktails, there’s a new car introduction going down. After all, why give someone a car to drive on their own grim pothole-ridden roads when you can stoke their happy thoughts at some exotic resort?
This is why I was amazed and excited when Honda announced that its upcoming 2008 Accord launch is taking place on my own turf, Boston. If you’ve ever driven in Boston, you understand how courageous that move is. In Boston, the world’s auto journalists will contend with construction, congestion, and my fair city’s famous reputation for courtesy behind the wheel — I hope the Accord has good sightlines, because I’d hate to miss a single digit flipped in my direction. I applaud Honda for daring to introduce a car in — gasp — a non-idealized environment, to present it in a realistic context for once.
However, a junket is a junket, and of course Honda wasn’t going slack on the fancy send-off. I got my itinerary last week and saw that after the drive, there’s a harbor cruise followed by dinner on a “private island.” “That’s strange,” I thought, “I didn’t realize that there were private islands in Boston Harbor.” I read down a bit further and discovered that Honda’s little slice of paradise is none other than Spectacle Island. I’d tell you about Spectacle Island myself, but I’ll let the state’s turnpike authority Web site explain.