Does suck though mate sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with your car
I think I've only heard of 1 other Prelude having a failed head gasket on the forum, it's not really a problem that's synonymous with Honda's as far as I'm aware. I wonder if somebody ran your car without antifreeze, pure water in the rad can do all kinds of harm Honda's are reliable cars if looked after sensibly. There are sadly some out there which have been completely neglected by previous owners though, and sadly even a Honda can't take that for ever without breaking.
On the bright side a H22A can be had for around £300 with all the bits on it (I got one for this price myself), so if you're fairly handy and have the time/space to work on your car, even an engine failure isn't the end
