Even in Havana, Oregon, gen 1 Civics are getting scarce on the ground. And I certainly couldn’t resist this shot of these two. Who could have imagined in 1973 that the tiny little immigrant Civic would become one of America’s most popular naturalized citizens?
Little known known fact:
Civics are almost never seen in their native land. Japan locals prefer the Fit and N-Box, and currently Honda only offers the Civic there in the Hybrid version.
Last time I looked, yearly Civic sales in Japan were under 10 k.
More than that, we talked about this in another post a few months ago; Honda is now almost completely dependent on the US market for both its cars and motorcycles. Given the % of sales that the Civic and Accord generate compared to the other models, it appears that Honda basically lives off the sales of those two cars in the US.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Honda currently has a 13.8% market share in Japan with Toyota having a 45.8% domestic market share.
Honda succeeded because they attended to fundamentals: enthusiastic, economical, & smooth engines, rewarding dynamics, & probably most of all, reliability. The main downside was the backseat torture chamber which today, since they’ve grown, has been eliminated. And there was rust (so I’m told), but that hasn’t been an issue where I’ve lived.
I learned to drive stick in a gen1 CVCC Civic. I always thought the mud flaps were an eccentricity (not a bad one).
Re the above comment, the only Civic sedan in the UK market is the Hybrid, while the hatchback has been unavailable in the US for awhile now. The Fit is now closer to the original Civic in layout.
The ’88 – ’91 generation will always be my favorite.
Mine too. Learned to drive in a ’91. My parents had a ’84 Sedan, ’89 Hatch, ’91 Sedan, ’00 Sedan, ’08 Sedan and ’88 CRX all of them 5speed manual trans. Great cars, every one of them. Regular maintenance and they were reliable as any machine can be. Tires, brakes and the occasional CV joint rebuild were the only expenses.
The first time I had an opportunity to have a Gen 1 Civic, it was similar to discovering how my smart phone can do my banking, play my favorite music, show my favorite movie and find an address in Portugal.
The Gen 1 Civic was to me the most logical extension of what cars were to be doing. Its space utilization was amazing. Its dashboard, controls and instrument panel was intuitive. Its styling was adorable. Its usefulness was nearly unparalleled. I recognized it for what it was at the time in 1973 or so, the new automotive benchmark for daily driving.
I also saw it as a threat. I saw the craptastic Pintos, Gremlins and Vegas, the obsolete Beetles, the shoebox Valiants and they could not compare. It was probably similar to what the old Vermont farmers said when they traveled by train and got off in downtown Manhattan, “how are we going to keep them on the farm after they see this?” I immediately recognized in the Civic an entirely different, and superior, automobile that Detroit couldn’t copy.
Gen 1 Civics sold like crazy. At top dollar. There were waiting lists for them. You could get your choice of any kind of Vega, B210 or Corolla, but folks who discovered the Gen 1 Civic couldn’t be bothered with those old rear drive, obsolete tin buckets. College educated folks with babies snarfed up Civics and showed their yuppie neighbors, friends and families that Honda was making a really attractive family vehicle.
Then came the wagon. Then came the Accord. By 1980, it was a part of America.
So, I saw this coming. Yup, the engines were about as good as what could be bought by the competition. Yup, their bodies rusted out as fast as the competition. But when those engines ran and those bodies held up, the drivers in those cars were smiling and bragging about those Civics.
I saw this coming.
Part of America, dude I believe you We did a brake job on my bro’s sisters Accord recently the made in USA plate is very visible on the radiator support panel and of course in true Honda fashion the brakes are fixed so now everything else goes wrong time for the junkyard.
I know everyone gets their underwear in a wad over these cars, but the reality is that they were a best BMC Mini you could buy in the early to mid 70’s. I wanted to comment on the Rabbit/Golf article in a similar vein that the Golf and Civic were the Mini’s children.
Here in North American rust country, they were about as biodegradable as any AMC, and the engines were not strangers to head gasket troubles, not to mention the glass transmissions. Try and “rock” one of those things out of a snow bank. Oh, and God help you if you had to decipher that CVCC vacuum hose routing once the cars got old and the stickers were obscured/removed/fell off…
They were great in terms of fuel mileage and driving fun. But I can also relate stories of early Aztek owners who used to wave and honk at each other when we saw another one. Hell, I’ve been part of impromptu parking lot conferences, telling other Aztek owners the weird and wonderful things we did with our ‘Teks. But that’s another story for another website…
By the time I was old enough to start driving (1977), these cars were already used cars, many of my high school friends had them in various states of repair. And considering how high school boys define “driving”, I’m astonished at the amount of abuse you could throw at one.
The funny thing is, as far as Japanese cars go, I actually like Hondas, along with Isuzus, Mitsubishis and Suzukis. But I can’t get all sentimental about that generation of Civic.
Me, neither. It was one of the ones that got away…but for me, what it really was was a bullet dodged. The problem was: RUST. Honda at that time had no experience designing for the North American (auto) market. Salt and corrosion from it are unknown in Japan, or were; and the Civic was designed with size, space….AND WEIGHT…in mind.
Those things rusted. They rusted so badly the NHTSA ordered Honda to buy many of them back:
“The Hondas were so vulnerable to corrosion that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also issued a safety recall . This was because the car’s lateral suspension arms, front crossbeam, and strut coil spring lower supports could weaken with exposure to salt.[4] A total of 936,774 vehicles built between 9-1-1972 and 8-1-1979 were subject to extensive repairs since Honda had to replace the suspension components, or the automaker bought back entire cars with serious body corrosion.[5]”
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Civic_(first_generation)
That simply wouldn’t have done for a minimum-wage serf struggling to pay the rent. To borrow to pay more for one of these things than for a Pinto or Chevette…and have it collapse before finding the end of the time-payment book…would have been bad nooze.
Honda learned. As Hyundai is learning. As other aspiring companies learned, or are learning, or will not learn and will fail. But this, however brilliant it looked on arrival, was not a high point – except in promise of things to come.
@JPT: from one Northeastern Ohio boy to another: Amen to all you said. These were neat used cars while they lasted. As an example: I dated a girl back in the early 80’s whose parents had given her their used 1978 Accord. On the face of it, a very nice car.
But the swiss cheese fenders, the saggy interior and the non-existent acceleration barely made up for the zippy handling. IIRC, those suspension components weren’t really suited for the Northeast Ohio potholes. I can’t imagine the emotions I would have felt if I still had a payment book on that car! (Probably similar to the ones I had with my head gasket popping turbo Capri, I guess…)
The next generation of the Civic was far more palatable, and durable. I think they saw and copied the A1 Golf (if not completely, at least the dimensions) and the second generation was a much better car for it.
The pictured car is a ’77 Caroline yellow model (possibly CVCC). These were a lot of fun to drive, but as I’ve said before, left a lot to be desired in terms of durability. At least to someone who grew up on VW Beetles. I haven’t seen one in months which means that when I go out today I’ll see one.
The only car I experienced that owners waved to each other – in the early years at least.
An acquaintance of mine purchased a new Gen 1 Civic soon after they became available.
A few weeks later, she drove out of a blind intersection only to be struck from the right by a motorcycle. The motorcycle came through the right side door. She suffered a broken right arm, and her nearly new Civic was scrapped by the insurance company.
The motorcycle driver sustained a few bruises and scratches, but was otherwise OK. Only damage to his motorcycle was a bent front fork and a flat tire.
I wanted one of those 1996-2001 Civic coupes when they were new. The coupes of that generation had great proportions and clean lines. I liked the shapes of the headlights and taillights a lot.
My guess is that these Gen 1 Civics were far more reliable (but not more durable) than any Saab or Volvo from the mid- to late-’70s.
I havent seen a driving 1st gen for ages even here in Havana of the south they rusted away, The next gen were more common I drove a 84 5 door as a work beater for a while and I saw others regularly, Most Japanese cars sold here new are galvanised now but not JDM as I see 90s Civics ex JDM with rust stains on them so they wont be here for ever either.
I have had afew Honda accords with autotransaxle&all had developed transmission problem after 120k miles or so I went back to camry(1999)&after 290k miles still running on stock engine&trans.will never buy another Honda with automatic.
My family bought a ’75 Civic just as they were launching here in Canada. Owners used to honk a greeting at each other, Hondas were so rare and unusual.