There’s still a couple of gen1 Civics on the streets here, but they’re going fast. So when I find one, I have to stop and celebrate the moment, especially when it’s in such a nice photo-op as this. I know before long they’ll all be gone; hopefully not as a consequence of an interaction with a Tahoe or such.
Yukon: “Get in my belly!!”
SUV: “Man, I hate blind dates…. She’s gotta be at least twice my age.”
Civic: “Oh,how I hate blind dates… that big oaf is blocking my view.”
At least you have some Paul, I can’t remember the last time I saw a Gen1 Civic. Maybe 20 years?
As a teenage car jockey at a hospital parking lot I had the opportunity to breifly drive lots of different cars. Ladas, Dacias, and once I drive a Gen1 Civic. I was impressed at how much it seemed like a slightly scaled up Ausin Mini. It looked, drove and smelled british.
Of course the other thing that impressed me about the Gen1 Civic was how the metal would thicken under the paint as rust marched right across open expanses of sheet metal, just before it became open expanses of gaping holes.
My next door neighbor in Maryland bought a Gen 1 new. It very quickly began to rust away, particularly the bumpers. Bumpers? I drove the car a couple of times and was not impressed.
My mother bought her 1974 Pontiac Luxury LeMans from a Pontiac dealer that had also taken on Honda (and Audi). Back when dealers still provided loaners when your car went in for service, more than once we got a Gen1 Civic. Were they all yellow? My impression at the time was that someone had finally built a better VW. My mother enjoyed zipping around in it for a short while (but never complained about getting her big comfy Pontiac back).
I’ve always loved this iteration of the Civic.
Had friends who had a ’79 back in the early to mid 90’s, silver, CVCC with the plaid interior and while the paint was badly oxidized and the car rattle canned silver to keep the rust at bay, it was a reliable as the day was long, rode in it many a time with Doug behind the wheel.
It even did the daily grind from Tacoma to Seattle, twice daily for about a year before they moved to Seattle. They’d bought it from good mutual friend’s older brother’s wife. They sold it when Doug took a position through his employer to work for LL Bean up in Freport Maine for a few years.
My 1975 Civic CVCC looked akin to the one shown above.
Scoff if you want but by removing the passenger-seat back and cutting a 4×8 foot hunk of plywood to fit atop the R/F and rear seat bottoms (rear seat back-rest folded down) from firewall to the rearmost part of the car a bed was created.
The underside of the roof was such I was able to tuck sheets into it and create a hidey-hole for sleeping.
The limitations of the vehicle led to my recommending folks to buy large pick-ups or vans for living in as an ever-growing number of folks are squashed face-down into an economic quagmire.
My likely future portable shanty: