Off Topic: When they were new...

[falco]

Was reading in another thread, someone mentioned 'A lot of us knew these cars when they were new'. I'm curious as to peoples' earlier experiences with old Hondas, why they got interested in these cars. Myself, one of my earliest memories was being a back-seat passenger in my father's 1977 yellow 1200. Everyone loved that car, but New Zealand built Civics had rust issues beyond belief. My father's car was rusted to the point of non-roadworthiness in five years. I have really good memories of it though, that's definitely why I ended up playing around with them. I liked the style, the performance, and the colour (though I still don't have a yellow one). Heh, my father's been away for almost a year. When he left, I had a yard full of Minis. Now I have a yard full of Civics. When he gets back, I think he'll appreciate them though.

f.

[Oldie]

I first got interested in the civic was way back in 1978 when the gang was into buying new cars.Me being the procrastinator and the last to buy a new
vechile.Needless to say I got tired of trying to keep up with civic's (all 4 of them)me and my tired out 1973 CJ-V,so I too caught civicitis and bought one the following spring of 79.I guess a good thing is contagious!
I also loaded pics of the sales brochure for the civic for that year.You might notice at the bottom the prices for some of the models that were available.Makes me wish I bought 2 of them.

[Bill]

I started on bikes in 74, then went to work doing odd jobs for a Honda shop, getting space ready for their expansion. they asked me to stay on and they would train me. I bought a n600 for $25 and drive it for a year, then sold it.
Started buying and selling used cars and keeping one or two as drivers throughout the 80's and 90's, even as moved from one dealer to another. Then Acura came along and I was there too. All the time I could ont seem to drive a stock car for long, carburetor, turbos, whatever was interesting at the time.

[doug]

When I was 9 my neighbor bought a brand new '79 (givin' away my age here) Blue on blue trunk model. I was already a gearhead and completely in love, but alas, he had three accidents in less than a year with it, the third of which I witnessed from a few feet away, rendered it a total loss. :(
He then bought a Special X, also new, fortunately he quickly sold it, hopefully to a better driver. :roll:

[Civic74]

My parents bought a new silver '74 3 Door Honda Civic 2 weeks before I was born for A$2000. Not exactly a family car but compared to a '54 FJ Holden, I think it was a lot more economical. Somehow it managed to survive a number of other family cars over the years and 17 years later, I bought it off my parents for $1000 as my first car. Over the next 5 years or so, that original car had some adventures under my guidance - it saw me through Uni, interstate trips, a few minor crashes, some (legal) drag racing and some off-road adventures.
However the years began to take their toll and it was time to consider what the future of this family heirloom would be. Eventually I bought a $400 barely running Civic that had less rust and straighter panels and started the restoration project. The heart of the Honda was to be the same and I transplanted the engine and gearbox from my parents original car, along with a few other choice bits and pieces. The original body sat in my parents backyard for another 5 years or so as storage for all the other Honda parts, until they got sick of it and retired it permanantly for scrap metal.
It's now over 30 years later and I am still driving a '74 Honda. I have even just had the original engine rebuilt - although it's bored out as big as it will go now! Everytime something goes wrong with it or I get stranded because the timing belt broke or I've blown a headgasket I think "dammit it's time for a more modern car" but I can't seem to get rid of it! The body is starting to look a bit shabby again (rust, dents etc) but I will probably end up giving it another lease of life and run it for another 5 years or so - basically I haven't known life without a '74 Honda!!

[Jonathan]

Some of my earliest memories are of my Dad's '76 CVCC 5-speed (deluxe gauges, houndstooth interior, alloy wheels, etc.). That was the car that convinced my Grandfather to buy a Civic, which was a '79 Hondamatic. He bought the car when I was about 3 weeks old. I inherited the car when he passed away, still only 54k miles since new.

I'll have to see what kind of old pictures I have of my Dad's Civic and my Grandfathers Civics - maybe I can find one when they were almost new.

[Randy]

I remember walking to high school and passing by this tiny dealership that only sold Civics's, can't remember the dealers name though. Seemed a year later I bought a honking big 1969 Pontiac Bonneville 455 4bbl, paid $1000.00 for it, I should have saved my money because less than six months later I had a new 1976 Civic, gas was far too expensive to drive that big tank, so I downsized.

If it was not for a guy down the street blowing the motor in his Chevrolet I would have never got rid of that Pontiac Tank, It would be years later that I would discover how much I really hated Pontiac, "Dustbuster"

I bought my very first Honda Civic in 1976. This was my second car and I bought it for reliability, affordability and the fact that it would go two weeks on a tank of gas. The more I drove it became more than just a car to me it was an extension of myself and it was not long before it had a sunroof and it was an important part of my life. Then in 2003 when my wife was on her way home from a business trip she spotted a 1978 Honda Civic for sale and it was a vision of beauty at an out of town Honda dealership, needless to say I paid the asking amount of $3500.00 cdn and it is now sitting in my garage and is my pride and joy. I paid that amount for my new 1976 Honda Civic, which I kept in great condition until finally in 1991 with a heavy heart I sold it along with one other 1st Gen civic to a co-worker. There is not much I don’t like about the first generation civics only thing I never liked was being out sized by most cars and trucks that if involved in an accident could be fatal. My 1976 Civic had 125,000 miles on it when it was sold in 91, my current 78 gold one has 140,000 km while the black 78 has unknown mileage and the body showed it too. Frequent trips were made to Ottawa, Ontario, that was usually a five and a half hour drive non stop at which I could get about 46 mpg , approx 370 km. I have always wanted an old car but the opportunity was never came about, I enjoyed working on a co-workers VW Beetle several times and found my self wanting one too.

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My 76 Civic was crashed to the point that costs exceeded the price I paid for the car new. I was broad sided by a 70’s Oldsmobile Delta 88 and pushed off the road and into a ditch by an impaired driver of a Ford F-150 pick up truck and almost squashed by two transports changing into my lane at the same time in a blinding snow storm. I have never been towed but I have towed a Volkswagen Beetle and an old Mini Cooper.

I participated in car rallies with it even though I was the center of jokes about the fact that I was going up against more powerful and bigger cars however, they soon found out after winning two years in a row that my little Honda could go up against the best of them. Camping trips were a breeze and long trips saw me laughing as my friends were visiting the gas pumps while I was parked waiting for them. For many years my girlfriend and I also participated in a Santa Helper program collecting toys from drop off boxes at shopping malls, many of the pickup locations were in the city where the big trucks could not gain easy access, the rear seats were removed to allow for floor to ceiling storage. (Chum City Christmas Wish)

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That Honda saw me through my first serious girlfriend who became my wife and then the birth of our son and that Honda still kept going. I have met quite a few people that stop me to admire the car either in traffic while moving or at the lights. One thing that stands out in their conversation is that they all had something memorable to say about the car they loved so much when they were younger and I guess that is why I like my car so much too. I have always had good memories of the great times my girlfriend and I spent in the car together, if it was not the drive-in movies or the quiet Sunday afternoon drives in the country it was the silly fun things we did in the car. If you have a liking for Honda’s then you better find yourself a first generation Honda Civic because you don’t know what you have been missing until you have owned one.