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If you were born around the nation’s Bicentennial and grew up in one of America’s more import-friendly environs, a used first-generation Honda Civic was not an uncommon sight among freshly divorced parents of either gender. A friend’s father was part of the growing single-parent demographic, scrambling to make ends meet on a state laborer’s salary. While he was saving to buy a house of his own, Greg’s Honda CB750 sat neglected in front of their fourplex alongside the ’66 Bonneville convertible he figured he’d get around to fixing up one of these days. In the interim, the trusty Civic, with its Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion engine, got him to and from work.
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Even in lefty California, prejudice against the little cars was high among those who’d never sampled their joys. And in the mid-’80s, there were plenty of folks clinging to their Pontiac J2000s, K-cars, and Ford Tempos. By the end of the decade, however, the Civic had become a wholly respectable choice and, with the introduction of the Si, even a desirable one.
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But it all began with that first Civic, introduced here for the 1973 model year as the successor to the tiny 600, while the ingenious CVCC engine arrived for 1975. Its timing was auspicious. Though other cars on dealer lots were saddled with catalytic converters, which required unleaded fuel, the little CVCC’s head design meant it was able to make do without even in stringent California, allowing it to run on whatever form of gasoline was cheap and available.
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The SOHC 1.5-liter 12-valver, equipped with a three-barrel carburetor, wound out a whopping 52 horsepower at 5000 rpm. If that sounds woefully underwhelming, it should be noted that a 5.7-liter Chevrolet V-8 with a two-barrel made 145 horsepower that year. If the V-8 had been making as much power per cubic centimeter as the CVCC, it would’ve been pushing 200. Which still doesn’t sound like much, but, hey, we refer to it as the Malaise Era for a reason.
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- Honda Celebrates Discovery and Restoration of Its First Car Destined for America
- The Spirit of ’76: Bicentennial Edition Cadillac Eldorado
- Honda Civic: News, Reviews, Photos, and More
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What we have here, courtesy of the Hemmings classifieds, is a 1976 model featuring a four-speed manual transmission. According to the seller, the car seems largely original, although the ad does note that the engine bay could use a deep and thorough cleaning. If the ’73 OPEC oil embargo was the first giant meteor to hit the U.S. auto industry, the widespread deployment of the smog pump and the catalytic converter for ’75 was the second. Meanwhile, little critters like the ingenious Civic were waiting in the wings, ready to take over from the big-bodied Yankee dinosaurs. They were considered disposable stopgaps by American customers like Greg at the time, so there aren’t a ton of these little machines left—and certainly not many in the fine condition this orange 1976 example appears to be in. In that light, and given its place of import in Honda’s history, the $ 16,995 ask, if high, doesn’t seem wholly out of line.
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“The Spirit of ’76” is C/D’s Fourth of July holiday-weekend series highlighting some of the most awesome cars for sale from our nation’s bicentennial year.
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