Never buy a first-year car… Wait until the problems are ironed out… New model, new problems… That may be the conventional wisdom when it comes to some cars, but not to Hondas. Well, not THIS Honda anyway as it made it almost forty years even though it was more than likely literally part of the first boatload of them that were shipped over. I well recall a time when CRXs just like this one were all over the place in sunny SoCal, but over the last ten years any sighting of either generation is a rare one to be savored, especially in stock form.
People go on and on about how lightweight first generation Miatas are, well, the CRX undercut that by 275 pounds, weighing in at a published U.S. curb weight of 1,819 pounds. Shocking. Yeah, they were small, but when new in the context of other traffic they weren’t really looked at as tiny. Just as a two-seater. Which they were, over here at least, although in Japan somehow they managed to add a couple of seats in the back.
This one has been here since the beginning, if it wasn’t actually a press car it was likely the first one a particular Honda dealership somewhere received, seeing as how there were 805 Honda dealerships here in 1983 and you’d hope every dealer got at least one to start with. While it’s not a creampuff (anymore) and certainly picked over a bit as clean Honda interiors do not last in the junkyard, being serial number 000276 built in July of 1983 makes it something I can happily geek out over.
Cars with lots of zeroes in the VIN, first-year and last-year models, and huge mileages are the types of things that turn my crank, and this one has two of those going for it. Never mind that I loved the CRX when new, and especially when the Si version was added for 1985 and even more so when that Si went monochrome on the exterior for 1986. Oh baby. But this 1.5liter version is just like the one featured in numerous road tests of the day with the red paint, gray lower cladding, charcoal interior and little winglet on the back. Heck, lose the cladding and there’s probably another twenty pounds or so off the weight!
Look at that pert little rear. No nonsense, yet everything it needs to convey some sporting intent. Debadged by some denizen of the yard, the top left would have read Honda, the logo in the middle, then the right hand upper badge would have said Civic as all the early CRXs were actually badged Civic CRX. The CRX part is in the middle on the black plastic center panel of the large, clear lights, and the badge at the lower right would have read 1.5 as that was the larger engine on offer in the beginning.
The big H, the badge that launched a thousand (or many thousands) of dealer markups, adjusted market value stickers, orders sold off the truck or before the truck even arrive, and of course a couple of famous lawsuits alleging insider dealing and payoffs amongst some Honda personnel and dealers. Part of the reason for the light weight of the car is its extensive use of plastics for some of the body panels, here what remains of the front valance.
But it wasn’t just the front panel; the front fenders were plastic as well, as were the rocker panel covers, i.e. the cladding that really just continued the lines of the bumpers for the few feet between wheelwells. According to Aaron Severson’s excellent history of the CRX at AteUpWithMotor.com it’s a proprietary blend of polycarbonate and ABS plastic that Honda called “HP alloy” while the bumpers are “HP blend”, a Honda-developed polypropylene blend.
Just look at that little 13″ wheel. All steel, later ones were usually covered with little plastic hubcaps, but these first year cars had two styles – this one on the 1.5 and a style with circular holes around the perimeter for the smaller-engined one. Somehow this one managed to look sportier, (rightly so, the car was), but how curious that even basic steelies can be designed to convey different messages. And how is there no corrosion on the steelie of this apparently Denver-based car?
The tires here are proper all-American BFGoodrich T/As, albeit the Touring version. Maybe it needed tires and there weren’t any 175/70-13s to be had so it ended up here. No, of course not, but it would be a few years until the big 14″ alloys made an appearance on the CRX, the 1986 monochrome Si to be exact as the 1985 Si still made do with 13s. Yes, this is the kind of oh-so-useful stuff that kept me up at night while studying for my driver’s license exam in the fall of ’85…
Of course the CRX was part of Honda’s new 1984 Civic tour de force where they launched this, the 2-door hatchback, the four door sedan, as well as the five-door tallboy wagon at the same time. A full range of models, all with a set of mix and match components pretty much unheard of at the time. And they were styled so much more cleanly, a huge stylistic jump from what came before, not that the outgoing set wasn’t filled with its own charms.
I can’t imagine what befell this car to make the front end such a mess and bring it here, but obviously it was significant enough, although it didn’t affect the hood at all. Or maybe it was something else altogether and this is some sort of yard damage. Even the sealed beam headlights add character here with the vented surrounds that Honda gave it; it lost a little charm in that regard when it went to aero lights for 1986, turning into a bit more of a machine. Fog lights, as the one left here indicates, were a popular add-on of course as with so many cars back then. Rarely used correctly but generally at least off in the daytime unlike those of another brand I could mention.
This one is the mighty 1.5, four cylinders of double digit horsepower with 3 valves per cylinder (the valve cover states 12 valve), and as such is the upper trim level. The base car was the mileage champ with its 1.3 liter 2valve per cylinder engine, also carbed, that delivered 51mpg City and 67 highway in EPA testing.
Both cars are in fact able to deliver stupendous mileage largely by dint of their light weight, but that also pays dividends in the drive experience itself, the engine was plenty powerful and oh so smooth while happily zinging to the redline over and over again. The CRX’s shape made it a lot more aerodynamic than the rest of the lineup by 25% or so from what I understand – it’s no coincidence that many of today’s electric vehicles have roughly the same shape overall, it’s simply more aerodynamic.
Yes I know there isn’t much left, but there is something better – the obvious amount of space inside. With the large, comfortable, yet so supportive sport seats gone we can see the whole space that Honda had to work with. From the low dashboard (and make no mistake, even though it’s a two-level affair, the top level is still extremely low compared to most other cars of the day) to the wraparound styling there’s a sense of purpose and quality. Everything joins into everything else, nothing looks tacked on or there for no good reason.
The one noticeable flaw was Honda’s vinyl choice on the door panels, it would pucker like this one within a few years, not an uncommon aspect of many Japanese cars of the time. Curiously a few years later that sort of “gathered” look would become desirable when done in leather on seats and door panel inserts as it denoted that there was so little expense spared that the material didn’t need to be stretched to the maximum, but could lay there all relaxed and hedonistic…
The unfortunately sun-blasted shot shows most of the inside space from front to back, while the cargo area isn’t huge per se, it’s deep and long enough to hold a goodly amount of stuff, in this case a door panel from the driver’s door as a reflection of the length on offer.
And here we are with the hatch open looking forward across that same door panel with the HVAC control module laying upside down in the lower left foreground. Honda made that thing so simple with a slider and a row of buttons that operated smoothly and satisfyingly, nothing clunky or clumsy whatsoever. It’s one of those things that astounded people as they noted it and the other controls before climbing back into their same-year Tempo or Cavalier or whatever and comparing it to what those had.
As excited as I was about finding such an early CRX to point and shoot with my camera, it is a shame it ended up here for whatever reason. There was no rust on this car, and even if there was a mechanical malady these cars are famous for having everything mechanical swapped out easily for generations of them. But obviously something happened and a 1984 Honda, no matter how cool, interesting, low number, or fun has little actual monetary value, or at least nowhere near the sentimental value it holds to many, even to me, someone who never owned one (But dreamt about it).
Count me as another who fell into a swoon about these. If this had been a 4 seater, I may well have bought one. And even though I was a single guy at the time, I was afraid to spend money on a new 2 seater if it was going to be my only vehicle. I did need to tote more than one passenger on occasion, but I wonder if my life would really have been any different if I had said “sorry, if there are 3 of us someone else will have to drive” more often.
Were all of these red? It seemed like maybe 96% of them were, at least around me.
“Were all of these red?”
A majority probably were. For the entire first generation’s run, there was never more than three possible color options available on each particular trim level for the model year; besides this Victoria red example, the other choices in 1984/1985 were Greek white and Baltic blue (both with blue interiors, not the red’s black). The launch of the Si in mid ‘85 added Blackburn black as an exclusive “color” option, at the expense of Greek white availability. The names/shades of the blue and red changed in 1986/1987, so the only other real new addition was Quartz silver for ‘87 Si’s (kicking out that trim’s previous blue).
“If this had been a 4 seater”
In Japan they were. Barely. Even in marketing, Honda referred to it (I’m being brutally honest here) as having “one-mile” seats. Yikes…
I still regret selling my ’86 HF model. Alas I had no place to store it and no money to swap in a healthy engine. I’m astounded this one hasn’t been bought up and pressed into SCCA racin—I thought that’s where all of these ended up.
What amazed me about these cars when I first really looked at them in the late 80s is that while they look sort of like a Japanese Gremlin, that is, a small(er) car made from ” cutting down ” a (slightly) bigger car, there are very few non mechanical parts shared between a Civic and CRX. A co-worker had one, either the fuel miser HF or a DX that I rode in once. It was so small that I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to fit, much less be comfortable in the passenger seat, but was pleasantly surprised when I did.
BTW, I saw a 2nd generation DX CRX just a few days ago. It was still wearing it’s original blue paint, though quite sun bleached from the Florida sun. Parked at a sort of strip mall, very much someone’s DD.
Great find! That CRX is in amazing condition. These truly seemed to be everywhere in 1986 when I got my license….mostly red, but white wasn’t uncommon IIRC.
The first car I ever bought was a blue ’85 CRX Si. Only had it for 2 months because the timing belt broke and destroyed the engine, and an engine replacement would’ve been more than what I paid for the car ($900 in 2003). It is a pity because the car only had ~135K miles on it. When it was running, it was a hoot to drive. It would fly up the steep roads to Horsetooth Res. next to Fort Collins…much faster than the heavier ’90 Civic hatchback that replaced it. The CRX did have some quirks though: the clock would flash when I had the turn signal on; and when I turned on the car the radio would never remember the station I left it on and would always reset back to 88.1. I couldn’t ever leave the car in neutral when parked because the e-brake was “weak”, and I needed a broomstick in the back since the struts on the hatch were shot.
Damn. A friend of mine had one of these in Boston around 1984-85. He called it the Red Lobster. It was agile and quick on those lumpy Boston roads. It was his first new car after a succession of worn out BMW 2002s. Sadly it didn’t last long because it being a crash magnet. First accident put it in the shop for fender-related issues (IIR), and then he got T-boned; he had it less than a year. His next car was an older Celica which gave him good service for about 4 years (by then he was married with daughter). It was one of the first cars I rode in that had FWD.
Great find. There’s still at least one around here on the streets.
These were truly a revelation, along with the other three body styles. Their arrival as a family of four distinct body styles counts as one of the great automotive milestones.
Minor nit: those EPA numbers are the old, unadjusted ones, the ones that no one ever got in normal driving. The adjusted numbers are 38 city, 47 highway. That’s a lot closer to reality.
Very few early Hondas on the road here now they either decayed into unroadworthy condition or were taken out in banging into other things, they were a bit light for impromptu demolition derbies a friend had the regular hatch version with the passenger side caved in badly it wasnt legally repairable so ended up in a scrapyard. Funny thing though it still drove ok.
I remember CRXs were common when I was a kid(I thought they looked really cool so they always caught my eye) disappeared almost completely by the 00s, then came out of the woodwork again in large quantities with the tuner crowd a few years later, and once again have completely disappeared today.
No nonsense, yet everything it needs to convey some sporting intent
I think a lot of agressive angry eyebrow looking designs of today should take note of this design, a simple slightly raked back kamm tail on a tiny little boxy Honda comes off as more authentic in its intent.
Hey, don’t call those 175/70-13 tires “little”. By the standards of the Ford Fiesta featured recently, they are “Plus1”; a set in that size on Capri rims was a significant improvement over the OEM 155-12’s on my Fiesta.
So sad ~ looking at the paint, carpets and leaves around the hatch I’d say this was some old person’s car that sat more than it ever got used .
The radiator is mashed flat, maybe junkyard forklift damage or something heavy fell on it so they junked it .
My then young son hipped me to these and I looked long and hard for a used blue Si with factory sunroof but in So. Cal. the *instant* they were traded in idiot tuners grabbed them and thrashed to junk .
In time, after he got his license to drive he bought a battered red one, it had been so badly body tweaked the replacement front fenders would crack when he auto crossed it .
This one should have been saved .
-Nate
seeing this CRX post made me happy. Seeing it in this state made me want to cry. I had 3 of its predecessors in the past. One of them even swam! Paul is cleaning up that sloppy COAL post I submitted as you read this, perhaps you’ll read about my aquatic civic in the future. These CRXs had paper thin sheet metal. It was not uncommon to see them after about 6 years in the states that used winter road salt with there plastic lower bodysides dragging the ground as their fastening points have long rusted through. When they were new though, they were FUN. Everyone I new referred to them as Hondas roller skate car.
My first new car was a 1989 CRX. I kept it for 16 years until it rusted away to where it was not safe anymore. I loved that car. It had no power to speak of so it could be driven hard without drawing attention. I have not seen one on the road in at least five years. The “tuners” destroyed the survivors years ago.
I have considered trying to find a used Miata for a similar driving experience.
Was this in the Denver junkyard when you saw it? I think I got the radio from it, a Yamaha Ycr-30. Someone clearly cared about this car, with how clean it was and the aftermarket front fog lights. I thought like it took a hit to the front left corner, which probably sealed it’s fate. The other damage to the radiator support was probably from removing the catalytic converter. A number of 3rd gen civics Ive seen at the yard in the past had it smashed downward like that. A shame.
Yes, the Denver UPAP, nice score on the Yamaha radio! That car was clearly in great shape very recently before whatever occurred to it.
Hey do you guys sell the rear quarter panel and floor panel for sale ?