(first posted 4/21/2014) Coming from image-conscious suburbs, it’s still a surprise each time I see cars like this in daily use (in this part of the country, at least). Unless you’re a compulsive shopper or really into new fads, though, it’s perfectly sane to keep an old pal like this 1980 (or 81) Civic around. After all, why throw your baby away when you don’t have to?
The owner of this lovely machine certainly couldn’t tell you, but could likely make a convincing case as to why someone would want to keep either their infant or old car around. After all, arguments are more convincing when they come from those who practice what they preach. I honestly had no clue that abandoned neonates were a common enough phenomenon in this day and age to merit the printing of bumper stickers. It’s certainly was not one of the pre-natal health and social issues I was taught about in nursing school, but I guess the few occurrences which take place are sobering enough. Besides, “Drink OJ For Healthy Neural Tube Development” isn’t quite as compelling.
Introduced partway through the first generation’s long run, the five-door wagon body style was part of the second generation lineup from the beginning. Not as innovative as the car it replaced, and now competing with a host of front-drive rivals, Honda worked on increasing passenger space more than anything else. The biggest Civic, obviously, was the wagon which, with a 91.3 inch wheelbase and leaf-sprung dead beam, was the best expression of Honda’s goals for the new model. It clearly sold well, because they’ve always made up a good portion of the few second generation Civics I see.
Perhaps it’s because they were such a great way for parents to transport their big babies around. Buying a car like this for family use back in 1980 was a shrewd investment, especially if the new three-speed, fully automatic transmission was avoided. Honda was well aware of the new Civic’s newfound space (all things being relative) and also introduced a four-door sedan, but because of its traditional trunk and comparatively bulky rear strut suspension, young families were particularly well served by the long roof variant.
The round headlights identify a pre-facelift model, meaning its 1.5 liter CVCC engine either makes sixty-three horsepower at 5000 rpm or, if it’s a 1980, only fifty-two. With a full load and A/C, you’d definitely want the five-speed to wring out all the available power, but with less than 2,000 pounds to push around, an aggressive driver could thread through today’s traffic confidently. At any rate, this car is still good enough to tool around on Bloomington’s surprisingly congested streets in 2014.
With a stereo and the brand’s excellent HVAC, its driver would also be comfortable doing so. And while it looks like the seats are pretty tattered underneath their threadbare covers, the surrounding plastics have survived without any cracks and over three decades later, the quality is still evident. By the early ’80s, Japanese economy cars were becoming genuinely user-friendly and this second-gen Civic’s interior is an excellent example, leading the way with a design very different from that of the car it replaced and more modern than those of the Toyotas and Datsuns it did battle with (and don’t even mention the Westmoreland Rabbits). All Civics’ interiors up until the 1996 model followed through with updated, improved variations on this theme.
Aside from mechanical integrity and ergonomic superiority, the Civic wagon’s popularity can also be explained by the lack of very direct competition. The Corolla was still rear-drive at this point, and ever so slightly larger, as was the 323/GLC wagon. The Escort wagon was quite a bit bigger, and the Sentra, which didn’t arrive until 1982, was also larger. The Subaru DL wagon was perhaps its closest rival, and as a child in upstate NY, I saw a bit more of those cars, but as the cheapest model in a more expensive range, it was also upmarket compared to Honda’s little wagon. While by the end of the second generation’s run in 1983, rivals were finally nipping at the Civic’s heels, Honda had a real trick up its sleeve with a mature successor which showed the second-generation car to be the product of 1970s thinking that it was. That makes this wagon one of the last of Honda’s babies.
Took me a long time to gain an appreciation for early Hondas…but my son’s ’93 Accord brought me around.
I’m guessing this is a ball to drive even with 63 HP. Obviously well kept and spared most of the indignities of the tin worm.
Every time I go down to Bloomington I find CCs. It’s because of the odd blue-collar/college-town thing going on down there, I think. There isn’t as much suburban status-symbol stuff going on there.
I see lots of old cars, sometimes real beaters where I live in West Chester, OH. Nothing wrong with that – they’re usually hand-me-downs to kids reaching driving age. One of the neighbor’s boys across the street has his grandparent’s 5th-gen Buick Century, tan, of course. It has some rust on it, and he ran or skidded into someone or something, and the grille is knocked out, but apparently hasn’t affected how it runs.
Around the corner in my neighborhood, there is a real nice red Aztek and his son picked up a very cherry black Z-34 Lumina. It used to be nicer, but apparently the winter took its toll, as the driver’s mirror was snapped and it’s hanging by the cable, a nice dent on that side of the car, and the driver’s door outside handle is all mangled. I’m hoping the kid fixes up the car, for it was a nicely preserved early 1990s CC.
In any event, lots of CCs around, driven daily. Some much nicer than others.
I had an ’83 with the manual. The engine was quite literally the size of a sewing machine, but that little wagon could buzz along at 85 mph all day getting 30+ mpg on the flat Texas plains. Reliable, well built, and surprising fun to zip around in. It (and a Renault Clio a few years later in the UK) gave a great appreciation for small runabouts. I love a big car ride, but for day to day running around, nothing beats a light, zippy car that doesn’t break the bank at the gas station.
Stephanie hauled our two “babies” around in one of these, if only quite briefly. It was an automatic, but since it replaced our 404 wagon, whose somewhat heavy manual steering was thought to be the cause of her carpal tunnel syndrome (I think it was from wiping too many bottoms), the Honda certainly wasn’t any slower than it had been (automatic too).
Of course the Honda had manual steering too, but it was pretty light, like most modern small cars of the time. And despite the automatic and A/C, it did the job of schlepping babies quite adequately.
Nice to see one of these still in service…Hondas starting with the 2nd-gen Accord and 3rd-gen Civic are still pretty common in my area, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen one this age. I do think rust got most of them, even around here where salt isn’t as common in our relatively mild winters. Same story as most 70’s and very early 80’s compacts–just very few left across the board.
Zackman, I see that you live in West Chester…I also seem to recall that you have made references to Florissant MO…I wonder how many other people on this board have resided in STL and Cinti…
I haven’t seen a Civic from this erra in a long time…tin worm ate all of them.
Does Alton, Illinois count? The Valley of Flowers is but 15-20 minutes from here.
I well remember these , I nearly bought one and stupidly bought an ’81 Chevy Citation four door sedan instead without bothering to do any homework on it first (oops) .
I always liked the Honda Civics and variants , the only thing that could kill them was Americans flat refusal to do routine hot oil changes ~ I could buy them for $300 , pop in a $125 used Japanese takeout engine and five speed tranny and sell it for $1,500 , always to the first buyer who showed up .
Great little cars .
-Nate
Civics of this vintage are great fun to drive with a five-speed. The subsequent generations tend to get more love, but these cars had a level of enthusiasm that you wouldn’t expect from the appearance or the price. It’s like a puppy with wheels. I wish Honda had made a tachometer standard, though, although I suppose that for better or worse, there was never any particular mystery about what the engine was doing even without a tach.
At least here in the US and Canada, the closest you can ever get to a Civic Wagon would be the CR-V since its chassis was the same as the one used by the current Civic and Civic stopped building a wagon version since the late 1980s.
One day a few years ago, maybe 4-5, I watched an older movie and saw this generation Civic in it and it hit me how long it had been since I’d seen a Civic or Accord from this era on the road. My childhood, late 80’s-90’s they were common. When my grandfather and uncle ran a small used car lot in the mid-late 1990’s they had a few I remember passing through. They’ve all disappeared and I hadn’t noticed.
Haven’t seen any Honda of this generation out in our rural Middle West town (occasionally see one in Peoria, tho), but we did have a young mother abandon a weeks-old baby in a rural ditch last summer. Thankfully was located the same day.
Long time no see. I had a dark brown 1980 Civic wagon new in 1980 with the 5 speed of course. Thought it was a great car and enjoyed it a lot up until 1986. I am a fanatic about car care, particularly the engine. In 1986 there were some issues with power generation and it seemed that two lobes on the cam were going flat. I was really irritated at that. So much so that when I went out to buy a new car I went over to a 1986 Mazda 626 5 speed that served faithfully for 375,000 miles. Have never bought another Honda since then. Today’s daily drivers are a 2004 Focus 2.3L with 125,000 and 1991 Mazda 626 hatch with 170,000 miles.
yjgv
That one should say tbm3fan,jr as he doesn’t know what he is doing except looking at cars behind my back.
Great find, Perry – there is still something about these that makes me want one. As Aaron said, an automotive puppy.
I’ll bet it’s been a couple decades since I’ve seen one of those on our salty n.e.Ohio streets. Always thoght 1st and 2nd gen Civics had a puppy charm to them.
I have this supposition – but with no data to back it up – that people tend to keep utilitarian vehicles longer than average. Wagons, hatchbacks and pick-em-up trucks, in particular.
I’ve seen it somewhat on my street, and certainly feel like I’d be more likely to throw additional maintenance dollars at a vehicle that can move people as well as junk.
Anyone have any stats on that?
I don’t have any numbers either, but it seems to make sense.
I think part of the distinction vis-à-vis regular sedans is that while a lot of people don’t bother to hang onto an older sedan if they have or can afford something better, there’s lots of reason to keep an older but serviceable utility vehicle even if you have something newer/better. If the vehicle is already older and has a patina and a few dings and tears, you don’t feel so bad about tossing bags of sod in the back and driving down a muddy dirt road, whereas with a new car or truck, that’s likely to leave you wincing.
Hell, it even goes for cops. I’ve heard cops say that if they have an arrestee who’s filthy or seems like they might throw up or something, the arresting officers will (if possible) try to haul the arrestee in an older cruiser rather than make a mess of a shiny new one.
I love the civics of this generation. My first car was an 82 Sedan. It was an automatic but still felt peppy. And the sedans had a standard tachometer. Unfortunately, in my neck of the wood they are all but gone.
I can’t help but love these cars. Interestingly, almost all the survivors I see are wagons. A well used-but-clean wagon lives just down the block from me, usually parked behind a clean 2nd generation Accord. The arid climate in the Helena (MT) valley is surprisingly kind to aging Japanese runabouts.
I had a 84 5 door 5speed, being local market it missed out on the spaghetti around the carb, Great little car it got me to work in some unlikely places probably shouldnt have sold it but it became surplus to the cause.
This is my old car!!!!!!!! To prove it if you open the hatch it has a motherfuckingindianapolis sticker I put on it. I wasn’t brace enough to bear it on the outside. Great to see it still going
Throwing babies away was a very common thing in the mid-to-late eighties, as there were protocols that most towns had about giving up children. After a rash of infant deaths, a coalition led in part by my father and the Archdiocese of NY started a national movement so that children could be dropped at churches, firehouses, hospitals, etc., with no questions asked. It’s something I remember very well.
I had an ex-girlfriend who replaced her Pinto with one of these, maybe an ‘82 or ‘83. She loved it so much, it was like a high-end luxury car after the Pinto. This was about the same time I had my ‘82 Civic DX hatchback. Both were 5 speeds and for the day, seemed like a great balance of power and economy; plenty of the former and more than plenty of the latter. My sister had the prior generation wagon, on the East Coast, and it succumbed to rust pretty quickly.
When I briefly lived in Delaware in 1981-82, my best friend’s dad had an ’80 Civic DX 2 door hatchback. I believe he had a 4-speed rather than a 5-speed. We spent many an evening as 18 year olds after work tooling around on the backroads of New Castle county cruising and boozing. I had had some friends with Corollas, but this was my first real, repeated experience with a Honda. I was quite impressed with that car and it’s pep, nimbleness, and economy.
I had one just like this, even the same colors.
It was a great car– routinely got 40mpg, gobs of cargo room with the seat folded– and I loved it right up until it returned to the ore state before my very eyes.
I had a 1980 Civic, Great car, it was parked in downtown Los Angeles across from the bus depot. A bus was parked without it’s e brake on and it rolled across Alameda St and TBoned my parked Civic turning it into a lovely V-Shape. It was totaled by insurance but guess what it still actually drove great!!
Kath and I had to sell our uber fun 1980 RX7 when our first baby was due. No room for a car seat apparently (trust me – I tried). So we bought a 1984 Honda Civic manual. Four doors, back seat, trunk, etc. – perfect for a new young family. Not as much fun as a RX7 but hey a Corvette was still to come in the future. That car hung in through 2 more kids and finally ended it’s run 16 years later when that 1st baby had her first accident. Pretty sure that car would still be running today – it was that good.
I was at the supermarket with my Wife a few months ago. As we walked back to our vehicle I remarked, “Our car is the oldest car in the parking lot! ” Our ’96 Explorer is one of our daily drivers. We haven’t had a car payment since we paid off our ’07 Mustang. Driving old cars is an experience that can be thrifty and satisfying, or it can be maddening with breakdowns. Sometimes it depends on your vigilance with the car’s needs or sometimes you just picked a bad example. But properly done, it sure is cheap.
I had an ’80 Hatchback. Same silver exterior, same red interior. The Feature car sure brings back memories.
The 1500 CVCC had an iron block and aluminum head, with the dreaded “3 barrel” Keihin carburetor. The 1300 CVCC, like mine, was an aluminum block, too.
Mine blew the #3 connecting rod through the oil filter at 58K in early 1994. Left me stranded on the interstate at midnight at -20F. I caught a ride home with a semi-truck. It’s the only connecting rod I’ve ever held in my had that broke without breaking either of the rod bolts. Tore a big chunk out of the block. The main bearings and the other three rod bearings looked like new.
I dropped in an engine rebuilt from a junkyard core. Drove the car for more than a decade, until about ’96–’97. By then, the heater was worthless even with cardboard in front of the radiator, and there were rust holes in so many body panels the car must have been thirty pounds lighter. The VALVE COVER had rust holes that oil would spurt from until I put a layer of epoxy over them.
Yeah, I had the car a long time. Yeah, it was J-U-N-K. By the time I got rid of it, pretty-much everything had been rebuilt at least once. More tires than you could shake a stick at.
Midas refused to put a new exhaust pipe on it. The genius there told me that the gas gauge said “Unleaded Fuel Only” and that meant the car had to have a catalytic converter. No, the 1300 CVCC in 1980 did not have a catalyst. The 1980 1500 CVCC did.
I’ll never buy another Honda.
Demand compensation from the Communist Chinese for the engineered virus they unleashed on the world.
Whoops. Meant to say the rod blew through the oil filter in 1984, not 1994.
I have a friend who is still driving this era of Civic wagon all over LA. She loves that car like a best friend.
My parents bought one of these new in 1981. Beige, radio delete, no ac. It was what i learned to drive in (5 speed) and my first car. I still have the sales brochures. I think they paid somewhere near 3k for it.
35mpg city/40 highway.
It was a good car but they had problems with the camshaft wear, replaced under warranty, then again around 100k.
Prior to receiving my mom rearended a stalled car on the highway going 45. She had minor injuries. Car was totaled but fairly intact and was repaired.
I sold it in 1996 with under 120k for around $500 I think.
It was economical, easy to work on, and a pleasure to drive. Very underpowered at 63hp, wouldnt pull a steep grade in 5th.
For a 25 year old car in the midwest it was rusty but not rusted out (Ziebarted). Fender wells were the only rust-through.
At 41 years I think of the car often.
I think of this car often.