Vehicle Sighting - 1975ish Honda Civic

[Number_35]

Soichiro Honda checked GM engineers hard with CVCC
Engineer W

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/aut...omotive-history-soichiro-honda-spanks-gm-ceo/

During said fuel shortages, CVCC could run on leaded/low lead/unleaded, as they didn't need a catalytic converter to meet 1974 emissions standards
By the late 70's and in California, they did eventually need to add a catalyst, but they got a few good years marketing edge out of it.

Thanks for the linked CC story. Daniel Stern is a brilliant writer, one of my favourites.

 

[Opelman]

When I was a kid, dad bought a brand new orange 1975 CVCC. It served him well for years on a long commute. Even in Southern CA it cancered from the inside out without ever seeing snow or much rain. Dad kept it waxed and the paint looked new on the parts that didn't fall off from rust. Junk at 10 years old. Worst part is he sold a Porsche 356c to get the Honda.

 

[addyguy]

Just found this thread!
My step-mom had a brown 1978 Civic CVCC 5-speed. Said it was a really reliable car that needed nothing but brakes and oil changes for 6 years of daily driving.
For an economy car, they had a very light, ‘sporty’ feel to them - way ahead of other 70’s vehicles.
Years later I had an ‘86 Civic 5-speed with the 1500 CVCC engine and the manual choke. Ran rough in wet weather, but beside that was very reliable.
Really bad rust was a problem with the 70’s Civics; hers was rusted to nothing by 10 years old, the drivers seat was actually starting to fall out of it!

 

[tcp71]

During high school there was a friend with one of those in some gold color. Hondamatic 2 speed. We'd pile 5 teenage boys into that thing to get around and remember the engine winding up a lot before shifting into second gear. A lot like a two speed 50cc scooter...