Vehicle Sighting - 1975ish Honda Civic

[Number_35]

I don't know what it says about me, but I was way more interested in the 1st-gen Civic than the Porsche next to it. Note the CVCC decal on the back - I think that stood for Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion, which was Honda-speak for their interesting design in which the head had a small pre-combustion chamber bump-out for each cylinder, and a 2nd spark plug in each bump-out, fired to start the combustion process before the main spark plug was fired.

This led to a much cleaner-burning engine, and allowed Honda to delay installing catalytic converters for a couple of years after everyone else.

Note too the Hondamatic decal - this 2-speed automatic (semi-automatic?) caused gas mileage to plunge compared to Civics equipped with the 4-speed manual.

 

[fantastic]

That's neat and I'd do the same. Honda would get the double take.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Yup. CVCC morphed into Civic. Before that there was the Honda 600 Sedan; I think it used a de-tuned 450 motorcycle engine.

 

[vwmaniaman]

My son in Washington state has been restoring an 87 Honda wagon. He has it looking like new now and running like new too. found a wrecked one same color and all for parts. It is a really nice car now.

 

[Number_35]

My son in Washington state has been restoring an 87 Honda wagon. He has it looking like new now and running like new too. found a wrecked one same color and all for parts. It is a really nice car now.

That gen of Civic is very nice! Once again in the minority likely, I liked the wagon most, and the CRX least.

 

[Number_35]

Yup. CVCC morphed into Civic. Before that there was the Honda 600 Sedan; I think it used a de-tuned 450 motorcycle engine.

I think the Civic was first (c. MY1973 in North America), and CVCC was an engine option for MY1975 or so.

I remember the Honda 600 - they were neat, but too small for the American public. The Civic's introduction was perfectly timed, coming just before the gas crisis of late 1973 as a result of OPEC embargoing the US for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur war of October '73.

Edit: Here's the Wiki article on CVCC:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVCC

 

[Chris142]

Yup. CVCC morphed into Civic. Before that there was the Honda 600 Sedan; I think it used a de-tuned 450 motorcycle engine.

Had a teacher that drove one of those 2 stroke Honda cars. We would lift it up and put it on the trash dumpster often.

 

[fantastic]

That gen of Civic is very nice! Once again in the minority likely, I liked the wagon most, and the CRX least.

I really liked the crx's and at the end of their run had some sporty options that made it a small hatch commuter.

 

[Number_35]

I really liked the crx's and at the end of their run had some sporty options that made it a small hatch commuter.

Good cars for sure. I just preferred the look of the wagon.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Rode in one of those one time around 1975. A guy and his girl friend picked me up hitch hiking....... felt like being in a toy!

 

[Oillover]

My brother had one in the late 90s. IIRC it was yellow with the "Hondamatic".
I couldn't believe the trans only had two speeds.

 

[Rygrego]

Yup. CVCC morphed into Civic. Before that there was the Honda 600 Sedan; I think it used a de-tuned 450 motorcycle engine.

600CC twin cylinder with belt driven fan to cool the engine. I had a 71 N600 Sedan was a great little car for $1100 bucks in 1975.

 

[daves87rs]

Very cool!

 

[Number_35]

My brother had one in the late 90s. IIRC it was yellow with the "Hondamatic".
I couldn't believe the trans only had two speeds.

Likewise Toyota's Toyoglide, based on GM's 2-speed Powerglide. A friend in high school had an old Corona with the Toyoglide.

 

[Patman]

I’m almost as big a fan of Civics as I am of Corvettes! I love seeing the original ones that are still around! I often see a mint condition first gen in my neck of the woods. I have had three Civics, the first one was a new 2000 EX sedan, then I had a 2006 EX coupe for ten years and now have my 2016 LX coupe. My son has a 98 hatch as his daily driver. Someday I would love to have a second generation CRX! Sadly it’s really hard to find good ones up here because most of them died from rust

 

[Snagglefoot]

I don't know what it says about me, but I was way more interested in the 1st-gen Civic than the Porsche next to it. Note the CVCC decal on the back - I think that stood for Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion, which was Honda-speak for their interesting design in which the head had a small pre-combustion chamber bump-out for each cylinder, and a 2nd spark plug in each bump-out, fired to start the combustion process before the main spark plug was fired.

This led to a much cleaner-burning engine, and allowed Honda to delay installing catalytic converters for a couple of years after everyone else.

Note too the Hondamatic decal - this 2-speed automatic (semi-automatic?) caused gas mileage to plunge compared to Civics equipped with the 4-speed manual.

View attachment 228629
View attachment 228630

We had a 1976 with a CVCC. I rebuilt the engine. I recall that very small third valve and used a lapping compound to get a good seal on the valve seat. The rings were totally jammed in the groves and I used a broken piece of ring to chip out the carbon out of the grooves. Fun project.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

My son in Washington state has been restoring an 87 Honda wagon. He has it looking like new now and running like new too. found a wrecked one same color and all for parts. It is a really nice car now.

That is the way to do it. Using a parts car saves tons of time + money! He must be good with the tools as well I bet.

 

[michaelluscher]

I think the Civic was first (c. MY1973 in North America), and CVCC was an engine option for MY1975 or so.

I remember the Honda 600 - they were neat, but too small for the American public. The Civic's introduction was perfectly timed, coming just before the gas crisis of late 1973 as a result of OPEC embargoing the US for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur war of October '73.

Edit: Here's the Wiki article on CVCC:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVCC

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


For the JDM market too, hope your Japanese is better than mine


Just hope it never needs repair, as I hear that triple barrel carb is a nightmare to tune up properly
Vacuum hoses

Personal Anecdote: My dad tells a story of when he first noticed Japanese cars mainstreaming around here
Coming out of a pizzeria with his group of car guys on Cross Bay Boulevard c.1970
It being a coastline area, there's lots of OPE/Powersports/Marine, and there was dealer that also sold Honda motorcycles
The summer of '70 brought the little 600 Sedan to the US, the first cars Honda sold here on the east coast

Him and his friends laughed themselves silly, who would wanna drive around in that, as they got into contemporary desirable American iron (Chevelle SS, 340 Duster, Electra 225)
In retrospect, he looks back on his early prejudice, maybe he shouldn't have been laughing
Hindsight is 20/20

Ironic how Honda has lost its way these past few years

 

[fdcg27]

We had a '76 CVCC Civic 1500.
There was only one plug per cylinder.
Also, the three barrel carb pictured above is not the one used in this Civic, although it did use a three barrel carb.
I rebuilt the carb in ours at around 120K by carefully following the instructions that came with the kit and was rewarded with notably smoother running and a better idle. There was a hose factory explosion of vacuum lines, but they were apparently of good quality since I never had any problems with vacuum leaks.
One of the quirks of these things was that they had a manual choke. The distributor used points, easy to understand and diagnose.
The car was like a go-kart to drive, so small and very firmly sprung, happy to rev and a very nice shifter, in common with all pre-cable Honda shifters.
Fuel economy averaged mid-thirties, nothing exceptional by current standards, but very good back then.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

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


For the JDM market too, hope your Japanese is better than mine


Just hope it never needs repair, as I hear that triple barrel carb is a nightmare to tune up properly
Vacuum hoses
View attachment 228705

Personal Anecdote: My dad tells a story of when he first noticed Japanese cars mainstreaming around here
Coming out of a pizzeria with his group of car guys on Cross Bay Boulevard c.1970
It being a coastline area, there's lots of OPE/Powersports/Marine, and there was dealer that also sold Honda motorcycles
The summer of '70 brought the little 600 Sedan to the US, the first cars Honda sold here on the east coast

Him and his friends laughed themselves silly, who would wanna drive around in that, as they got into contemporary desirable American iron (Chevelle SS, 340 Duster, Electra 225)
In retrospect, he looks back on his early prejudice, maybe he shouldn't have been laughing
Hindsight is 20/20

Ironic how Honda has lost its way these past few years

I love that story!
We been in Honda (cars) only since the 1990s. I was initially very upset about the Honda diluter engines but the wife's car is one and that is the only flaw I can find with it. Have a big decision coming soon of "are we going to really buy another Honda or...?" Mean while I keep getting haunted on the roads daily by the Dodge Chargers I still lust over and wife and I keep planning to test drive even though that makes no sense with both of us having back issues.