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HONDA CIVIC HISTORY: 1973-1979 1st GEN CIVIC
The 1973 Civic début could not have come at a more opportune time. The Civic's design was cute and possessed a particularly clean and fuel-efficient engine in a small package. The hatchback Civic tapped into the European demand for small, agile and economical cars, shortly after the Renault 5 and Fiat 127 laid the foundation for the now enormous mini-car market. It may not have been the first front-wheel drive small hatchback, but it certainly made an impact. The Civic was even embraced in North America as the fuel crisis that gripped America a year later saw sales of the little Honda take off, partly because it was economical and reliable, and partly because there were no efficient domestic offerings.
The Civic offered amazing space efficiency in a fun little car that achieved more than 40 mpg on the highway. Room for four passengers was quite a feat for a car that possessed such diminutive dimensions as an 86.6-inch wheelbase and 139.8-inch overall length. A small transversely mounted engine and front-wheel-drive layout (an arrangement that was something of a novelty to the American car market) and 12-inch wheels maximized interior room. Indeed, early ads for the Civic boasted that it had more passenger room than many larger cars. Two similar body styles were available, a hatchback and a "sedan." These Civics were identical, even the rear of the cars looked the same, except that one had a hatchback and the other had a small vertical panel that opened to allow access to the "trunk." The early Civic (73-77) had a few style quirks, such as turn signal lights that looked as if they were added on after the car was already built and a bulging center divider in the grille. Standard equipment included power front disc brakes, vinyl seating, reclining bucket seats and a woodgrain-accented dashboard. The hatchback added a fold-down rear seat, an AM radio and cloth upholstery. Options were minimal, consisting of air conditioning, a Hondautomatic transmission, radial tires and a rear wiper for the hatchback.
A 1,169cc (or about 70-cubic-inch) inline four-cylinder engine
motivated the first-year Civic and put out 50 horsepower. This was
an impressive output when considered in terms of power per unit of
displacement: The Civic had 0.71 horsepower per cubic inch. And with
a weight of only around 1,500 pounds, a whole lot of power wasn't
needed to propel the Civic. Transmissions offered included a
four-speed manual or a two-speed "Hondamatic" automatic gearbox. An
all-independent suspension made the Civic an agile econobox that
could run circles around American-built competitors like the Ford
Pinto and Chevrolet Vega.
The CVCC (or Controlled Vortex Combustion Chamber) engine debuted in 1975. Offered alongside the standard Civic engine, the 53-horsepower CVCC engine displaced 1,488 cc and had a head design that promoted cleaner, more efficient combustion. The CVCC design eliminated a need for a catalytic converter or unleaded fuel to meet emissions standards. (Nearly every other U.S. market car for this year underwent the change to exhaust catalysts and the requirement to use only unleaded fuel.) Due to California's stricter emissions standards, only the Civic CVCC was available in that state. A five-speed manual gearbox became available this year, as did a Civic station wagon (only with the CVCC engine), which had a wheelbase of 89.9 inches and an overall length of 160 inches. Civic sales topped 100,000 units for this year.
1978 brought slight cosmetic changes, such as a black grille, rear-facing hood vents (that replaced the sideways versions) and new turn signals. The easiest way to tell a '78 from an earlier example is to look at the front signals: Prior to 1978, they looked like foglights mounted in the Civic's grille, whereas in 1978 they were smaller and mounted under the bumper. The CVCC engine was now rated at 60 horsepower.
Apart from a minor increase in horsepower that brought the base engine to 55 horsepower and the CVCC to 63 ponies, little changed for the 1979 Civic.
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