Civic Pride: A Visual History of the Honda Civic

Jan 30, 2015 | News

When the Honda Civic splashed down on our shores for the 1973 model year, it might as well have been an alien transport pod. Sporting a transversely mounted engine, front-wheel drive, a fully independent suspension, quirky-cute styling, and room for four, the Honda Civic was everything the current domestic small cars weren't. While models like the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto made their best attempts to downsize Detroit's rear-wheel-drive legacy into smaller, more efficient packages for a nation beset by fuel shortages and a petering economy, Honda simply built the best car it could. Underscoring its underdog status was Honda's humble “It'll get you where you're going” tagline. To rub it in, the Honda was actually kind fun to drive, in an early 1970s kind of way. Which is to say that, at roughly 1500 pounds, its 50-hp 1169-cc four-cylinder at least had a fighting chance. Even better, it liked to rev, and the four-speed manual was already hinting at the greatness of Honda shifters to come.

<img width="150" height="150" src="http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1974_Honda_Civic-150×150.jpg" alt="In 1974, Honda bumped the Civic's engine up a few cc's for a total of 1237. Horsepower was up by two for a total …read more

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