60 replies to this topic

[Ryland]

I was raised in VW's, beetles, buss, rabbits, so of course I knew people fixed their own cars, then my oldest brother got a 1981 civic wagon, had it for a few years without a single problem, untill he totaled it head on in to a power line pole, a few years latter I got in to motorcycles, totaly ignoring cars because most of what I was seeing were way to big for my taste, first motorcycle I got was a 1967 cl160 with a seezed engine, I hardly knew how a gas engine worked, so I rebuilt it from the ground up, then moved on to a yamaha (rd 350) where I realized that Honda had some solid things going for them, so I got some more honda bikes, finding that they were all extreamly well built, so I started noticing the civics too, wondering if they were built as well as the bikes, the more I read, the more I liked them, altho it seemed like the newer they were the bigger they were, and I like little cars, light weight and under powered if possible, then my best friend found it time to buy a new car, I instantly told him that if he got a honda he would not be let down, so for $250 he got a '85 sedan with 7 bent valves, he said "it has more pep then all the other cars I've driven, imagine what it would be like with straight valves" after replacing the engine we did crose country road trip, getting in two miner acedents, giving us the chance to take apart the front end, and straightening it with hammers and vise grips, making us even more impressed with how the car was built, besides, I'm 6 foot tall, and he 6' 4" and having head/leg room we were so impressed!
So when my need for a enclosed vehicle came I had a good idea what I wanted, while travling a back road I spoted it, a 1984 hatch, in near perfect condition and at a price I could aford, of course my parents thought I was crazy for buying something 20 years old untill they saw it, and road in it, it was a great car, never let me down, I hauled camping gear, people, a whole tree (~700lbs of wood +2 people), I even got the hatch to close when I got a new mattress, the salesman said "you have a truck to load this thing in?" he couldn't beleave it fit.
Then it got hit, and life hasn't been the same, rear ended hard enough to shift the rear axle 3 inches, so I desided I wanted something simaler, if not smaller, the rest of the family seems to have moved on to toyotas, but I think I'll stick with my '85 CRX and handful of honda bikes, at least untill someone makes something better that I can afford/fix.

[kedwards]

Bought my first Honda in 1988, a '79 Accord hatch with 59,000 miles. It needed a bumper, grille, hood, and windshield. Cost was $350, drove it home, and drove it for many more miles.

I went through another 1st gen. Accord or two, an '85 Civic 4-speed, and my wife's '85 Civic Wagon 4WD (which we still have).

Bought my first CRX in '94, due to a nice autox article in Grassroots Motor Sports. I still have it, as well as 4 other 1st gen. CRXs.

Keith, who has been used to driving small 2-seat sports cars, since 1973...

[zackspeed]

I grew up watching my dad work on Porsche,VW,and british cars. We used to go to the Chimney Rock Hillclimb and I was a big fan of Jack Bumgardners mini becouse he was always the man to beat. Then a guy with a 74 civic started to realy give him a run for his money and in 84 he took the win and I was sold. Then the next year we went to the runoffs like we did every year and thats when I saw the Mugen CRX and it was the fastest car on the track. They where out running gt1 and gt2 cars like it was nothing. I was so impressed for a little jap car to chase down and then pass a Ferrari 308 gts made me say damn and on top of that the crx was a completly stock unibody not a tube frame. This brought new meaning to race on sunday sell on monday as you could buy a stock car and it was the same car they where racing except the power and suspension.

Then that same year Sionara bought his car and he began to buy all the Jackson Racing parts for the car and brought them to my dad to have instaled. That was the first time I could look at the car and realy check it out. Once my dad finished instaling all the parts he drove it and was so impressed. This car was faster than the GTI stock but with a little mods it would walk the dog on any VW. 13 years later i was working in tire shop and sionara brought his car up there and we got to talking and realized that this was the same car that my dad worked on and thats when we both started auto-x. There is no honda that compares to the ballade!!!

[76kcfdeng]

My 2nd car was a 76 Datsun B210 in 1979, cheapo car. What a tin can but it handled way better than my 69 Pontiac. It also took a lickin and kept on tickin, jumped, slid, sunk, 10 people for a ride, etc.... Drove it till 1986 when I sold it still running, needed a clutch. I have been a fan of Japanese cars since, mainly for reliability. I bought my rex in 2000 because gas was expensive and I saw it on the street for sale. I liked the looks but knew nothing about them. It had a couple problems so I searched the internet for a fix and found the CRX resource and the rest is history. Now it is a sickness and I know more about this car than any other I own. Nothing to do with F&F.
Glen

[Si-ONARA]

Zackspeed its nice to hear that my car helped with the your 1st gen addiction. You're Dad was a big help when I first got the car, I didn't know anything about cars. After you're Dad put the jackson Racing suspension under the car and got the header and exhaust finished I would go out and challange anyone I could find on a mountain road. And the car never lost. The car would leave people so far in the dust I would pull over hide in a driveway let them get by me and I would come flying up from behind and pass them just to really piss them off.

[Vandemar]

I bought (and drag raced) an '02 Cavalier Z24 sedan, and got to know some of the local Neon and Honda guys from hanging out at the drag strip. At one point, I got to drive an EP Si (with Ground Controls, and otherwise stock) on a food run, and got hooked . My Z24 had at least half a second on him in the 1/4, but the overall feel of the Si was worlds better. Since then, I've owned an '87 Si, another '87 Si for a parts car (chassis was shot from rust & bad bodywork, but it had a clean interior & D16A1), an '87 DX (I thought it'd work as a street car with lots of suspension work & Mikunis on the D16A1 ), and now a '91 Si hatch.

[AMightyWind]

It was about 3 years ago when I was searching for a 4x4 to deal with the northern Jersey winters. I just was tired of shoveling my way home in the BMW. They absolutely suck in the snow. I was debating what to get. I was going to trade in the BMW and get an X5, but as much as I like trucks I do not want to drive one all year. So I wa shopping on eBay for a truck, and I thought I was going to get a Pilot, when I saw the CRX. I would see them occasionally here and there and thought they were the coolest things. Anyway, I forgot about the Pilot and went and bought a mint Geo Tracker with low miles for the winter. But more importantly, I found a beautiful 87 Si about 75 miles from me near the Jersey shore. I bought it from a couple whose son and daughter were selling their car to move to NYC to become broadway stars. I took the car out for a test drive and it was so much fun. His son wanted $2500 and after looking at about $4000 in repairs they sank into the car over the previous 4 years, I felt that was totally fair (and I was supporting the arts LOL).
I have enjoyed driving the car everywhere since. I never have any major problems (last year was the first problem I had, I needed an new wiring harness) with it, just general maintenance.

Well, I had one bad experience. A chipmonk decided to build a nest in my vents ( I was away and hadn't driven the car in a month) . I turned on the A/C fan and literally had chopped nuts all over the floor of the car. It was $800.00 worth of damages, everything got fried. There was about half a shopping bag full of leaves, acorns, and debris that was pulled from the ducts. I needed a new blower motor and other things. But other than a deranged chipmonk, no other problems.

[RedSIBaron]

Well...lets see, first i got turned off by hondas when i was about 4 years old in 1990 because my dad had his 84 DX Hatch (full race suspension, teg brakes and plans for a full mugen ZC motor) because he couldnt have his formula ford anymore so he had his little rocket...well it was so stiff that it hurt and i didnt want to ride in the back...then he got my red si when he wanted to keep miles off his van back around 2000 (i think)...so he told me that it was my first car, so after the front left balljoint separated and destroyed the left side suspension i started working on it to fix it and realized "hey this working on car thing is fun, now i want it to be faster" and i understood why my dad had been obsessed with cars since he was 12 (now 57). so yah, thats how it was...and it was good

[crensign]

my first car was a 92 bonneville SSEI the supercharger one. my mom and dad bought it for me when i got my license from our next door neighbor (they didn't know it was superchargered.... and i didn't say anything!!! :-) ) my buddy had a very very nice looking 86 honda accord. i had to have it and his wife liked my bonneville so i traded and got 500 bucks cash. i took the cash and got as much stuff as i could for a 86 accord. which wasn't much i might add as it was carbed. i put a exhaust not full just a can.. i bought some primer because it was a cool thing then to ride around in primer.. as all my friends were doing it.. got some speakers and a amp and don't forget them 13inch rims i got. well i had the car for about a year. and then traded it in for a 96 accord and that is were the true love for hondas came from... to this day i still miss my accord. now i have my 86 with the b16 and wouldn't sell it for the world now. wouldn't have got rid of of my 96 but my father passed and my mom needed a new car. love for my mom is stronger then the love for my hondas.. i tried for about 8 months to track the car back down when i had to funds to buy it back but was unsuccessful.

well my honda turn was back in 94 and a half or 95

[savestheday]

even though i havent been driving long hondas have just been great. truthfully the double wishbone suspension and easy modding of early ninty's got me into them and my family is a racing family (go SCCA). But now i've fallen in love with these torsion bar monsters.

[Kurt]

About 9 years ago I was getting around in a worked fiat 124. The fiat was one nice little car, its 2lt twin cam could toast both of its 235 wide tyers and sound all so sweet doing it.

Now this car looked and went like great but it wasn't an easy car to own the little problems that only Italian cars seem to have and the trouble it got me with the boys in blue was to much. I just had to part company and find somthing boring, reliable and slow.

A metalic brown 1984 honda civic with its gutless carby 80hp engine and some crazy ass body roll was just what I wanted. The car was very teat and had reputation for reliability. The cops were off my back and all was good.

What I didn't understand was that by buying a 84 civic I was not going to kill the REV HEAD in me, It just took it as a chalange and with in days of taking the keys I was pushing that little 12valve engine and every last one of its 80hp to the max.

It was about 6 months later in 1996 when a friend of mine showed me under the hood of his 86 Integra and from what I could see things where not much differant to my little civic. There wasn't much on the net at that time about swaps and no one new for sure if that engine could be fitted.

I took a risk and bort a wrecked 86 integra. A couple of weeks past before that twin cam ZC was stuffed into that little civic. I wasn't expecting much from 135hp but what I hadn't taken into acount was the 800kg that it was pulling. I can still remember that day when I pulled out onto the street 165/60/13 tyers 800kg and 135hp EFI twin cam. After the first stab at the gas I had the biggest smile.

Now the guys at work had hung shit on my new boring slow little civic and I had told them nothing of my engine swap. Monday knock off time was some funny shit. Some of the guys were out side work talking in the car park. I costed up to them and had a bit of a chat out the window of my civic and as usual I coped some coment about smoke the tyers just don't stall it and how his little sister has a BMX that would be a good match up bla bla bla.

It was time, the hand break came on Revs came up to about 5000rpm clutch came out and the little pizza cutter 165 tyers spun and spun then spun some more as time past and the smoke filled the intire car park, people started gathering at the windows to see what was creating all this smoke. I couldn't see how many came to see, But boy did I hear about it the next day.

It has been my little beast for 9 years now. I have allways liked how a car that is 20 years old can still play with the big guns of today honda did well and I love putting it to good use.

[ballade]

Love that story

[85c-rex]

i have liked hondas since the mid-90s when my moms friend had an 86 prelude 2.0 si that was really quick and a lot of fun. I origianally wanted a lude or a civic, but my grandmother decided to stop driving due to macular degenration and she asked me if i wanted her car. And instead of getting a buick like most grandmothers would drive, I got her 85 Crx. I thought it was a good little car and handled amazingly, but until i found this site last summer, it was just a car. now its an addiction...an addiction to which i will not buy the patch!

-Alex

[badpenny]

I just found this post. Nothing like reviving a dead post.


"I never want a jap car" me circa 1983. My mom had just wrecked her '75(?) subaru. (I loved that car) It looked alot like the datsun of that same time (you know flat front small slope to a tiny trunk) I remember curling up in a ball in the rear windshield and sleeping on trips from dallas to houston. And we never stopped for gas, this made my dad very happy. Until my mom wrecked it, then my dad couldn't find parts for it. My dad felt useless, cause it was his way of being superman. My dad was a muscle car nut. He's from Cali a military brat. He used to work in a VW shop doing overbores on those engines for performance. He would always tell me, "the only difference between a VW and a Porchse was the pistons, and if you get one I'll show you what to do to make this thing perform." This was said in the early 80's everything seemed like it was very expensive. So that dream was never realized. The closest it came was my dad bought a carman ghia wagon for like 200 bucks then spent the next 3 months and about 250 bucks to fix the rust and tune the engine right. He sold it in 86 for 1500 bucks, at my mothers request. That was the down payment on their first house. Then came the datsun wagon. right off the show room floor. My mom was happy, she didn't like old cars. 1500 miles and one hell of an upside down loan. the block cracked. My dad still to this day tells me it was just one of those things. he doesn't know what happened. So he sells the car for parts to a mechanics shop and takes the money and gets my mom an 85 buick skylark and he got a 79 mustang mach one. both cars were awesome cuz I got to start the skylark in the mornings and get dropped off at school (im 13 at this time) in the mustang (I now had achieved cool status) The buick would not die. It wouldn't run half the time either so my dad sold it and got a nova.(big engine) My mom hated it. she couldn't control the rear end whenever it rained.(we put about 250 lbs of cinderblocks in the back)just so she would feel safe. The mustang had to go back, payments were eating my dad alive. He got a 75(?) cvcc It had a rear window that looked like someone had cut out the sheet metal and put a large black O'ring witha window and superglued it there.(somewhat funny lookin) The nova was supposed to be my 1st car, now in retrospect Im glad it wasnt. The honda was great. my dad bought it for 100 bucks tuned it just to get it running right, and sold it for 900. (This is where I became a honda fan, Pre f&F circa 87) The nova got sold. My first civic didn't come around until '93 I wanted a early model prelude or accord. (It didnt matter they all looked the same to me) I just knew I did not like the look of the 85 accord. I ran across a 80 CiViCC 5speed 1500 thats how it was posted on the rear hatch (which I did not look @) I thought it was an accord I loved it. bought it for 400 bucks. My second car. And I knew they were good on gas. Then when I started having blow by on it I traded it out.(big mistake). Two years pass and my friend has a 1987 civic he wants to sell or trade so he can get a truck. The dealer offers 1500 for it and my friend tells me, you know about this car, you've worked on this car(and I did it was so simple to work on) he asked if i wanted it for 1000, and I honestly wont have any other untill these parts cannnot be found anymore, and hopefully with this site I have even more years to enjoy with it.

[jonesy]

First car: 1977 Civic. Just a nice little car that got me to high school and such(I was only 17...). That and I'll never forget the night we squashed 7 people into it. I know that doesn't sound that impressive, but remember that I was 6'3" at this point....

Came up to a street light one night and up pulls this CRX. Lowered, tinted, loud muffler, hey, wow, that thing is pretty cool, Except that it's painted purple. But it had cool graphics on it (for 93 at least) so that made up for it. Went home and started messing with the '77 the next day. Weber 36, etc...

Kept messing with Imports for a lot of years, but fell into the trap of big displacement motors for a number of years. I'll always miss all that torque....

Fast forward 10 years....

Just sold my 90 CRX, was looking for a 1st gen due to the fact that the 90 was basically a bolt on everything kind of car, and I missed having to think beyond my toolbox to enjoy modifying my car. Had a contact at a local towing yard and recieved a phone call regarding a 1st gen CRX they had in with a broken timing belt. The car had been sitting there for more than a month and had accrued so much $$$ in impound fees that the owner didn't want it. Bought it sight unseen over the phone for $250.

Go down to pick it up the next morning, and lo and behold, the same purple 1st gen that got me interested in hot rodding imports in the first place. Hate the color, but I just had to keep the car. Kinda seems like destiny to me....

jonesy