Memories of the First Car I Owned – a 1981 Honda Civic

Thinking about my first car, a 1981 Honda Civic, reminded me of how many years have passed since driving it, and how life has changed in the last 20 some years. Gas prices, technology and lifestyle have all progressed. Thank goodness my vehicle has too. My 1981 Honda Civi was a good, dependable car that made some memories possible along the way.

When I had graduated from high school (during which I did not have a car – torture!), I decided to attend the local community college. My older brother was selling his 1981 Honda Civic for $300 since he had just purchased a newer car. I gave him the cash and he sold me the car. It was a mostly white, slightly-going-on-pretty rusted, manual transmission, two-door hatchback with 160,000 miles on it. The good part, besides being cheap, the car also got 40+ miles per gallon. I knew the car was in decent shape on the inside, it was just the outside that wasn’t very pretty.

I had learned to drive a manual transmission on my friend’s Subaru Legacy wagon. She was (and still is) a good friend to let me grind the gears on her tough little car while I learned to shift without stalling. I turned to her to learn after a really bad driving lesson with my dad on his really old, heavy clutch in his 1980-something Ford F150.

I started commuting to school that fall in my Honda Civic, and loved that I could fill up my gas tank for around $10.00. That was back in the day when gasoline was under $1.00 per gallon. Oh how sweet that was! I also drove that car to work at a local Kroger grocery store five days per week, to and from friend’s houses, and all over Southern Illinois.

One of the most vivid memories of my 1981 Honda Civic was a day I was driving to work during the summer. I was coming to a stop light, which was green, and when I down-shifted to slow for a left-hand turn, I heard a loud snapping sound. I felt for the gear to kick in, but it didn’t. The clutch had snapped. I white-knuckled the steering wheel, hoping to have enough momentum to make it through the traffic light AND the turn AND make it to the side of the road. Fortunately, I did. I was also in town so I had several places to use a phone. Oh, the days before cell phones!

I remember getting to drive my friend’s really nice, really new Camaro after getting off work one night. While backing it up in the parking lot, I backed right into the passenger door of my Honda Civic. The door on my car still opened – most of the way – after that.

Over time things started to not work very well on the Honda Civic, but it was still running. There was a loud grinding sound coming from the front wheel, the gas mileage started to taper, and even though my dad changed the oil and filter in it regularly, the Civic started smoking out the tailpipe.

Eventually I sold that 1981 Honda Civic to a friend – two years after purchasing it – for $250. That person knew the car and the history, and fortunately they were mechanically inclined.

Source:

Personal Experience