I present, "The Grey Hag"!
I finally got sick of paying $10 a day in gas for a thirty-mile-a-day commute in my Impala so I picked up this bad-boy off of craigslist for a cool $1000. She is a 1983 Honda Civic sporting a carbureted 1500cc mated to a 5spd. A cool 67hp is all that's required to push this 1-ton tin can on wheels down the road at 60mph.
For budgeting purposes I estimated her gas mileage at a conservative 30mpg. I plan on keeping my current gas budget but using the surplus money at the end of each month to pay back the savings account. I figure I can have it completely paid back in 10 months (sooner if the gas mileage is better). 
The tires are going to need changing soon, it seems like the fast idle was hanging in city driving (it would idle at 2krpm but kick down if I stabbed the gas pedal), and the interior cloth tears apart pretty easy. Other than that she's original down to the stereo system.
I didn't think I would, but I actually dig the heck out of this little Honda.
Good times,
-Bill
I had an '80 civic. Same color. It ran like a top until it blew a head gasket. Replaced the head and got another 100k out of it. It got about 35mpg as I recall. YMMV
My older cousin had a 78 or 79 one of these as his first car. Thing was kinda rusty but gawddamn did it run like a top. Great purchase!!
Megasquirt and a turbo! :)
Don't get run over by any texting asshats driving SUV's!
So jealous, those never even pop up for sale around here.
The head gasket on this was just replaced (and all associated gaskets). Apparently the previous owner went to top off the oil and noticed some grey buildup around the oil filler cap and ran it to his mechanic.
I plan on running this beast till it cant possibly go another mile, then I'll swap in a B16 and do it all over again 
I really really thought I'd hate this thing. I only got it because it was the cheapest "gas-saver" on craigslist who's advertisement didn't say something stupid like "only needs 2-new cylinders to be purfekt" or "it has a bad skribbida cap and it could use a new cadillac converter".
I have to get used to its "nimble-ness" though. It doesn't need near the throttle/brake/steering inputs that my Impala needs. The result is me driving like I'm on speed.
More pictures soon. I promise.
(don't tell my wife, but I really really like this car)
I approve. Simple cars like that can be refreshing.
Love those old Hondas---- the harder you drive them, the more they like it!
In reply to Hungary Bill:
No more than 15 minutes after reading your post, I found this on CL. I've only ever seen one other CVCC on CL.
I can't wait to get to that part of the country. Sooooo many cheap, weird and relatively rust free cars. I'm going to end up living in a double-wide surrounded by 30 vehicles haha.
I had one of those! Drove the he'll out of that thing and loved it.
Oh man...Does it have the red interior? I had that car for about 2 years. $200 and a mazda GLC is what I paid for it. Great little car except when I had to cross the continental divide in that car. That was not fun.
Other than that, I loved the car.
30 mpg is WILDLY conservative.
We had a ’95 four-door 5-speed with the big hairy chested 1.8L and you couldn’t possibly get less than 38 mpg.
Seriously…flogging it with four adults and the AC blowing = 38 mpg. Steady cruise at high 70’s indicated mph with a light load and no AC would yield 45 mpg.
Congratulations on the excellent find!
I’m not surprised by how much you like it…better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.
Agree with above. We had an '83 we got new when I was a kid. Parents and three kids would go on 8 hour road trips to see family about 4 times a year. Misery, but the car got 45mpg fully loaded. If you're only getting 30, something's wrong with it.
Sounds like a great car to ecomod. Any Honda that old is a pile of rust over here.
Great pick up. Just beware of hipsters, they would kill for that kind of rolling ironic uncool coolness.
Cool little car. I hope it's closer to 45mpg for you as you aren't figuring insurance and title in your payback!
Low pressure high CR turbo for extra efficiency?
cdowd
Reader
5/7/14 12:09 p.m.
my mother had a 79 civic and a 81 civic wagon. the 79 went 750k before some kid rolled it in a parking lot. the wagon went for around 350k before it returned to the earth via rust.
My '88 CRX HF was that color.
Perfect car for a college student- most of the time I got 50mpg. That droped to 45mpg when I got performance tires.
Couple of times, I somehow managed 63mpg (yes, that exactly- I remember, as I recorded my milaged at every fill up- the 63's were surrounded by high 50's, so it was real).
I even used it as my car to camp around the country.
Ah, good memories.
Have fun with it! While the GTV6 is getting finished.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
Cool little car. I hope it's closer to 45mpg for you as you aren't figuring insurance and title in your payback!
Low pressure high CR turbo for extra efficiency?
Insurance was a bonus :)
Old Impala + Saab insurance was $220 a month
Honda + Saab insurance is $180 a month
Impala is now on classic car insurance $220 a year 
I'm still dying to see what this car gets per gallon, but the damn tank wont empty! I bought it at 3/4 tank, and I had to drive it more than 100 miles by now and it's still above 1/4 (just below 1/2 actually).
Tell this car to drink something so I can fill it up and start my mileage check!@
