At 12′-4″ long, this 1,670-pound 1980 Honda Civic 1500 GL would be an incredibly fun project to get back on the road again. It looks to be in nice condition, other than the missing driver’s door trim and a couple of things inside. The seller has this 26,554-mile car posted here on craigslist in Keenesburg, Colorado, and they’re asking $2,200. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mike F. for the tip!
The seller says this car sat in a backyard most of its life, and that’s scary, rodent-wise. Colorado is known for having an enormous amount of rodents sneaking around, chewing soft parts and wiring, so that would be my biggest worry here. Of course, every state has them, but I think of the West and Southwest as having a bigger share. In any case, the seller doesn’t mention any such damage, so all that worrying could have been for nothing.
The second-generation Civic was made for the 1980 through 1983 model years, and they were a crisp update to the original Civic. They were only four inches longer than the first-gen cars, but they just seemed bigger. They say this Rhodes Red car is 100% original and complete. Well, other than the missing driver’s door trim, unless that’s hidden inside somewhere. We don’t get to see inside the rear cargo compartment, and there are no underside photos.
I expected to see corduroy fabric seats, but these appear to be velour. Maybe it’s a trick of the camera. I believe this car has a 4-speed manual rather than a 5-speed manual, as there’s no 5-speed badge below the 1500GL trim on the hatchback. They are cute little things, aren’t they? I don’t say the word cute too often, just for the record.
The engine is Honda’s 1.5-liter SOHC inline-four CVCC II (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion II), and around 70 horsepower and 78 lb-ft of torque when new. Sending power through the manual to the front wheels, the seller says this one needs a new fuel system and to have the carb cleaned. I’m not sure what “needs a new fuel system” means, but a quick message to the seller would be in order for anyone interested. Are you up for bringing this Civic back to life again?
I purchased a new 1983 Civic wagon, very much like this car. It was a great car- comfortable, practical and fuel efficient. Hondas were so popular then (at least in California) that they were on an allocation basis- only so many of each model per dealer per month. I was completing the paperwork when another salesperson came in and announced that they had sold the (only) tan wagon. I was bummed, but two days later, my salesperson called me to tell me that the other people’s financing fell through. I jumped on it, and drove it for six years. I’ve mentioned that I was in the aftermarket accessories business. My Honda was our high end audio demo car- triamplified, separate tweeters and mids, subwoofers, electronic crossovers, etc., all hidden away to look as if the interior was stock. If a customer came in looking to spend some serious money on a premium audio system, I would have them spend some time in my car. Listening to some Van Halen and Boston at elevated volume levels (but amazingly crisp and clean) usually sealed the sale. I used to say, if you didn’t have a stomach ache afterwards from being compressed by the deep bass, then it wasn’t loud enough. 😉 And yes, I am fairly deaf at this point in my life…
Really now, am I the only one who laughs at these hoaky mileage claims? Let’s all take dibs on how many times that hemi been around. This car had 25K when the Ol’ Gipper took office. By 1980, Honda had cemented their name with the Civic. If rust didn’t waste them, the interference motor did when the belt broke. At just $4945 new, ( that stereo Godzilla speaks of was almost $250 alone) they were designed as throw away cars. There were literally PILES of them in junkyards.
The Civic, the Corolla, the B210, the Gremlin( just added that for glitz) changed everything and how and what we drove. Like all these Asian loyal car buyers, once a Civic, always a Civic. I read over 30 million Civics were sold, 12 million in the US, making it the best selling car of all time and it started right here. That’s impressive.
I am on my phone but the steering wheel and pedals look pretty decent. This were all over the place and rightly so. They were priced right and they were quite dependable and fuel efficient. These were simple cars with great engineering. Be nice if the auto world went back towards this but federal mandated safety equipment would not it allow it.
I think that’s a Massachusetts inspection sticker in the lower right corner of the windshield and a City of Boston neighborhood resident parking sticker in the lower corner of the back glass. If this car had anything approaching “normal” mileage for its age, it would have disintegrated into a pile of rust by now. If this car did indeed originate in Mass. its condition is consistent with low mileage.
The Honda OEM stereo may have been $250, but the one that I referred to was worth considerably more. When doing a custom installation like that, you have to essentially gut the interior aft of the dashboard to hide everything. The disassembly/reassembly process alone gets expensive, plus a lot of custom fabrication. When you are done, however, you have exquisite sound and a stock looking interior. My tape deck was hidden, and to prevent theft, I had a spare radio wiring harness that I would stick into the OEM radio opening and drape over the center console, making it appear that the radio had already been stolen. I parked it in numerous big cities- never an issue. 😉
26k miles on THAT? Yeah, and I’m Donald Trump.
Don’t say that Terrry, somebody’s liable to shoot at you or vote for you! :-)
I was working at a Honda dealership at this time. This is the GL trim which in fact had a fabric velour type seat covering and it would have come with a 5 speed transmission. Considered the top of the line for this year and model and some would opt for adding A/C which would put it over the top.
Thanks, CRT! That’s what I thought, but I saw brochures that showed a “5-Speed” badge below the 1500GL badge on the hatchback, so I wasn’t positive.
i have an 81 GL and it has the 5 speed badge on the trunk lid.
That odometer has rolled over at least once however these little cars are great for towing behind your RV because they are under 2000 lbs so in most states your not required to have a brake buddy when towing and for now days it has the factory anti theft transmission.
I see a gto in the background
126k
That would have been some of the roughest 26k miles… why do sellers even try such obviously false claims?
Otherwise these were good little cars, reliable and with a dose of Honda fun thrown in.
similar to the same era blue Starlett we turboed for the strip.
800 + HP, 2.7L, 8 sec car. “If U come back it must havea parachute!”