At some point in our lives, at least for most of us, we’ve needed a basic car to serve as cheap, useful transportation – just a cheap ride. It doesn’t get much cheaper than this 1983 Honda Civic Wagon. This cheap ride is listed here on eBay with a $1,600 buy-it-now price or you can make an offer. It’s located in beautiful, warm, relatively-dry Sacramento, California.
I bought a light blue car from Sacramento almost a year ago and like this Civic wagon it doesn’t have an ounce of rust on it, but parts of the paint are faded from the sun – not quite as much as they’re faded on this Civic, though. That just makes me want to move there even more. Being from the upper-Midwest, we don’t get zero inches of snow and 270 days of sunshine every year. That much sun can wreak havoc with rubber bits and my sunroof seal/gasket is toast, but I’ll take that over rust any day of the week.
Like the paint, the black bumpers are faded and dull and you can see a few little dings on the passenger side. But again, no rust is no rust is no rust. Missing from the rear hatch, or not missing, but not there on this example, is a “Hondamatic” emblem. Yes, this car has Honda’s two-speed automatic; bummer, although it’s not the end of the world, hopefully.
This is it for interior photos so assume the worst as I always do, it’s really the only way to go when buying a car online. Seat covers and a piece of carpet or something draped across the dash top usually spells trouble for original materials being crack and tear-free.
The driving force under the hood is Honda’s 1.5L inline-four with around 67 hp. This car has had a lot of maintenance work done, which is great, including a new “head gasket, new timing belt and all other belts replaced, new spark plugs, new rear shocks and new gas filters (has two both replaced), new oil and filter, new Transmission fluid.” All of a sudden that $1,600 or offer really seems like a bargain, especially given NADA’s $1,925 average retail value. Were you ever at a point in your life when you just needed a good, cheap ride?
A 1983 Honda Civic wagon!!!
Meh…
I can’t believe this is still up. This seems like an incredible deal to me.
Why does it look like the upper radiator hose leads to the air cleaner?
EDH,
That hose is the air intake. It’s attached to the core support at the front of the engine bay.
If I didn’t have such a bad taste in my mouth for Honda cars, I’d really go for this. Granted, the 2005 Civic I got ripped off on did have 190K miles (90K on replacement motor that was also junk, hmm, think they engineered that motor to puke at 100K?) and these have practically nothing in common with the newer ones, I’d still be scared to death about finding parts. Asian car dealers throw away replacement parts, ( more money in new cars than fixing the old ones) and unless someone digs them out of the dumpster and resells them on Ebay, you’re kind of screwed. These sure were nice when new, but I’d stay clear of it today.
Everybody had a lemon from every maker but as far as parts goes there is lots of aftermarket stuff so quite easy to keep running.
Personally id drive an old honda across the country and would be surprised if it didnt make it!
Quite an oddity to us Brits as we never got the estate/wagon over here!
While unlikely to ever be valuable, this would be a great entry-level car for a young or beginning enthusiast. It’s simple to work on and they’re usually frighteningly reliable.
You must have had a lemon, Rube, as everyone I know who’s owned a Honda has had great service from them.
Back in the mid-1970s, I remember advising someone – a VW Type 3 fan – to consider a Civic wagon to replace his well-worn Fastback. He put 130,000 miles on it in two years and then gave it to his son, who replaced the struts and shocks and then drove the crap out of it for a few more years. It never needed much more than routine maintenance.
I wouldn’t say it was a lemon, I mean it did have 190K miles on it, with 2 motors, though, and my area CL is LOADED with those types of cars, all “mechanic’s special’s” for $1,500 bucks, all with bad head gaskets or transmissions, at least $2500-$3000 to repair. And the lack of parts is a real concern. I have a friend with a older Nissan and for the life of him, he can’t find rear struts ANYWHERE! I had a Saturn with 240K miles on it, never opened up, and still ran great. I’m not ripping on Honda, they make great cars, all things considered, I’d never buy another.
Sure this is a 2 speed auto? According to Wikipedia, 1979 was the last year before they switched to the h3 3 speed.
Were these the Civics that had the nightmare inducing vacuum system that is a nightmare to fix? If so,it might not pass California emissions
I for one like to see carsmlike this on barn finds.