1978 Honda Civic

The Honda Civic debuted in the U.S. in the Fall of 1972. This was Hondas 1st major effort into the automobile business in the states. Before that time, Honda was known worldwide as a manufacturer of well designed motorcycles.

Honda began selling this 1169cc transversely mounted inline four for about $2,200.00. The car had a 50hp engine and was rated at 40MPG on the highway. The features Civic offered led it to out-perform the Chevy Vega and the Ford Pinto, which were built at a lower quality to keep their costs down. Because of this manufacturing quality difference, when the oil crisis hit in 1973, Americans starting looking at the economical vehicles and demanding higher quality from American-made vehicles. This situation greatly benefited the Honda Civic. As the years passed, the Honda Civic had become more and more popular and Honda kept on improving this well put together machine. In 1974, for example, they increased the horsepower to 52 and increased the size of the vehicle by 7 inches.

By 1978 the Honda Civic went through only minor changes, like the black grill, rear facing hood vents and something really needed, which was new turn indicators. The older versions of the Civic had fog lights mounted in the Civic's grill. In 1978 they were small and with the Bumper bar. By looking at the turn signals you could determine the newer Civics from the older ones.