Historical 1975 Honda Civic Finally Gets Its Due

No longer a throwaway: classic Hondas are rising in value.

Talk to any baby boomer musclecar owner and they’ll gleefully tell you about remembering a time when their now-priceless investments were undesirable throwaways. It’s a natural progression in the collector-car world. There’s a period of time between when a car is shiny and new and and when it’s a valuable collectible — when it’s merely an old car.

It’s during that time when the ravages of rust, accidents, mechanical failures, and careless owners take their toll, reducing the remaining population of any given car to a mere fraction of what it was when they were new. Soon after, the people that owned and loved those cars have enough disposable income to attempt to recapture their misspent youth, and the prices begin to go up again.

In this way, classic Japanese cars of the 1970s and 1980s are finally beginning to demand the respect — and the money — they deserve. This 1975 Honda Civic that sold on Bring a Trailer recently for over $15,000 is living proof. It’s a lot of money for an old economy car, sure, but it’s an important piece of Honda history. Besides, the bright yellow paint and tiny basketweave mesh alloys are just too damn cute to pass up on.

Amazingly, this Civic comes by its gorgeous exterior and pristine interior honestly — it’s all original. Owned by the same family since new, it has just 10,874 miles on the odometer. There can’t be many early Civics left in this condition, and with so few miles. A pampered, garage-kept life in California is certainly to blame, and we’re thankful that someone cared enough to preserve this historical Honda for over forty years.

When you think about what the first-gen Civic meant for Honda’s fortunes in America, it’s an important historical artifact. that demands its fair share of reverence — not only from Honda fans but car enthusiasts in general. In this condition, we’re frankly amazed that someone was able to take it home for less than the price of a new Civic. As it has always been, this Civic represents an amazing bargain.

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Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.
When he's not busy working on his Harley-Davidson bike, the vastly experienced writer has covered an array of features, reviews, how-tos, op-eds and news stories for Internet Brands' Auto Group and is also a co-founder and co-host of the popular podcast Cammed & Tubbed.

Check him out on Instagram at: Camvanderhorst.

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