Crapwagon Outtake: 1988 Honda CRX Si
I needed a car. Any car. My dad and I were limping my dying ’85 Nissan Maxima around town to multiple car dealers, looking for an appropriate replacement. I was 19, I think, and since I commuted thirty miles a day to college (when I went to class) I needed reliable, efficient transport.
A second-generation CRX, much like this one, caught my eye and we climbed in. One problem arose, however, as both my dad and I were well north of 300 pounds each, and the stock springs were sagging a bit. Oh, and the streets near the dealer had rough, rutted cobblestones. We were lucky to return with an intact exhaust, and I reluctantly moved on to a roomier Accord coupe.
$6,800 seems steep for a twenty-seven year old Honda, but the CRX is a truly special car, and we may see the really good ones fetch serious money someday soon.
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I think this car is an example of the most recent peak in automotive design and manufacturing - the period from roughly 1986 to 1996. When small cars were small and fuel-efficient, even the sporty variants. When they didn't look like they were styled by 9 year olds with a Transformers obsession. When people didn't think they need 350 HP to merge onto a freeway. To me, there have been two recent peaks: the first one in the mid to late 60s when cars looked good and before the first gas crisis and the introduction of analog mechanical emission controls; and the mid-late 80s to mid-late 90s, when computer controls had been applied to engine control, but had not polluted everything else on the car (I'm looking at you, unnecessary touchscreens!).
This thing is a collectors item. It's a smart buy. Buy it, restore it, sit on it. My generation is super nostalgic about these cars and the few of us with the means are already paying big $$$ for them. ITRs are trading hands for cheap NSX money.
right now in my garage sits a 1989 Civic Si, which is the same car but with a back seat. i really do not want to get rid of it but I guess I'm going to have to (i want a different rare honda eventually) what I love about it is that it's a rare find for a few reasons. no rust. white (most seem to be red or black, have never been able to find numbers). it's an 89, which is the first year for the hatchback and they made a lot of changes for the '90 versions including added weight, and they moved the seatbelts to the doors instead of the B pillar. but the cool thing, at least to me, is that it was made in Japan. during the '89 model year, they switched production of these over to Canada (for NA-destined models at least). and it was done somewhat early in the run so there aren't very many JHM-vin copies out there. when they did that, they used different steel or stamping for the unibody (again, very tough to find accurate info), resulting in a slightly lighter curb weight. i've heard it's around 75lbs difference. it's refreshing to jump in and drive it around after driving modern cars. it's light, has manual steering, and despite having about 100hp it never feels slow. can you tell I'm a Honda nerd? i'm really going to miss this car when it's gone.
Sixty eight... cough cough... hundred... cough cough... dollars. Rear fenders are not the only thing that rust after 27 years (or make that 10 years where I live). There's also fuel lines, brake lines, subframes, etc. And that's on a car that was no stronger than a tin can to begin with. I carry fond memories of my old Civic Si, but there's no way I'd want it back now at any price, let alone $6,800.