Honda Civic (first generation)

Honda built the first-generation Civic in Japan between July 1972 and 1979, and it is the car that established the nameplate. Honda built it on a new platform with a transverse water-cooled four-cylinder engine driving the front wheels, in contrast to the air-cooled, expensive engineering of the slow-selling Honda 1300. In North America it covers model years 1973 to 1979, and it is the generation that introduced the CVCC engine in 1975, a design that met emissions standards without a catalytic converter or unleaded fuel. It is also remembered for the rust problems that led to a large fender replacement program. Each model year of this generation has its own page that lists what changed.