1973 Honda Civic - awaiting restoration.
I'd
long been searching for a good, original, unrusted early Honda Civic, as
I've always considered them to be a genuine classic, and important in
the development of the automobile, and especially the history of the
Japanese motor industry, which is fascinating in its own right. Funnily
enough, my search for a good Civic had earlier resulted in my purchase
of a delightful 1972
Life SA360, which is closely related to the subsequent Civic,
and is fascinating in its own right as an example of a Kei car. I'd
only recently finished restoring the Life, so, it was great to
finally find the '73 Civic project, to join the classic car family here.
It
was also a delight to meet the previous owner, who had started the
restoration, but,due to a pretty big change in life circumstances (we
all have them!), had to let it go to another restorer. Amazingly, we
also had surprisingly parallel backgrounds, although his Dutch parents
emigrated to Canada, where he was born, whereas mine emigrated to
Australia, where I was born.
↑ The amazingly rust-free shell
is wheeled from its resting place for a few years. The previous owner
had done some good restoration work to various suspension and mechanical
components, which will make this project a lot less messy and
time-consuming than some of my recent jobs!
↑ The lack of wheels, and a
rather flimsy pallet with small, plastic wheels made the winching onto
the trusty Isuzu a slow, careful process...
↑ ...but in the end, the shell
was safely loaded and securely strapped for the 235km trip to its new
home.
↑ The many parts were loaded and
strapped into the 6x4 trailer with cage.
↑ Safely home.
My first challenge is to
locate a good bonnet, which was missing from this car when purchased by
the previous owner. If anyone knows of a good bonnet for an early Honda
Civic, somewhere in or near Victoria, Australia, please drop me a line!
Watch this space for
developments!