Thirty-seven years ago today, Honda brought to us a great and long, and woody, addition the Civic family with the 1980 Civic Country. With its extended hatch and its rolling rows of red, almost four decades later and it would still look perfect on the farm or the ranch.
Sure you could go with the red exterior. Hondas always look good in red... But this is a Country. It conjures up images of putting on your L.L. Bean boots and your Barbour jacket, with your pups in the back, and driving to that Sunday farmer’s market or vacation time thrift sale. It has prep class that few non-European imports could ever manage.
With enough room for camping at one corner of your estate under the stars, or breaking out the mini bar and picnic settings on a nice spring day. Yeah, okay, so maybe Blaine from Pretty in Pink drove a BMW 3 series, and maybe Andie thought that was cool, but that night they hung out at the stables would have made a whole lot more sense with the Civic Country. It would actually have been more prep. Maybe not as much as a classic Jeep Grand Wagoneer, but by God, this is the preppiest damn Honda there ever was or ever has been. I dare you to say otherwise.
It had a 1500cc engine (C V C C, CVCC, CiViC), and yeah, you’re damn right it came in a manual. Classic, wagon, woody, manual. What’s not to love?
Well... I guess it’s not diesel, but you can’t have everything. Still, if we’re talking fantasy garages, er, farm structures, GET IN MY BARN, COUNTRY CIVIC.