Sassy’s History

On June 5, 1994, I bought a brand new Honda Civic VX.  I looked at a number of cars but decided on the Civic because I liked the way it handled the best, and because it got the best sticker gas mileage of any car of the day (except for the Geo Metro LSi).  The color is called “Aztec Green Pearl”, chosen above “Milano Red” and “Frost White” — and indeed it is a distinctive color and easy to spot in a parking lot full of black, white, gray, and red cars. When I took ownership, she had 53 miles on her.

It was my daily commuter to work, and I took it on a few trips in those early years. I was dismayed that I never managed to attain the mileage of 51 miles per gallon highway or 44 city.  1994 was the year that New York State adopted California’s stricter emissions standard, only to roll it back in 1995, so I didn’t get the Civic VX that was rated 56 MPG highway, 47 city. I got no help on the matter from the dealer for as far as the sales staff was concerned, it was definitely a problem, but the service staff could find nothing wrong. Neither could provide me with pointers on how to drive the beast either. I eventually put up a website complaining about it but that’s long-gone now. I learned a lot about people who read stuff on the Internet, and that, in general, if your car’s mileage rating is higher than the average mileage rating, expect lower, and if it’s lower than average, expect higher. The EPA may have fixed things since then.

Otherwise, it was a perfectly respectable car. I figured out its top speed was 108 miles per hour a couple times — I really loved those Potenza RE-92 tires with their 149 MPH speed rating. I took it on longer and longer trips. In June, 2001 I ticked over 100,000 miles (and passed the mark at 100 miles per hour, per tradition among friends). I loaded it up with my Bike With 2 Brains project and drove it some 3,000 miles to Burning Man in 2005 then did it again in 2006. Those two trips were the beginning of the end as the long trip with lots of weight seemed to be the cause of the rear bearings to wear out.

The heater temperature control failed in the first year and only allowing “hot-to-cold” motion, so I rigged a Venetian blind rod to reach the control under the dash so I could move it the other way. The windshield wiper switch is nearly non-functional (augmented by an after-market wiper delay), and the washer switch is now a button tied on above the control. Through aggressive ice scraping, the windshield surrounds on the left and right are gone. The rust holes in front of the rear fenders are large enough to throw a small dog through (a Civic trademark). The thing I’m most proud of is that the antenna broke off and I replaced it with a bent metal coat hanger which you can see in the picture.

Anyway, in 2007, my girlfriend Ali and I took ownership of a 1992 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon — essentially twice the weight and size of the Civic and likewise half the gas mileage. That has become our long-trip vehicle. Ali named my Civic “Sassy” as it had thoroughly earned that name with its peculiar handling issues and numerous quirks. In 2009 I felt it was time to call it quits on the old girl [Sassy, not Ali].

I had signed up for the ZipCar car-sharing service which alleviated my need for a second vehicle. In addition, I expected Sassy to need a lot of work to pass inspection. Insurance also made it not free to even keep on the road.

So, on April 28, 2009, I took the plates off and turned them in to the NYS DMV. She served me through 170,530 miles and nearly 15 whole years. But what to do with her? I decided to start this project.