Do You Like Your Toys Stock Or Modified? 1978 Triumph Spitfire vs 1986 Honda CRX

Good morning! I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving holiday. (In fact, I hope I did as well; I’m writing this at 10:30 on Thursday morning.) In the spirit of the holiday, I just want to tell you all, dear readers, how thankful I am for all of you. Without you, I’m just some aging nerd blathering about crappy old cars. I’m honored to be a part of your weekday morning routine, so thank you.

We’ve been looking at imports this week, slowly increasing the price cap, and yesterday our focus was on two small stickshift sedans. I thought maybe the Mazda’s propensity to rust and slightly worse condition might give it a disadvantage, but apparently not. You chose the Mazda by a huge margin, despite the Kia’s shiny presentation and flashy color.

I can’t say I disagree. I am a huge fan of Mazda automobiles, having had several of my own. I wasn’t thrilled by the massive, gadget-laden CX-90 crossover I rented recently, but that’s not really Mazda’s kind of car anyway. If you stick to what the brand is best at – small manual vehicles – you won’t often be disappointed by the experience.

The day after Thanksgiving has become known by a terrible name I won’t use here, but the gist of it is rampant consumerism. We’re all supposed to be buying stuff, but as everyone knows, the best stuff of all is toys. In that spirit, I’ve found two very toy-like cars for you to look at. One is refreshingly close to its original specification, and the other is a mashup of two vehicles that may or may not make sense to you. Let’s take a look.

1978 Triumph Spitfire – $7,000

Engine/drivetrain: 1.3-liter twin-rotor Wankel rotary, five-speed manual, RWD

Location: Portland, OR

Odometer reading: 46,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

When you think of malaise-era cars, you typically think of gigantic American beasts, their V8 engines choked down with rudimentary smog controls, their performance a mere shadow of what it had been a few years earlier. But the new regulations of the 1970s were no less strict for imports, and cars that had meager power to begin with especially suffered. The Triumph Spitfire, never a beacon of high performance, was reduced to a mere 53 horsepower by the addition of smog controls. Many have sought to improve that number over the years by various means, up to and including what this car has undergone: a full engine and transmission swap.

Under the flip-forward bonnet of this Spitfire now resides a Mazda 13B rotary engine, breathing through a big Weber side-draft carb and sending power to the rear end through a Mazda five-speed manual, both sourced from an RX-7 and rebuilt. The seller bought it this way, and it had been sitting for a couple years prior. It runs and drives great now, after some care and feeding, and it is reported to be “extremely fast.” I don’t doubt it. Probably too fast for anyone of a sane disposition, I would guess.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag inside, with nice re-covered (and heated!) Miata seats and a ratty-looking original stock wood dash. The seller says some of the switches on the dash are sticky, and it needs a new ignition switch in particular. The part is on order, and I presume it will be included in the sale. The shifter was relocated rearward for the transmission swap, and the lever is awfully close to the handbrake, but I guess there’s enough space to make it work. It just looks weird in the photos.

It’s clean and more or less rust-free outside, with some nice alloy wheels, but it appears to be missing the front bumper overriders. Nobody likes those big rubber blocks sticking out of the front, but to me, the bare brackets look worse. If the overriders aren’t included, I think I’d look for a pair, just to make it look more finished.

1986 Honda Civic CRX Si – $7,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Sacramento, CA

Odometer reading: 228,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

The other day, Peter (via the Bishop) wrote about “cranberry-sauce cars:” cars that are not only underappreciated, but have a little extra zing that makes them special. His example was the second-generation Mazda RX-7, which is a great one, but I humbly submit this car for your consideration as well: the first-generation Honda CRX. This little wonder has a combination of attributes we’re unlikely to see again: light weight, low price, a playful demeanor, and bang-on perfect build quality. Even the gas-miser HF models are fun to toss around, but if you’re really looking for fun on the back roads, it’s this one you want: the Si, short for Sport Injection.

As is so often the case, our CRX Si was watered down a bit from the version the rest of the world got. In place of the 1.6-liter twin-cam engine, we got a single-cam displacing 1.5 liters. It’s still fuel-injected, though, and it has a useful bump in power over the carbureted engine in the base model. Nobody buys a Honda Civic of any flavor to let it sit around, and this car has definitely been put to use: it has well over 200,000 miles on it. But it runs and drives “beautifully,” the seller says. Even better, unlike so many old CRXs, it’s completely stock.

I must once again profess my admiration of ’80s Honda interiors; I’m not sure anybody has ever designed anything better. It’s bright and airy, everything is where you want and expect it to be, and it’s made of good-quality stuff. This one looks very clean inside, and my hope would be that those dumb Caterpillar-branded seat covers are only there to protect the stock seats. If so, for my purposes anyway, they’ve done their job and can go away.

It’s in good condition outside as well, and it still has those fantastic 4-hole factory alloy wheels. I do see a little misalignment of the rear bumper, which makes me think that bumper has been used for its intended purpose at some point. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s worth a quick look underneath to make sure it’s just the bumper that is crooked. Apart from that, it looks flawless, and photos of the underside in the ad don’t show a speck of rust.

Seven grand feels like a lot to spend on a car, and I don’t think going any higher in price is going to be any more interesting to read or write about, so I think next week I’ll go back to our usual price range. I’ll stick with imports for next week, though. In the meantime, ponder this pair for the weekend, and make your choice. Do you want an overpowered Triumph, or a time-capsule Honda?