The Shuttlecraft Galileo (1987 Honda Civic DX hatchback / 1985 10Best) (Edit 6/7/18)

I have a lot of history with this car. It's the only car I've ever owned twice, the first car I can remember buying after logically assessing what made the most sense, the only car I've ever had broken into (twice) and the only car I've ever had to repair because of crash damage. And, so far, one of only two cars I've ever had a sense of emotional attachment to.

In the spring of 2005, my (then) wife and I were considering moving out of state. At the time, I was using a 1994 F150 as a daily driver. It was a nice enough truck - SuperCab, 351W, auto transmission. At the first of the year, I had donated the 1991 Tbird we had bought her in late 1996 - before she got pregnant with our son.  I inherited it (twice) when she wanted something with four doors, but it was starting to show it's age and mileage and I was tired of fixing it. Knowing we might move out of California, we took the tax write-off and I drove the truck for awhile.

 In looking for somewhere to move, I took a map of the U.S. and drew lines dividing the country into regions describing the worst type of weather events prevalent in that region - tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, etc. Once I had done so, I pointed out that, between the two of us, the place that made the most sense was Oregon. We visited during spring break of 2005 - having lived there in college, I insisted she see it when it was rainy, so she'd have an idea what she was getting into. After a week of raincoats and cold - plus finding out what the job market was like - that experiment was over. So we stayed put in San Diego and I kept driving the truck.

That fall, in the middle of the ongoing slog in Iraq, gas had climbed to over $3.00 gallon - at a time when I was making about $13.00/hour (using the same 9/2017 normalizing factor from my first post - one that will appear often as I write - the price was the equivalent of $3.75. Right now, it's hovering just over $3.00 and I'm making... a lot more.) Driving my son to school and then myself to work and home was about 25 miles per day. The truck was a hog - 12 mpg - so I was using the first 30 minutes of my day just to pay to get there. So I did the math and realized a cheap little car  - say $2500 - would pay for itself in about 18 months if it got 25 mpg and the price of gas held steady. (In fact, gas prices went up, so the car paid for itself even faster.) I also like having a back-up vehicle, so if one won't start in the morning, I can still get where I need to go. A philosophy the Shuttle is now proving is sound.

My first car was a 1975 Honda Civic hatch (this isn't mine), so I've always had a thing for Hondas - particularly the 3rd generation hatches built from 1984-87. I researched a bunch of cheap Civics in the Auto Trader (remember those?) and one Saturday, we all went out looking for some of these cheap little cars. Every one we stopped to look at was a heap. Finally, we went to look at a CRX that was at a little lot on the corner of Lake Murray and Parkway Dr, right at the I-8 ramp. The CRX was clean but high-mileage - over 190k - and smoked on start-up. But right next to it was this very clean white 1987 hatchback - 138k, obviously well-cared for - it still had a Honda battery, indicating it was dealer-serviced. It was basic, not as sporty as the CRX, but in better shape than any of the other cars we'd seen that day within my budget. Of course, I bought it. And why not - look at it!!

It was exactly the car I needed. Not a family car, but perfect for commuting and could haul all three of us in a pinch. When I drove it to work, my friend, coworker and fellow Trekker Theresa said "It looks like one of the shuttles from the Original Series," and the name Shuttlecraft Galileo was immediately applied to the little white Civic (if rarely used.) 

Later, my step-son had some wheels from a DC2 Acura Integra GS-R that he wanted to sell, so I bought them - a nice step up from the stock 13x5 steelies to these 15x6 sporties. And only $200 for the four of them. Of course, it also allowed me to move from the stock 155/80R13 tires to some 205/60R15s - so better handling. 

And handle it did. It doesn't have power steering, but if you aren't trying to turn the wheel at a standstill, the car is so light, it doesn't suffer for having manual steering. In fact, the steering is very direct and communicative - when the rest of the suspension is in order, I never have a sense of not knowing what the front tires are doing. Of course, it's not particularly powerful, but it proves the old adage of how it's better to drive a slow car fast rather than a having to drive a fast car slow. (Not that I really know what that's like - other than a couple of motorcycles, the fastest vehicle I've ever owned was 330 hp F150 SuperCrew. Yeah...not that fast.) 

It was a good little daily driver - and after the price of gas went up in 2006 and 2007, climbing to almost $5.00/gallon, it paid for itself in no time. I'd take my son to school and then zoom down the  curves on Conrad Dr in Casa de Oro, on to the freeway, sipping fuel and then, traffic allowing, hit the ramp from W/B SR94 to S/B I-15 with every ounce of grip that little car had, heel-and-toe downshifting to third and powering out of the right hand bend and on to I-15. When other opportunities presented themselves, I'd take them. My son loved it - he'd see one of those ramps and say "C'mon Dad! Go fast!!"

What's more, it was reliable. I put over 35,000 miles on it in the six years I owned it. Outside of basic maintenance and wear items, the only repairs I ever had to do was replace a coolant hose that burst just after I dropped my son at school (really a maintenance item, if I'm honest) and the combination switch after the turn signal switch died. That and body work. Once after a midnight chase through our neighborhood ended with one of the drivers pulling a hit-and-run on my poor parked car in June, 2006. (I take solace in knowing he probably messed up his car too.)

But a quick trip to the junkyard produced a replacement bumper, cover and taillight and the little Civic was as good as new.

The second bit of body repair was in January, 2012. Following a separation, I had moved into an apartment in Paradise Hills. I had two cars - the Civic and the 2003 Escape I still own today - but only one parking spot - so the Civic went on the street. Eventually, like so many of the cars on that street, it was broken into - a smash and grab of the passenger side window for my cheap $100 stereo.

That was the point when I decided I didn't need two cars anymore. While I loved this little Civic - so reliable and so much fun for such a long time - the Escape was the obvious choice if I was only going to own one car. So after repairing the window (another trip to the junkyard) and smogging it (the registration was due anyway), I took a couple of photos and posted it on Craigslist with an asking price of $1200.

Other than the obvious wear and tear of over six years of a 275 lb six footer getting in and out almost every day, it was still in great shape. It started right up every time when cold and never missed a beat. Not surprisingly, people wanted it. Very surprisingly, the first response was only 20 minutes after I posted the ad and I had four serious buyers interested within two hours. The first caller was a young woman, maybe 30, a single mom who lived in Ocean Beach and needed transportation. This seemed like the perfect car for her and her daughter, so $1200 and a day later, with a promise I could buy it back if she ever sold it, I watched as my little white Shuttlecraft Galileo pulled out onto Main St and drove away.

Of course, I never figured I'd see it again, unless I happened to drive past while at the beach or something. A couple of years went by - three moves; a finalized divorce; remarriage to a woman I'd had an affair with; a tenuous relationship with my son eventually repaired after his mother and I buried (her) hatchet (and she remarried); a new family with my wife's son; a new career path opening in my field. One night in September 2015, late, my son texts me a link to a Craigslist ad and a question: "Can it be?" I click the link to find a white 1987 Civic wearing Acura GSX rims for sale, $1,000 or best. My son was practically jumping up and down with excitement - he had always hoped to own the car when he was young and thrilling to fast corners with his dad. Now he was almost 18 and, even though he had a better car than this (Acura RSX Type-S - see 10Best 2002 and 2003), he wanted it. So I called the number the next morning and, sure enough - it was my old Shuttle, for sale by the same woman I'd sold it to. When I showed it to my wife, she also got excited - she'd also had a sentimental attachment to it because it was the car I'd owned when we first met and then started seeing each other - even though she only rode in it once or twice, she dreamed of my taking her out for a date in it. So we went out to see it that night.


Time, a young child, a dog and living at the beach had not been kind to the car. Rust, which was just forming when I'd sold it to her, was eating at a few parts of the car, including both A-pillars, the hatch hinges and (I later discovered) the bottom of both front fenders. The black door trim was gone from the driver's side. The interior was shot, with the rips in the above photo having spread to both the passenger and rear seats. The car still started and ran OK, but the suspension - particularly the shocks - were shot. And I was surprised how slow it felt - still willing, but not the same verve I remembered. I suppose the 198k miles might have had something to do with that.

The effects of a dog at the beach - and neglect.

The headliner had holes before, but they'd multiplied.

 After a 20 minute drive, I told Kristi (the seller) - "Sentimental or not, I have to approach this as a business transaction. I'll give you $600, offer good for 24 hours. If you can sell it for more, then good for you. But tomorrow, the offer goes down to $500. Think about it and get back to me." The next day she texted me and said "It just seems like it should go back to you. I'll take $600." My son was willing to put in $300, so we bought it and, since I didn't really have a place to park it, he took it home with his mother's blessing.

Of course, his friends loved it and, for a little while, he drove it all over the place. We made a deal to split the costs of parts. Since it needed new tires and the old Acura rims were looking dated, I bought some new 15x7.5 rims and he bought some low-profile tires with an aggressive tread pattern. He also - without my knowledge - decided to paint the hood and the fuel filler door with black chalkboard paint and took to calling it the Ratchet Hatch.

 It also began to develop an electrical problem, either a product of age or beach living or both. My son would tell me the car would start OK, he'd drive it and then stop at an intersection and it would die and didn't want to restart. After a couple months of this, he lost interest and asked me to come get it.


My wife was enthusiastic - she likes working with her hands and is artistic, so she saw the Shuttle as an art project - hoping to do the paint and body work to make it like new.

My vision was different - I had hoped to turn it into a track/autocross car.











We made a trip to the junkyard and found a donor car that could give us a better interior.

I tore out the back seat and gave it a good cleaning.

Things were progressing - until the electrical issue started getting worse.  Living in an apartment with no garage, having given most of my tools to my son a couple years earlier and running into an electrical problem I was lousy at diagnosing began to take it's toll on my enthusiasm, as it had my son's - and my wife's.  I replaced the coil - it worked OK for a few months (maybe 200 miles) and then started acting up again. Time went by and the car sat. Eventually, I changed the igniter unit in the distributor. The car started up again and my enthusiasm returned. On November 3rd 2017, I told my wife (who by now just wanted it gone) that I wouldn't invest any money into it until I'd driven it to work at least four days a week for the next month - and if it died, I'd sell it. It performed flawlessly - until five days after the deadline, when it died again. I tried tracing the problem this past weekend (January 14, 2018) and blew the main 45A fuse. Dead again. And now we're going to move next month. So...I'll get it running again and then (I think) sell it. But this time, I'm taking it to a shop to get the electrical problem fixed. I told her today that I'd be surprised if I still owned it two months from now.

The thing is...while I was driving it, I re-discovered some of that old verve. The way that little 1488cc CVCC willingly revs to the redline, smooth all the way to 6000 rpm. The flawless shifting, even with tens of thousands of shifts behind it. The immediacy and directness of the steering - a big white go-kart. I may sell this one - and feel some remorse when I do - but this won't be the last Honda hatch I own. Not just because the fourth-generation Civic (EF) was on the 10Best list from 1988-1991 - but because there's something about these cars that keeps me coming back. Remember I mentioned there's only two cars I've ever had an emotional attachment to? The other one was also a Honda hatchback - the first generation Civic, my 1975 CVCC. That car was a pain-in-the-ass for years - I replaced the exhaust manifold on it at least four times - but I kept that car for eight years, far longer than I had to. The quintessential hot hatch may be the Volkswagen Golf GTI - but the best cheap fun on four wheels is a small Honda hatchback.

MARCH 30, 2018
I wrote the last part about two months ago. The car sat until just before we moved on February 14th, when I finally got it towed to Hi-Tech Auto in Kearny Mesa to let a professional (Tai Duong or one if his mechanics) work on it. They replaced the main fuse and then diagnosed the issue as a cracked reluctor in the distributor and a new igniter module (even though I had just replaced it - maybe it had been damaged when I bypassed the radio ignition noise suppressor).  My guess is the reluctor had been damaged when I put the new igniter module in, but maybe it had been cracked all along. All in, including the cost of the tow - $357.86. And it runs great now.

So now I'm starting to work on fixing it up a little. I just purchased new shocks all around and a valve cover gasket - that's intended to be installed this weekend. I also forgot to mention that we went to the junkyard back in December when a sedan with good seats entered the yard. The seats are red and the velour is faded, but they're in much better shape than the original seats, especially with the covers my wife had previously purchased.

I still expect I'm going to sell it, so I don't want to put too much money into it, as I'll never get it back, but I want the car to at least be safe for the next owner. So shocks, valve cover, re-install the back seat and the new interior panels we bought. I'm back and forth about ripping out the A/C - I don't want to fix it because it won't add much value to the car, all the lines get in the way in the engine compartment and it's not really needed in San Diego, so I'd thought of taking it all out. But I could leave it in there and let the next owner decide if they want to fix it. But I'll drive it for a few more months (at least) and when I'm ready, I'll sell it.

APRIL 7, 2018
I installed the new shocks last week. It's quite a difference, but it's still not where it should be; one or more of the wheels are out of balance. I took it to Discount Tire, but the manager (who is the son-in-law of a longtime friend of mine) told me they wouldn't balance them because they're "stretches" - the wheels are too wide for the tires, so the tires have to be stretched at the sidewalls to fit. Gabriel tells me he can get them balanced at work, but I may try the tire place down the street from my work. Nonetheless, the ride is smoother and the car does seem to handle a bit better. Until the tires are balanced (or replaced), the freeway ride is going to suck. Some photos of the work:

 

 

 

 

It took me about five hours over two days. The allen head socket at the top of the old right front shock rounded out, so I had to wait a couple of days so that the Sundance shop foreman, John Zatzke, could cut the old nut off. All of the above photos are from the first day of work. Still to go - the valve cover gasket (waiting in my office), the tire balance and, I think, new front brake pads. I thought about doing the whole thing - calipers, pads and rotors - but I just can't see throwing that much money into a car I'll be lucky to get $1000 for. I'll have improved the car's looks, handling and safety for the next owner, but I'm not going to take a huge financial loss.

June 7, 2018

More work done last Saturday (June 2nd.) My wife met me down at the Sundance yard in the morning after I had done a Grad Nite trip. We had recently made another trip to the junkyard after an '84 Civic hatch had shown up; it donated it's door trim, rear wiper motor, interior hatch trim piece (that covers the motor) and hatch struts (about $45.00) and bought some fabric ($10.00) which pretty closely matched the replacement sun visors. She and I pulled out the headliner; she worked on cutting and gluing on the fabric while I changed the struts and attempted to change the wiper motor. I say attempted because the motor itself was the same, but the electrical connector was different. Damn it! I have a warranty on it, but I can't find the damn receipt! After we re-installed the headliner, we changed out the interior panels with the pieces we'd bought two years ago and installed the replacement rear seat. It's starting to look like a real car again.

Still to go: the exterior door trim pieces, a couple of sheetmetal screws at the bottom of the rusted out front fenders (maybe - I have to see why they're loose), the valve cover gasket and the front brakes. I also have to decide what to do about the wheels and tires. I like the look of these wheels, but the tires just won't balance.) So, I have to do one of three things: Replace the tires with some a little larger (probably about $600, but I could probably get $200 for the old tires, so $400 net cost). Replace the rims with something smaller (which would allow me to go with used which might only cost me what it would take to swap the tires from one set of wheels to the others - about $60.00). Or replace both, in which case I'd probably go with steelies and some decent new tires - about $75.00 after selling the current wheels and tires. Of course, I could just leave what's on there on it.  A little more thought...

FINAL EDIT
It's now April 2020. About a month after I wrote the last update, the car was stolen. I was living at an apartment complex near the border and parked it out on the street in front because we had four vehicles and only two parking spots and this was the cheapest car of the four. The place was only five minutes from the border with easy freeway access. Thieves had broken into the car a couple of times previously - the first time nothing seemed to be missing, the second time some tools were gone. I should have done something the second time to secure it - gotten a Club and/or added an ignition deadswitch. Changing out the wheels would have been a good idea as well, as I'm sure the wheels made it tempting to steal, seeing as how they were almost as valuable as the rest of the car. Of course, I filed a police report, but I know that five minutes after they started it, the car was crossing the border. I don't know if they parted it out - it was so old, it wasn't very valuable. My guess is the thieves stripped the wheels and tires off of it, maybe a few other parts and then dumped it somewhere. A sad end to such a great little car.