Originally posted by Spanky Ownz Me
In 1975, Honda introduced its first high-fuel-economy, low-emissions achievement, the Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion (CVCC) Civic. It was the first vehicle to meet the 1970 Clean Air Act standards without using a catalytic converter, while running on regular gasoline.
It would become the first in a long history of Honda achievements in the realm of lower emissions and resource conservation, culminating in this year's launch of the 2000 Honda Insight. Insight is the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle to be sold in the United States. It offers the world's highest fuel economy in a mass-produced gasoline-fueled car, while also achieving ultra-low emissions.
It's been a quarter century since Americans first learned that a commodity they had always thought of as cheap and endlessly available was in fact a limited resource, and could become quite expensive. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had staged an oil embargo, leading to long lines at the gas pump and a tripling of gasoline prices.
Yet long before the oil embargo, Honda had already embarked on its CVCC project. While the rest of the auto industry was trying to control emissions by treating engine exhaust, Honda engineers believed that more efficient combustion would be a better solution. Their work led to the development of the CVCC engine. It was designed to run smoothly on a very lean air/fuel mixture, lowering emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide without sacrificing performance and driveability
Some guy had one of those a while back....it was a crusty old brown wagon that got insane gas mileage