Carlisle Will Mark a Big Honda Civic Anniversary

Every spring hundreds of rare foreign classics descend upon Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for the annual weekend fest that has no close rival in North America when it comes to the number and variety of cars on the field.

The Carlisle Import and Performance Nationals, with over a thousand cars in attendance each year, feature rare machinery from Europe, Asia, North America, and sometimes even South America. A number of smaller car clubs, including Opel and Renault, often use the May event as their main annual gathering, while larger local chapters of single-marque clubs such as Saab often featuring over 300 cars on the field.

A month before the busy weekend, what car owners and visitors can look forward to in 2023?

For starters, Carlisle will mark the 50th anniversary of the Honda Civic in America this year. the model having entered production in Japan in July 1972 and arriving stateside months later in March 1973.

"Since going on sale in America in early 1973, Civic's 11 generations have consistently set the benchmark for the U.S. auto industry by delivering class-leading quality and reliability, outstanding fuel efficiency and low emissions, refined and responsive driving dynamics and top-class safety performance," the automaker said on the anniversary of its production start, also noting sales of 12.3 million units stateside over this period of time.