Small car to replace old car?

One point of ths post is to push "MI5" down the list, but I would like
some suggestions.
But:
My large forty years old car takes up too much room in the garage and
getting it in is difficult due to no PAS and an unkind neighbor who
parks in a bad place.

I am looking for a small, inexpensive reliable car.
A Honda Civic of the mid/late 1970s would do, but they are hard to
find.
I would like to keep the price down, as I will probably have to give
up driving in a few years and I might just give it to some charity to
avoid all the broken appointments, bickering, complaints, etc that go
with selling a used car.
(I'm in california, so have smag laws to consider.)

Any ideas?