Vehicle Description
You might glance at this 1988 Honda Civic DX and elect to move on,
but you'd be making a mistake. Because for this very, very
reasonable price, you'll be getting not only a handsome and
uber-reliable 'modern' classic, but one that will challenge newer
imports in its spare time. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that
it's stuffed full of Acura power, a 5-speed, and razor-sharp
reflexes atop it's upgraded suspension. Got your attention now?
We'll get to the engine swap in a moment, but first let's talk
about the eye-catching blue metallic this Honda's wearing today. In
person it presents like a solid driver, with a few signs of use
that you'd expect from a car that's this much fun to drive. The
angular 4-door Civic bodywork still looks contemporary today,
despite being 32 years old, and thanks to high-quality workmanship
at the factory in Japan, these cars hold up incredibly well. Honda
is basically a synonym for reliability. The Vehicle History Report
proves that this car has never lived near a snow belt area
(lifelong California and Texas car), so everything's quite clean,
and despite the miles on the body you won't find many dents or
other damage to the sheetmetal. There are black accents everywhere
including a vinyl-wrapped roof, painted body trim that wraps around
the car, a chin spoiler, a blacked-out tail panel, headlight tint,
wind guards on the windows, and dark tint on all the glass, and the
dark contrast really helps the light blue paint pop. Other than
those additions and a set of cool 4-spoke Enkei wheels, the former
owner resisted the urge to add any goofy parts-store gimmicks, so
there's no silly spoiler or obtrusive ground effects that you'll
have to apologize for. Just a clean presentation that's been made a
bit more sinister.
The durable Honda interior was already a pretty nice place to spend
some time, so they didn't waste a lot of effort trying to reinvent
the wheel there. Grippy yet plush cloth bucket seats hold you in
place and help keep you cool in the sun and the original gray
carpets are still in remarkably good shape, protected all these
years by the OEM Civic floor mats that are still place. The
original gauges are still in place and working as they should, the
dash has been protected by a carpeted mat so it's in great shape
underneath, while the door panels and headliner look incredibly
well for their age too. Cool additions inside include that
woodrimmed 3-spoke steering wheel, an Illinium shift knob and teal
skirt, and if you take a closer look you'll see that the knobs for
the window cranks are actually converted skateboard wheels. How
cool is that? They also added a Kenwood AM/FM/CD/AUX stereo system
ahead of that slick shifter, and along with cold R134a factory air
conditioning, the cabin of this little import is a very comfortable
place to be. Out back, the trunk is surprisingly spacious for a
compact sedan, and it's outfitted exactly as it was in 1988.
It's not all that surprising how easily the Acura 1.8L DOHC 16V
(B18B1) slides under the Honda's hood without any external
modifications, but it still took very skilled hands to get mounted
and fit in a way that looks like it always belonged. Kudos to the
builders. It's basically stock aside from the upgraded polyurethane
motor mounts, an added strut tower brace, an AEM cold air intake
tube and filter, a set of block-hugging headers and an aftermarket
Dynomax exhaust but that means bulletproof reliability and lots of
added horsepower and torque. It starts and runs beautifully thanks
to factory-style fuel injection and there's a newer radiator up
front to keep it cool. Neat wiring, an efficient belt drive system,
and an effective cooling system all help with reliability, so you
can enjoy this car without worries. The 5-speed manual shifts
beautifully and powers the Civic's original rear end that has been
further stiffened with a sway bar, so handling is much approved.
Power front disc brakes ensure this little import will stop on a
dime, and a beautifully crafted Dynomax exhaust system with dual
tips provides a great note to the peppy 4-banger. Finally, the
sporty look is completed with a set of Enkei 4-spoke alloys wrapped
in performance Hankook radials.
Available for pennies on the dollar, this upgraded Civic represents
one of the best blends of modern motoring with '80s style, all
wrapped in a great-looking sedan. Call today!