canadiancatgreen spotted this rather heavily-modified gen1 Civic in a junkyard, and there is some mystery as to the nature of its modifications. Given that its rear wheels and tires appear to be substantially wider than the fronts, I’m guessing it had a RWD drive train installed. But since he didn’t get a shot of the engine compartment, we’ll have to speculate. What’s your guess?
Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve seen modified Honda Civics, but never of this generation. It’s too bad he didn’t get a picture of the entire car. It would’ve been cool to see the front, the rear, the interior, and the engine. 🙂
Can you imagine the horsepower to weight ratio with a 455 Toronado V-8 back there?
Recently I encountered a Ford Ranger pickup with a rather massaged Toronado 455 transplant. The engine was in the bed…
I can only imagine what that would be like.
I think I saw that too.
Looks a little like a Renault 5 Turbo knockoff.
That’s what I thought too.
Same here. Definitely a Renault 5 Turbo on-the-cheap wannabe with a stock Civic drivetrain.
I wouldn’t be sure about stock drivetrain. There is a lot of expertise in North America souping up later Civics. It’s not all fart can mufflers. I imagine a lot of those guys would like to have a go at what could be done with the pre CVCC engine.
Well, it does have what appears to be a rollbar, so I’d hope that the engine modifications are more than stuff like some sort of cobbled together air intake and (maybe) headers.
I’d still put my money on this being an all-show, no-go, ersatz 5 Turbo, limited to whatever JC Whitney bolt-ons the guy could afford, though.
Rotary or Toyota engine.
My guess – a low buck racer with wheels cribbed from some other car. Fronts need to be narrower to steer anyway. Isn’t everything faster with fat wheels on the back?
It’s still fwd because the rear hubs still have bearing caps.
+1
+2, sure did get beat with the ugly stick didn’t it!!
I like the Gen 1 Pontiac Firebird Wannabe tail end.
From this angle it looks like a fairly well thought-out custom job. It even looks like it has a functional hatchback.
It is very well thought out. Except for the ugly part.
Yeah it appears so.
SBC, of course!
whatever it was, it didn’t work that well, cause it’s in the junkyard. 🙂
Matt, for the win!
Since we can roll our own with no concessions to reality: Hayabusa chain drive with an electric motor for reverse. Lie about the cost and take it to LeMons.
I like the idea of taking this thing Lemons Racing. How ’bout a Turbine Engine? IIRC The Lemons Supreme Court issued a proclamation that turbine power is exempt from $500 rule.
Great idea. Lets put wings on it and go flying while we’re at it. Monopoly money after all. Out to be able to lap the field at LeMons several times and buzz the Supreme Court.
If you look close you can see some faded lettering on the door. H.S.S. Car Club?
My first thought seeing this was clown car! I honestly couldn’t even tell it was a Civic. In fact, I’m still not convinced.
In any case, it has clearly had a lot of work into it.
A guy in my town has a 1st gen Fiesta track car with mid-engined small block Ford and Toronado transaxle. It’s everything this Civic is not, as far as workmanship and design, in and out.
A million questions come to mind whenever I see a custom job or restoration abandoned in a salvage yard. How was the concept conceived? Did they run out of money or just enthusiasm? At what point did they realize the project might not be achievable or simply a fail? A couple of years ago, while I was visiting a relative in Arizona, I saw the shell of a ’68 Olds Cutlass convertible in a salvage yard. It appeared to be solid with brand new quarter panels and floors. Still scratching my head over that one. On this one though I just can’t unsee the back of a Firebird sticking it’s tongue out.
Still FWD and it would be very slow with a Civic engine trying to drag all that extra weight and wind resistance.
Maybe the car was in the process of being modified into a road warrier and only got the rear done before he/she ran out of money, time, or desire. We have a guy at work that has a micro Mitsubishi car that has an edlebrock 4 barrel with a scoop sticking out of the hood, a 20 gallon alum fuel tank in the back, a roll cage, a huge spoiler on the roof, wide wheels and fenders, but mechanically, it is bone stock. I just have the TC-3 that looks stock but has a 360 V8 under the hood
It’s in the yard either because a) the drugs wore off and embarrassment set in while driving to a Jugaloo event or b) the AC stopped working.
Ran out of Faygo…..
+1
Had a rear wheel drive Honda at my house for a while. It had a longroof and no crazy stick on body enhancements. It was not my project and got abandoned and went on to bigger things. It did move under it’s own power though.