Follow along and watch a magazine cover car take shape. With this build posted on public forums, it has generated over 250,000 views from people all over the world. In this section, you’ll see never before posted pictures and an in-depth description of how this car came to be.
This is a picture from the first day I brought it home. Out of pocket $1,700 and happy as can be. The car stayed this way for about a week, until the body shop had time to fit me in.
I began doing things in order of necessity. Since the front end was nearly gone, getting parts and getting it repaired were on the top of the list. In the beginning, I was on a tight budget. I bought aftermarket replacement parts, simply because I could not afford the real quality OE items.
This is on of the first pictures taken, right after I got it back from the body shop. The hood and grille didn’t line up as best as I had hoped, but it was much better than the way it looked before. 
Once all of the body panels were accounted for, it was time to start saving money to make what I thought was how my Civic should be. I’m sure everyone saw the terrible events that plagued the city of New Orleans, August 29th 2005. Just 30 miles away from my home, a historic city was completely under water. The events that played over the next few weeks, would not only change my life, but it would affect the millions of people that lived on the Gulf coast area. I waited, stubbornly at my home while the storm came and went. Boarding up windows, and sleeping in the hallway, hoping the house would stand strong against the 100+ winds. Fortunately it did, although the thirty or so 300+ ft pine trees didn’t fare so well. Two of which landed on my house, while I was inside… The wind was so loud, I had no idea what happened.. until I ran into my kitchen, to see everything that was inside of the cabinets dumped out onto the floor. I ran outside to see what had happened and while standing on my front porch I saw the next tree break in half, and felt the top land 15 feet above me. A few hours later, the winds died down, the rain turn to a mist and the sun came out. My father and I, whom was also too stubborn to leave began the cleanup which would last more than a year.
After two days of living off of a generator, powering the fridge, well water pump and hot water heater, we were out of fuel. Our only option was to pack up the truck, gather all of the gas cans we could and head out. All of my immediate family, had evacuated to northern Louisiana, while other parts of my family had remained in their homes near mine. No phones. No lights. No way to communicate to anyone. I couldn’t tell my girlfriend I was alive. In the events that played out over the television, and through the media.. I can only say is that I’ll never look at it the same way. To make a long story short, with the grace of god, thats the only way I can describe it, I walk into a small hardware store and there at the counter stand my sister and her husband, along with my 5 year old niece. What are the chances of them being at that same place, at the same time?
Over the next few weeks, I drove my Civic to and from southwest LA getting fuel, food, and other necessary items and bringing them home. We also brought personal items to the Police and local fire department. It was a tough time for us, and we had it easy compared to some that had lost their families, friends and home. We stayed without electricity for 26 days, I remember the day it came on. After the rebuilding process was going full swing, and things were getting back to normal, it wasn’t until the end of December that I could work on car again. From here on, all of the progress took place after December 20th, 2005.
I started to tear the car down to get it ready for paint.
Once the engine bay was taken care of, the interior was next.
More to come….