This Stretched Honda Civic del Sol Doesn’t Quite Work as a Supercar
The lengthened wheelbase and big vents do a lot to transform the humble Honda’s aesthetic.
A Georgia bodyshop has given a humble Honda Civic del Sol a weird and wonderful longtail makeover.
As covered by Carscoops, the car is the creation of RD General Auto Repair in Duluth, Georgia. The build has been tweaked stretched to the limits of recognition. Up front, the hood has been vented and the headlights swapped out for fifth-gen Civic assemblies. There's also pumped, widened fenders and a custom bumper with a wide air dam. The Honda logo itself has been granted pride of place on a winged protrusion.
Behind the cabin is where things really get wild. The flat rear deck of the del Sol has been accentuated with the stretched design. All the extra length in the body is behind the cabin, so the coupe layout is retained.
The sides feature huge vents that appear to feed into the rear wheel wells, reminiscent of those on the Lamborghini Gallardo Spider of the early 2000s. Whether or not they're functional is unclear, but they're nicely blended into the door panels nonetheless.
The elongated wheelbase and cab-forward design make the build's overall layout reminiscent of a C8 Corvette, or perhaps a random hypercar design you might see in Grand Theft Auto. However, the design is let down by the back of the del Sol's cabin. The near-vertical cutoff doesn't really flow well into the extended rear deck.
The car also features a carbon fiber "engine cover" at the back. Whether the car actually has an engine in the rear is unclear, though. A photo from earlier in the build process shows the rear cut away, and something that could be engine-like in the back, but it's not conclusive.
Either way, there are quad exhausts at the rear, functional or not. The Drive has contacted the builder for more information and will update this article accordingly.
One thing we do know is that the build is a functional car that runs and drives. A short video posted to Instagram shows the vehicle's occupants waving as it pulls out of a driveway and on to the road. The exhaust note doesn't give much away, save for a minor hint of valvetrain rattle you might expect from a high-mileage small-displacement engine.
Overall, though, the bodywork mods are well-executed, and the car looks resplendent in its strident red Honda paint. The wheel choice is solid, too, showing that chrome wheels do occasionally have their place. If you can say anything about this build, it's that it's sure to draw plenty of attention wherever it goes—for better or for worse.
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