Civic from 1978 with 216 hp

Everything is modified on this car

- by Peter Edenberg 2019-05-04

Next to me in a garage in Los Angeles stands Juan Salguero—a master of details that everyone sees but few truly notice.

After a week of back-and-forth messages on Facebook about meeting up at a Coffee and Cars event, we finally ended up in Juan’s “Garage Number 2” in the heart of Los Angeles.

FJ40 was a dream car

Just inside the garage door sits a white 1970 Toyota FJ40, instantly making me think of a South American mafia movie. It’s perfect and stylish, with tinted windows and a solid, rugged body.

“It’s a bit shaky to drive and maybe not the most fun in traffic here in Los Angeles. But I’ve always dreamed of owning an FJ40, so when the right deal came along, I had to buy it.”

“Now it’s part of my collection, and I take it out for a drive every now and then. It’s been a while, though,” Juan says, with a slightly thoughtful expression.

Proof that it doesn’t get used very often is the fact that it’s sitting on a pair of axle stands when I visit.

Honda Accord from 1979 with a B18 engine

The garage feels calm, with almost perfect lighting. Each car has its own small space, resting on a neat red felt mat.

Along the wall stands a 1979 Accord, a 1954 oval-window Beetle, and the bare shell of a first-generation Honda Civic CVCC.

“The Accord has been owned by the same man since it was new. Most of it is original,” Juan says with a subtle, serious smile.

As we walk toward the car, the interior appears to be completely original—but when I look into the engine bay, nothing seems original at all.

Juan explains what has been done to the car.

“The previous owner installed a B18 engine during the second engine swap. When I bought it, I added new suspension and upgraded parts of the engine, like the intake, and re-tuned it a bit.”

“The intake was too big for the brake master cylinder, so I had to modify it. I bought all kinds of Honda master brake cylinders, and in the end, we concluded that the S2000 cylinder was the right one.”

The engine bay—and the car as a whole—is free from anything unnecessary or distracting. As I lean in to see what Juan is talking about, I notice the gap between the master cylinder and the engine is barely one centimeter. No exaggeration.

Honda vtec engine in a honda Accord from 1979

The Beetle is a SEMA show car

The Beetle in the stall next to it was a SEMA show car in 2012. It has seven layers of clear coat, and the patina isn’t original—it’s hand-crafted. It’s a European “gray market” car that Juan felt was too unique not to buy. One of very few 1954 oval-window Beetles in the United States. Juan has upgraded it with a new 1776 cc engine and improved suspension.

In the far corner sits the bare shell of a first-generation Honda Civic CVCC.

“At first, I was thinking about turning my other Civic into a track car, but then my plans changed a bit. So this one will probably become a track car in the future instead. I hope.”

The bespoken award winning Honda Civic Cvcc from 1978

The award-winning 1978 Civic is missing when we visit the garage. Juan explains that it’s currently at a major car event in Orange County, but he finishes his sentence with a question:

“How about we catch up later this week so you can take a look at it?”

“Of course,” I reply without hesitation.

Later that week, when we meet at Juan’s garage at his home in Long Beach, he finally shows me the legendary, award-winning 1978 Civic CVCC.

Honda Civic 1978 - restmod - in the garage

This is Juan's first car

Juan has a special connection to this car—it was his first. When he turned sixteen, he was handed the keys, and he has never let go of them—or the car—since.

“This is my first car. It’s emotionally special to me.”

“I got it from my grandmother. She wasn’t actually my grandmother, but she worked with my mother and became like one to me.”

“She drove the car five miles every day, Monday through Friday, from 1978 until I got it—20 years ago.”

As the evening goes on, I start to see Juan as a truly humble and goal-driven person, with an incredibly big heart.

Juan and his sleeper Honda Civic Cvcc1978

Juan grew up in infamous South Central

Juan grew up in the infamous South Central area of Los Angeles—the kind of place often stamped with crime, gangs, and drugs, where something is always happening.

“That area is very stereotyped for people who aren’t from there. And maybe that’s not so strange, considering all the music and movies about South Central tend to show exactly that side of it.”

“Where I grew up as a kid, we rode bikes, played football, and had fun in the streets just like anyone else. Sure, things could get messy when people came in from the ‘other side’ and started trouble—but where isn’t it like that?”

I nod in understanding as Juan speaks, asking myself how many times similar things happened between different neighborhoods, schools, or areas back in the quiet, safe suburbs of Sweden. It definitely has.

sleeper Honda Civic Cvcc1978 - at the port of Los Angeles

Hard work have created the dream

“My father disappeared pretty early from my life. He got 25 years in prison and was deported after that. I haven’t had much contact with him since.”

“My mom had to raise us, and pretty quickly my brother and I learned to help out.”

School was never really Juan’s thing, and he started working at 16—nights and weekends—for a lighting company. Over the years, his role grew, and eventually he became his own entrepreneur.

Around the age of 25, his life began to change, and the “American dream”—or rather, the results of hard work—started to take shape.

The Civic looks original but not

“When the money started to become stable, I wanted to rebuild the Civic exactly the way I had imagined it.”

“For the first eight to ten years, I drove the car completely stock without making any changes, always with the mindset: if it breaks, it breaks. So be it.”

At first glance, standing in the garage, the Civic appears original—but at the same time, clearly modified. A trained eye can tell it’s not 100% stock, not just because of the shimmering gray Lexus paint or the aggressive wheels.

It looks tougher, a bit meaner, and more solid than the original car—yet it still maintains that factory look.

“I want the car to look and feel as original as possible—that’s my goal.”

Juan and his original white honda civic from 1978

The white Civic on top is the original, Juan in the middle and the first paint job on the Civic in the bottom

“What gives it away on the outside is that the front fenders are widened by 1.5 inches and the rear by 3 inches. The wider tires have to fit, you know.”

“But it’s still such a small difference from the original that it’s hard to tell.”

The rims, designed by Juan himself, had just come back from manufacturing the week before we met. They’ve been on the car ever since. Unfortunately, they turned out to be a few millimeters too wide and have already left their mark on the front fender.

“When I went over that highway bump, I felt it through my whole body. The rims hit the fender, and I knew it had cracked,” Juan says, pointing at the front fender.

“We’ll just have to repaint it—nothing else we can do about it,” he adds calmly.

The BC Racing Coilover and the custom made traction- and radius bars helps to hold the car in place

sleeper Honda Civic Cvcc1978 - and yellow pole in the harbour

Everything about this car is thought through, millimeter by millimeter. It’s something I notice applies to all of Juan’s cars.

The stripped-down details that let a car’s soul breathe calmly. So much has been done, yet so little is obvious to the observer.

Juan is a master of details everyone sees but doesn’t perceive.

dashboard in a honda Civic Cvcc - sleeper Honda Civic Cvcc1978

The Civic bumper is thought through

One example of the thought fulness in the Civic’s design is the bumper.

“There’s a bumper from 1975 on it now. It’s been cut and reshaped to hug the front and rear of the car tightly. The original is made of plastic and sticks out several centimeters from the body. This one works much better, yet still feels original,” Juan says confidently.

The interior is, down to the smallest detail, recreated from the original and newly manufactured. Nothing feels stripped-down or boring—it looks completely factory. With one exception: the gear lever, or rather, the Terminator-style shifter.

“Well… okay, it’s not original. Something has to stand out.”

Honda Civic Sleeper - Terminator-style shifter

216 horsepower – 750 kilos

When Juan lifts the hood, it looks like a game of Tetris. I can’t comprehend how much engine has been packed into such a small space.

“We had to rebuild the entire engine bay to fit everything I wanted. Down here, nothing is original,” Juan says with a smile.

“The engine is a B18C from a 1998 Integra. A good friend welded a completely new radiator and 2 1/2 inch stainless exhaust system. The air intake is shortened, and the Bosh 255 fuel pump can handle up to 1,000 horsepower and the oil is pumped with a type-r pump.”

At the back of the engine bay sits a large Edelbrock Meatloaf intake manifold. The system is controlled by an AEM Wireworx harness, while fuel delivery is precisely managed by 440 cc injectors from Fuel Injector Clinic.

“Yes, everything in the engine bay is modified. Everything has been changed.”

“We cut everything out, rebuilt it, and welded it back together to fit exactly what we wanted.”

“There are 216 horsepower at the wheels with this setup—and keep in mind, the car only weighs around 750 kilos (1,400 pounds),” Juan says, a spark in his eyes.

“I have an extremely hard time getting all that power down to the ground without the front wheels spinning—all the way up to third gear.”

The back is pressed against the chair

I experience this myself a few minutes later as we sit in the car heading up onto the highway. The on-ramp is long and straight, and we’re completely alone, with several hundred meters ahead of us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Juan tighten his grip on the steering wheel. Half a second later, I feel my back pressed into the seat. The engine roars, and the whole car wants to pull to the left as Juan revs it out, kicks the competition clutch down and shifts OEM GSR gearbox into third.

In just a couple of seconds, we’re already matching highway speed. Juan stays on the throttle, and once again the car pulls to the left. He shouts over the engine noise that it’s because the driveshaft on the left side is shorter than on the right.

The acceleration in this small car is intense, and it’s hard to hold a conversation over the engine’s roar. Instead, I sit back, smile, and enjoy the moment as we cruise through the Los Angeles evening with 216 wild horsepower under Juan’s right foot.

"this car is perfect"

Back at the garage, it strikes me how hard it is not to be impressed by a car that looks 95% original but is 100% modified beneath the surface. Every second spent on this build has been driven by the vision of an original-looking car—with a mischievous edge that can leave Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris in the dust.

According to Juan himself, his Civic is perfect—and who am I to argue?

His lighting company handles nearly 400 shows a year, and he seems to be working hard while living the American dream in a humble and grounded way.

With a sense of joy and appreciation, I leave Juan and his Civic, already looking forward to seeing what he will do with his next project—a Honda Stepvan.

Juan, thank you for your time—and keep doing what you do!