This is not your average run of the mill third-generation Honda Civic hatchback. Famously known as the Civic ‘mayat’ it was the hottest little car to own back in the mid 1980’s when it was first brought in by private importers and its fame lasted right up to the mid 1990’s when its rivals could not match its power to weight ratio and its ‘screaming’ Si V-Tec engine.
Now, we stumble on this article about a wildly tuned Civic ‘mayat’ by Andy Barcheck, who built it himself, completely handmade and inspired by the impressive Renault 5 GT Turbo (see picture below) with its central engine, a legendary rally car.
The secret of this widened Honda Civic is a V6 engine in a central rear position, propelling the rear axle. It could well have been the car that Honda had designed for Group B.
Andy Barcheck built it in his spare time, decades ago. The transformation was an intense learning process for Barcheck, who had to design and manufacture a completely new sub-frame and modify the car extensively. The fuel tank was moved to the front of the car, and both the radiator and the braking system come from a Chevrolet Corvette. Tubular elements were installed in the chassis to provide additional stiffness. Instead of a four-cylinder engine, this Civic enjoyed a 2.5 V6 engine, from an Acura (Honda) Legend.
At the time, a widened body kit for the car was designed, perfectly integrated in its silhouette and classic proportions.
An engine of just 150 HP of power, which moved the car more than adequately. It moved its rear wheels, through a precise manual gearbox. The current owner, Eric Schmidt, decided to visit the original creator of the car and surprise him. When he bought the car – baptized as “Hondura” by its creator, a pun between Honda and Acura – its engine was very “tired”, and needed a rebuild. Instead, he decided to install the 3.2 V6 engine of a modern Acura CL Type-S, a VTEC engine capable of developing more than correct 260hp.
Barcheck built the car with the aim of supporting a power over 250hp, and the new V6 seems to fit like a glove. After giving his “blessing” to the current owner, he tells us a curious story: he used to say that the car was one of the two prototypes of Group B manufactured by Honda, and that the other unit was in a warehouse in Tokyo. History that many believed, having fun Andy Driving it must be really fun.
Picture and story credit Sergio Álvarez.
