"The car was completely stripped," he said. "There
wasn't much they didn't take." Gonzalez lost more than
just various equipment and accessories-including everything
from his bumper to his racing seats-that cost thousands of dollars.
It was at that point a disenchanted Gonzalez put a temporary
end to his tuning days and a "for sale" tag on his
Civic.
Luckily for him, no one took the car off his hands. A few months
after the break-in and theft, the tuning bug bit Gonzalez for
a second time. Now, following his change of heart, Gonzalez
put the nightmare behind him and turned his car into one of
the sweetest rides in Winnipeg.
When he steps out of his award-winning Civic, eyebrows aren't
the only things that go up. So do his doors.
The most striking transformation Gonzalez has made to his tuner
car during the last two years is its Lamborghini-style vertical
doors. They've brought him plenty of attention from awestruck
enthusiasts and just about everyone else he passes. "It's
the coolest part of the car," Gonzalez said.
"I get so many people who tell me they hate Civics but
when they see mine they fall in love with it."
Judges at car shows have also fallen in love with his Civic.
Gonzalez took home an impressive collection of hardware in 2004
at shows in Minneapolis, North Dakota and Edmonton, but it was
in Saskatoon where he earned his biggest prize-the Best of Show
honour at a BFGoodrich Sport Compact Nights pit stop last July.
"It's really hard to win a show when you go out of town
because they seem to look for the hometown cars," Gonzalez
said. "There's no better feeling in the world (than winning)
when you consider the time and effort put into it."
One has to only step inside Gonzalez's garage to realize just
how admired his viper red tuner, which would make anyone in
Civic Nation green with envy, truly is. That's where proof of
his accomplishments-evident by a large collection of hardware
that's neatly sorted on a table-is tucked away in a corner,
flanked by posters, banners and old Manitoba and Ontario licence
plates that are plastered on his walls.
"This is pretty close to the point I wanted to get to when
I started this car," said Gonzalez, a part-time employee
at Ravi Auto Repairs & Body Shop on Watt Street in Winnipeg.
"I was looking to do modifications to it but I didn't know
how extreme I'd go with this car."
Gonzalez bought the Civic at a Thunder Bay, Ont., dealership
in 2001 during a vacation with friends and drove it to back
to Winnipeg. He didn't make any modifications to it for about
a year and a half until he checked out a couple of car shows
and saw what others were doing to their rides. Today, his Civic
appears alongside many of those that initially inspired him,
but it doesn't get there on the back of a trailer.
Gonzalez's Civic is his daily driver, meaning it takes him to
and from work and about everywhere else in between, including
shows as far away as Edmonton.
"That's the fun part because you go to all of the small
towns with your buddies and you have a lot of fun. A lot of
people (in rural areas) don't even know what type of car (mine)
is, while some people think it was manufactured like that. And
the little kids just go crazy," said Gonzalez, who got
a lot of help from Toy Sport, AutoFX and his co-workers at Ravi
Auto to make his car what it is today.
In fact, the tuner wouldn't have made it to Saskatoon if it
wasn't for colleague Dave Reid, who put the finishing touches
on the Civic six hours before it had to be there. Reid spent
nearly 16 hours on the car and pulled it out of the spray booth
about six hours before Gonzalez had to be in Saskatchewan. "I
told him I should get one of those trophies," Reid said
with a laugh.
CONTRIBUTORS
Toy Sport
AutoFX
Ravi Auto
MOD LIST
ENGINE
AEM cam gears, pulleys, CAI, and fuel rail
DC race headers; Nology performance wires
NGK high ignition plugs
ZEX 75 shot wet nitrous system
Audiobahn chrome battery posts
STR polished engine cover
Ichibahn engine dress up kit
AEM oil cap
Greddy polished oil catch tank
BODY
Octane front
Skyline R33 sides and rear
Fully molded one-piece body
Custom NSX rear quarter vents
X-2 wide body fenders
GT-R rear wing
VIS carbon fibre hood
Sparco hood pins
Lambo doors
Shaved rear and emblems
RIMS, TIRES & BRAKES
18" Racing Hart CR rims with 215/35/18 BFGoodrich KDW's
AEM big brake upgrade with slotted polished rotors
SUSPENSION
Tokiko five-way adjustable shocks with Neuspeed race series
lowering spring
DC engine strut brace, rear lower strut brace and rear upper
strut brace
INTERIOR
Sparco Torino seats
Sparco pedals, shifter and race wheel
AC Autotecnic race gauges
Custom fibreglass interior painted to match exterior (red
and black)
Ichibahn lighting
STEREO & MULTIMEDIA
Four 12" Audiobahn high excursion subs with two 1200w
Audiobahn high output amps all in a custom backseat fibreglass
enclosure
7" DVD in-dash screen
Audiobahn components
PS2
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