I grabbed this eye-searingly sun-soaked photo on a rare drive. Honda’s factory reps had trotted out a few of the company’s collector’s items, including this sub-1,000 mile Civic Si, and let some hacks like me zoom around in them for a bit. These were such great-looking hard-charging little cars.
Picture Details:
- Car(s): 1999 Honda Civic Si
- Location: Angeles Crest Highway
- Photog: Andrew P. Collins (@andrewpcollins on Twitter and @andrewatlarge on Insta)
- Camera: Canon PowerShot G7 Mark III
High-noon photography rarely pays off, but, I had this pic on my hard drive and I wanted an excuse to talk about Honda’s brilliant blue paint option from 1999 and 2000: Electron Blue Pearl. In person this hue has a little sparkle to it, it’s not goofy like toothpaste or a bass boat, but it’s unique and lovely. This blue really toes the line between light and dark nicely. It pops but it’s not garish at all.
These EM1-chassis Civic Sis were similarly lively. The very high-revving B-Series 1.6-liter engine didn’t make a whole lot of horsepower… well, actually, relatively speaking it did. 100 HP-per-liter is pretty impressive even today, especially without a turbo. Regardless, these cars were a riot to drive years ago and fun for a whole different set of reasons (nostalgia) today. Supplies are lean and nice ones trade for way too much money on auction sites these days, so you might just have to take my word for it that they were good to drive.
Or, find yourself a bargain-basement Civic, a B motor from across the Pacific, and build your own!
