What was your first subcompact?

[Stove]

I've been going through old boxes lately and I've found all sorts of things I thought I had lost. Most importantly, I finally found a picture of the first cars I modified. It was still bone stock when I bought it in '88. It didn't stay that way for long

It was a '76 Civic 1500cc, 5 speed manual with the option gauge package (Tach added, Temp and Fuel gauges were relocated to a separate bezel in the dash.).

After killing the original 1500 (ED-3 I think), I stuffed an engine out of an '83 Prelude into it. (ES-1 with the duel carbs). It mated right to the original '76 5-speed and the original motor mounts. A slight modification to the original flywheel was about all that was needed. Exhaust was 2.5" with an 18" Cherry Bomb somewhere near the middle with the core knocked out of the Cat. I up-sized to 13x6" wheels and better tires and removed unneeded weight. It scaled at 1380 lbs, stock was a little over 1500 lbs. For a car its size, with the original close ratio trans it was scary fast in a straight line up to about 95 and even scarier in corners of any kind (70/30-ish weight balance). And of course, flat black paint with an offset white stripe.

I miss this car, one of these days I may try to reproduce it with a modern FI engine.

Pic is from '91 or '92
Civic 800x600.jpg