Two years ago, we met up with Mike Galante down on South Street in Philly to shoot his 1999 Honda Civic EX. Since then, Mike’s car has seen some huge changes and breaks those necks wherever he travels.
He picked the car up in stock form from a family in New Jersey. This clean, unmolested Civic was the perfect candidate for what Mike had in mind. After he was on his way with the Civic and a stack of service records, Mike’s mind started to race with possible options for the Civic. He started simple with some Ground Control coilover sleeves and a set of wheels his buddy had in his garage, but this is where it all began.
Mike initially bought the car to daily during college, but while those plans did not pan out as expected, more and more was done to the Civic. Function and Form coilovers with 6″ 12K Eibach springs were added to the car to give Mike the ride height and ride quality that he desired. But to get to this height, a little more was required. Custom drop forks, motor mounts to raise the motor, rolled fenders and a custom skid plate were added to Mike’s ’99 to get it ready for the final touch, wheels.
A custom built set of BBS RM wheels went on to the car sizing in at 15×8.5 +11 in the front and 15×9 +3 in the rear, Mike’s Civic had no problem tucking the stretched 195/45/15 Toyo Proxies. A bunch of other exterior and interior mods made this car unique to Mike’s clean and simple taste.
The interior features some sweet Recaro EK9 front seats and rewrapped red Type R rear seats to keep the passengers comfy, along with a quick release wheel, black suede headliner, door cards and more.
Mike’s motivation behind the build was to have a super clean daily driver that will still turn heads at shows. He build the car to how he wanted it, not to fit in with a certain group of people, though he always enjoys hearing how people like his car. It’s something to get him from point A to point B. Future plans are still unknown, some days the car is for sale and some days the car is close to going under the knife again!
Mike would like to thank his good friends and girlfriend who have supported him and helped him through this build. He would also like to thank his painter for the fresh black paint job, J&J Auto in NE Philly for the interior and us here at StanceCoalition for always showing love!
Photos: Mike Martino for StanceCoalition
Words: Mike DeFusco
Modifications
Engine
Stock D16Y8
Mild wire tuck
Hasport Motor Mounts
Interior
Recaro EK9 front seats
Red Type R rear seats
Black carpet
Black suede headliner, door cards and armrest
Exterior
OEM Si Lip
OEM Si Grille
OEM Mudflaps
EDM 50/50 tailights
Suspension
F&F Coilovers
6″ 12K Eibach springs
Custom drop forks
Rolled/Shaved fenders
Custom skidplate
Wheels
BBS RM 15×8.5 +11 / 15×9 +3
Custom painted white face with dark gold bolts
195/45/15 Toyo Proxies