By most accounts this bones-stock 2000 Honda Civic Type R with only 4500 km on the odometer would not have needed a full nut-and-bolt restoration. It got one anyway, with fresh paint and loads of brand-new OEM parts. The result is a Honda purist’s dream, perhaps one of the most superb EK9 restorations in the world.
The restoration was undertaken by Hong Kong’s Contempo Concepts, which caught our attention when they restored a Toyota Comfort GT-Z with incredible effort. That same ethos is applied to this Phoenix Yellow EK9, a base model that came without aircon, stereo, power windows, or ABS.
Though it looks remarkably clean, the narrator says the paint had scratches and fade, a symptom of having been left outside for a long period of time. The restorers had no choice but to repaint the entire car.
While they were at it, they also bought every new OEM part they could find — lights, glass, fasteners of all sorts, the trademark B16B valve cover, and even out-of-production wheel arch liners won on a Japanese auction site. It almost seems wasteful, and hopefully some of those lightly used parts found their way to second owners.
Even if you’re not a Honda head, this video is an excellent way to kill half an hour. Each step of the process is as jaw-dropping as the last. We could stand to watch a much longer version of the video showing some of the challenges in obtaining parts or the products used to make a 4500-kilometer interior look like a zero-kilometer interior. It’s Honda ASMR at its finest.
Restoration…
Usually a word from old folks to determine how much they should waste on keeping a car original. Honestly, for me, anything built from 1980 onwards is MODERN. The classic chrome-carburetted cars simply do not generate any personal interest on me, because I grew wishing them. Now that I can’t even afford a basic 90s crap, I couldn’t be more disgusted with the “car community”. I’d rather see this one tuned than originaled.