Hello all, I am in no means an OG but am not new to cars either. I want to introduce myself and while it is kinda sad that this forum is no longer active like it used to be, I figured it would be a refresher for the OG’s to see a post like this. All those posts back in the day where people introduced themselves and their cars, I’m sure y’all were getting tired of seeing it almost every day eventually LOL. Then it slowly stopped and now here we are.
Be aware this may be a long read but honestly that’s my goal lol. I’m at work right now with nothing better to do and I figured some of y’all might be at work too and want to read something to keep you entertained lol!
I am currently 26 years old and have been wanting a DB1 since I was a kid after seeing some of you guys driving them around LOL. I know for sure I seen RexOne at least once cruising somewhere near National City back in the early 2000’s. Something about the way the back windows tilt and how “boxy” the 4 Doors are compared to the DA9s. DB1’s are more rare to find than a DA9 (in SoCal at least) and I wasn’t going to settle with a DA. Well, I spent over a year waiting for a DB1 to show up on craigslist (yeah I’m 26 and that seems young but hey FB marketplace wasn’t a thing back in 2013 so yes Craigslist was relevant for a youngster like me!) while in highschool and I couldn’t wait anymore. I was riding a BMX to and from school and you guys know how it was like to have a car back in highschool so I had to be cool and I ended up getting a 1996 Integra SE 4 door sedan (DB7). I had been working at a Robek’s smoothies and Panera Bread so I was able to save up 1500 and my parents covered the rest for the car which was about 3500 total. 5 Spd 4 door 3rd gen sedans were also rare in Socal so I was happy with it! Of course, the DB1 was still in the back of my mind, but I had to be realistic and so I settled with the DB7. Picture attached to when I first got it.
I did everything I could to this car and I loved every bit of it. I blew the motor and had it replaced with another B18B and I purchased every rare part for this car that I could get ahold of (OEM window visors, mudflaps, etc etc). I ended up enlisting in the Navy right after highschool so after my training and school, I received orders to go to Hawaii for 3 years. I was authorized a personal vehicle move so I brought this DB7 to Hawaii and that’s when I unfortunately started to lose interest. I ended up purchasing an E36 M3 which took all my attention from the integra and I ended up selling it for about 4k. Probably the biggest regret in my life since it was my first car and that car literally needed nothing. It was extremely healthy with 0 rust. I ended up seeing it around the island a few times and everytime I saw it, it looked worse and worse. All my rare OEM parts were stripped and sold and it was getting into minor accidents as the body panels and paint were clearly neglected. I ended up seeing it on the marketplace within 6 months of me selling it and was deeply saddened to see its condition. Original listing I screenshotted of it being for sale again.
I distorted his name and picture for privacy reasons.
You can see the condition it was in and it broke my heart. Seeing my car end up like this made me tell myself that I would never get rid of another car again unless I absolutely needed too for financial reasons. Because of that, I currently have 5 vehicles LOL.
Fast forward to 2 years ago, I was long gone from hawaii and was stationed back in San Diego onboard an aircraft carrier. I already had gone on 2 deployments and had 3 cars sitting at my house, none of them a Honda/Acura though. I decided to just check out the marketplace for any STI’s or WRXs from 04-05 as I always wanted one and as I was scrolling, I saw it for the first time. Yep… a DB1… it was well over an hour away and the ad was up for a week already so I thought damn its probably gone… but I hit him up and he still had it! I was driving up there with a friend within 2 days and eventually had it back home. This is the first picture I took of it immediately after purchasing it.
It was of course a 5spd and had well over 200k miles, no PS but it did have working AC. The car needed work for sure. Bushings were shot and needed a major overhaul. Cosmetically though besides the ashy hood, it was pretty clean! It didn’t have back seats but it came with authentic Red Recaro Type R seats which tbh are worth the price of the car itself LOL. I was being relocated to the state of Washington in a month though and I wasn’t going to leave my newly purchased car to sit here in San Diego, so I was on a mission to get it road trip worthy. I started with doing a major maintenance overhaul. I replaced the axles as they were vibrating the car aggressively at higher speeds. I replaced the radiator and all coolant hoses, refreshed all ball joints and bushings. Replaced the timing belt and water pump, pretty much everything you could think of to ensure the car was reliable and safe for the 2000 mile trip. Once it was mechanically sound, I sourced some OEM rear seats and raised the car a bit in prep for the road trip. I was going to do it solo and had to be there within 3 days so I had no room for error. So now the journey begins! It was a total 20 hour drive and this car screams past 70MPH so I kept it at 70 to make sure I wouldn’t overheat and everything went great. I made it there in 2 days and took plenty of pictures along the way. The car didn’t have cruise control which made me realize how much we take cruise control for granted on long road trips lol. The AC went out about 6 hours into the drive and it was the middle of summer so I was driving with the front windows down about halfway through the trip! Here are some pics along the way.
The car performed flawlessly minus the AC going out though and that just goes to show that if you take care of these cars, they really will last forever. Over 200k miles and 30+ years old and still capable of making 2000 mile roadtrips!
Once I made it to Washington, the car ended up just sitting almost the entire 2 years I was stationed there LOL. It was kept in my garage though and I would drive it like once every 2 months but it was honestly just raining way too much to be able to enjoy the car. Not to mention during snowy season, I wasn’t going to risk taking it out on the streets. The car had a nice 2 year break from the Sun though. During that time, I installed some 1320 UEL headers (mainly for the sound) and I also installed some new Yonaka coilovers since the F&F Type 1 Coilovers I had were blown after the trip. Eventually, it came time to bring it back down to San Diego since I officially separated from the US Navy after a “short but long” 7 years of service. This time though, I wasn’t interested in another road trip with it. It already proved it could make the trip, I wasn’t gonna put it through the ringer again and decided I would just ship it and drive my X runner down instead.
Now the car sits at my house in SD collecting dirt and dust while I slowly put money into it. I had a fuel pump priming issue which I just recently fixed. The car doesn’t have a Catalytic Converter and the exhaust sounds like ass so I’m kind of scared to drive it until I get that resolved because I really don’t want it to get state reffed or impounded. I’m slowly getting it ready to be daily driven again but honestly there is no rush for me since I have plenty of other cars to drive in the mean time.
One thing is for certain though… The car will NEVER be sold. This car won’t sell for much anyways to be able to resolve a financial situation that I may have in the future. It holds sentimental value to me since this car Should have been my first car and I guess you can say it was my dream car as a kid. I never wanted a GTR or Ferrari, just wanted this old school honda and keep it clean and be able to show my kids when they are old enough. Surely, in 20 years, you won’t see these cars pretty much at all anymore. Even now, they are very rare to see. While they don’t have much value money-wise, the sentimental value will always be there for us 2nd gen owners… and I know that we all can relate. Whether we used to have one or have one now, these cars are/were a choice that we all made to get one. It’s not like a camry or sentra that was given as a first car, these 2nd gen integras were purchased out of passion and to this day that is true. No-one just gets one just because! Those purchasing these cars are specifically looking for them. No one is “settling” for a 2nd gen Integra 
My plan’s for the future with this car:
- Repaint and body work
- Get another house with another garage to let it sit in
- B18C swap just to have a classic OG VTEC engine that kids 20 years from now wouldn’t realize was the grandfather of VTEC lol. Everyone is k-swapping which is great for power but I want an OG in the future, not the fastest car.
- Give it to one of my kid’s to give it the love and care I showed it and pass it down for generations to come!
If you guys read this whole thing, thank you and I wish the best of luck to you and your cars. Shoutout to RexOne for helping me out whenever I had questions about my DB1 and wheel specs and all that! Now I have a post I can go back to 20 years from now and can show my kids! Let’s keep this page alive y’all! I would love to read about your guy’s journeys with these cars.
Here it is now as of August 2023 sitting low and dirty.
