WalkingComplex, I would not want too clean a Civic, or I might feel bad ripping it apart and turning it into a race car. My Mustang is a 99 v6. I bought it from the original owner for 3 grand. It needed some minor work, but it fixed up quick, and the thing is beautiful clean. It is really fun to slide around on the street, but not as fast as it could be at the autocross. I figured out a budget for it- torque arm, panhard bar, aftermarket K-member, and all kinds of other B.S. just to make it handle decent, and it was just too much to put into a car that may still not be what I wanted in the end. Plus I would have killed the resale value by ripping up the interior and caging it up. As it is I am asking 5800 for it and will be surprised if it does not go fairly quick at that. MistahJuice, I would not feel bad for having a plain looking car, helps keep a lower profile if nothing else, and besides all those Cali cars are clean to start with, aren't they? Other problem with that Mustang was everyone wanted to race me all the time, gets to be a real nuisance sometimes. Not to mention cops were always eyebaling me, even if I was going slow. Md is definitely in the rust belt, we have a serious salt problem here. Get 2 inches of snow and then 4 days later our tax dollars pay someone time and a half to drive a salt truck up the street on Saturday. Point is, a clean car of any type, including a Civic, is a fairly rare find. I would expect any car that has spent its life here to need some significant restoration to clean up decent. My Mustang spent much of its life in Las Vegas, or so I was told, which would explain it being clean and rust free as it is. Craigslist is also my main source for buying and selling cars and used parts. I have seen some Civics for sale in the $2k range that would be a great starting point for me, and even some in running condition that may get through state inspection without too much hassle. You got a build thread going for that eg8?