Brandon Whited's AP2 S2000

Text by Wooley Photos by Ben Whiles

Alright Honda fans, gather around & listen up. I have some upsetting news. Honda Tuning brainwashed you a lil bit. The Chronicles, NWP, all that stuff ya’ll read on your tablet at night – it’s BS. Fanboy propaganda. The follower’s guide to Honda-building. It’s time I tell you the story of our ancestors.

Once upon a time, long-long ago in the 90s, there was a real group of import tuners that emerged. And those guys back then, would snap around & give you both middle fingers if you tried to tell them how to build their car. They understood what it was all about… nonconformity. NON… conformity. And that sort of attitude fueled a generation to come. A generation that INVADED the automotive aftermarket, and made it’s mark in a positive, AND profitable way. Imagine that.

Maybe I’m being romantic about the tales of yesteryear. But to my memory… these guys lived by a very spoken rule… that your car didn’t count, if it wasn’t outside in the parking lot. They understood that a sport-compact was NOT a museum piece. And the import lifestyle spawned & thrived off an unapologetic retaliation against generics, preps, and posers. Your street car = your show car = your race car. Every damn day. HI! MY NAME IS RICER!

AND THEN – the oppressors (I’m sorry, ‘influencers’) came in and mindf*cked the internet-gen kids into thinking they were some kind of purists. They tried to attach ‘status’ to a sport-compact. The Honda scene left the real word, and moved to a smartphone screen.

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AND NOW – a lot of the Honda scene is upside-down & brainwashed. They either scavenge over used parts like vagrants. Or they follow brands & trends like teeny-bop girls – buying for the name & the hashtag. Are we serious here? They build a car that they can’t afford to drive. Then, they look to the internet gods for validation. Hoping they checked all the right boxes & pleased the masters. All the ‘built’ Hondas look the same. And in short, the Honda Scene (errr what’s left of it really), has turned into its own worst enemy – FOLLOWERS. You guys are cookie-cutter. Which is funny, because that’s the term we used for the domestic guys back in the 90’s. The Ciiiiiiiircle of Life.

But then, every once in a while you come across a car like Brandon Whited’s S2000, and it raises the hair on the back of your neck, and reminds you of the good ol’ days. It makes you want to stand up… and not leave the Honda scene to the nerds & vultures. If we are to reignite the Honda culture, we must preserve its essence. That means – some of you still need to learn what it is!

Hondas are fun… so have fun WITH them! They’re loud… so BE loud! Keep it in Vtec, and DAMN the oppressive expectations! Cut the sh*t. STOP LISTENING TO THE INTERNET. Stop trying to get acceptance and/or acknowledgement from people you don’t know. Stop hiding your Hondas in the garage like they’re delicate. And get back to the REAL Honda roots. There’s nothing wrong with building a perfect textbook Honda if that’s what tickles your pickle. But if the damn thing’s not outside in the parking lot, I’m sorry, it doesn’t count.