Simply Red From Australia

In Australia, there has always been an unofficial code of conduct for blokes and their cars:

1. You should drive a V8 (pushrods preferred).
2. You should only drink beer.
3. You should not put beer in your V8.

Beer has a much higher octane rating than our local fuel so that third one is understandable. Fortunately times have changed. Sure, we gave the world the 'Ute', but we also gave it the Motec ECU. We've become accustomed to contradictions in this oversized desert island we call home. Sure we still like our V8's but we've learnt there's nothing wrong with a turbo or a bit of VTEC either. Heck, I'm proud to be a sophisticated, kangaroo eating bush basher like the rest of them.

So what happens when a kid from a small town buys a Honda Civic and spends the next four years tinkering with it? You get something more contradictory than an old fella that eats earwax [mmm...delicious! -ed] becoming the Prime Minister of a country. Oh wait. that happened to us too.

This brings me to Trav and his car. He values heritage and tradition, but always wants to do things differently. He wants to make a statement and stand out, but doesn't want to drive something that's obnoxious. It's a tall order, but somehow he's managed to pull it off with his EG. Under the hood, the re-built and blue-printed B16A is at home in the EG chassis. The green, sandstone textured valve cover however, makes you do a double take. On the exterior the front lip, one piece EG6 wing and bumper mouldings are all OEM Honda and blend seamlessly with the lines of the car. The carbon fibre hood, on the other hand, provides an eye-popping contrast with the red paintwork. In the same vein, the EG6 seats pay homage to the Honda design team while the stripped interior and dished Momo wheel spit in their faces. The story is the same for the period-correct Enkei Racing S wheels. They've been given a face-lift with primer-grey paint and open ended Buddy Club lug nuts.

So what exactly do you call a car like this? It's not JDM. The AEM intake and Edelbrock header are from the U.S.A, the DBA rotors are from Australia, the Momo steering wheel is from Italy and the brake pads are from Japan. It's an international affair; a spaghetti burger with a nice thick slice of beetroot and a side of sushi. It's a mixed bag that manages to taste good. But if you must have a label with the 'DM' suffix, it's definitely 'TravDM'.

In many respects, the car's combination of simplicity and contradictory quirks are what make it work. It also shows that modifying a car is also about what parts you decide not to put on. In this case, it's also about what you take off. Trav has probably taken more parts off the civic than he's put on it. There's no power steering, no air conditioning, no heater and no windscreen wipers to name but a few of the omissions. If you filled this red bubble with helium it would probably float.

So after having the car off the road for some time, Trav has finally achieved what he set out to do all those years ago. He's built a car that catches the eye without being fussy and honours tradition with a slap in the face. Unfortunately the irony doesn't stop there. Just as everything has come together, the car will soon be going into storage for three years due to work commitments.

[editor's note]

Coming from the stateside and checking out this EG ourselves, we were automatically taken away by the fact that it's a right hand drive. Oh my God, it must be sick and wicked JDM! Well, it hails from Australia so it's not quite from Japan, but the exterior styling is reminiscent of what we would consider "JDM". But that's where it all goes wrong you see, like Chris Fatseas mentions in this article, it's not quite JDM. And that's where things seem to have gone wrong in the industry the last few years. Exterior styling alone can classify a car as JDM, despite whatever parts it utilizes that aren't easily seen.

Going into more detail on this car, it's equipped with Buddy Club Race Spec Damper coilovers that obviously hail from Japan, but the other suspension pieces include Edelbrock's 3-point strut brace, Whiteline's rear sway bar, lower rear tie bar and rear camber kit. Now over here on the stateside you often will not hear Whiteline products be associated with an EG. Well, it is an Australian brand so it shouldn't surprise us that Trav's EG is equipped with it. But again, it seems like the three letters that designate "JDM" styling has become overwhelmed and oversaturated and has almost lost its true nature.

What we liked best about this car was its simple and subdued build. It definitely moves with a rebuilt B16A2 under the hood and plenty of bolt ons with it, many of which came from American soil. The interior has been completely stripped out and looks like it's ready to rumble on the twists. And the suspension goods back up that ideology. As was mentioned before, the exterior has been decked out with OEM pieces, but pieces even the most hardcore JDM fanatic is envy for. We've seen the popular EKs sporting molding equipped bumpers, but the EG chassis isn't as popular equipped. We just love the combination of everything on the exterior.

Lastly, the wheel and tire setup is just straight sick. Enkei Racing S 2 piece wheels have been dyed with a custom gray center and sports a polished lip. They are a mild 15x6 with a +38 offset, but are wrapped with Goodyear's GD1 tires in a 195/50/15 variety.

I didn't want to step on Chris Fatseas' thunder and article on Trav's EG, but I thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the facts from a bloody American's point of view. We love what you guys are doing over there in Australia, don't stop!!!