1995 Acura Integra

Resurrected, Born Again, Call It What You Want-The Infamous "Noops" Integra Rises Up From Its DeathbeadFace it, cars come and go. Some are built by industry heads, others are one-off demo rides. Either way, life expectancies are short since, all too often, many are pieced apart and sent out to pasture. Unique projects, like those able to withstand the test of time yet remain relatively unchanged, are but a rarity-projects like Reggie Quemuel's '95 Integra, for example.

Anyone familiar with the Southern California Honda game will likely recognize Reggie's Integra. Its numerous appearances at events over the years and its recognizable "NOOPS" license plate ensure as much. Even slow learners understand the correlation between Ichishima Tatsuru's Honda-themed tuner company Spoon Sports and Noops. It's Spoon spelled backwards you see. "I named the car Noops back then because I envisioned many parts on this DC2 tailored with Spoon parts," Reggie says.

What many may not know is that Noops wasn't always the pristine white Integra some have gotten to know so well. Once upon a time, Noops led a different life, one as "Kane"-a red GSR owned by Reggie's friend and Team Kosoku running mate.

The DC2, which was originally purchased in 1995, saw life as a turbocharged 1.8-liter show/race car that regularly attended the original Battle of the Imports and Import Showoff events. Two years later, devastation occurred when it was stolen. Upon recovery, the former owner was dumbfounded as to what to do with the 'Teg due to his lack of insurance so Reggie let him borrow an EG. "When I picked up Kane from the impound lot with my trailer, I pitched Jamie a wild proposal," Reggie says. "I offered to trade him my Civic hatchback for his stripped Integra shell." It was this outrageous idea that led to the Integra's rebirth.

With the shell stripped, Reggie opted to convert the front end to JDM Type R-specs. The conversion included the metal fenders, OEM hood, core support, front bumper, and HID headlights. Type R conversions in the late '90s cost a pretty penny because such parts weren't readily available in those days. Along with Nathan Pagtama, another Kosoku teammate, Reggie welded the core support and prepared the chassis for paint. "I knew right away that I was going to go with a clean, simple look so I removed all the windows from the shell, the entire interior, every single wire harness, and every little component out of the engine bay," Reggie says.

While the car was awaiting paint over at FLM in North Hollywood, Reggie began work on another turbocharged B-series engine with the turbo kit coming courtesy of Rev Hard's Myles, Allen, and Jonathan. Once FLM resprayed the chassis inside and out with a fresh coat of Honda Championship White, Reggie hit up Sheng at JHP USA to finish off the exterior with a Spoon front lip, Type R side skirts, and JDM Honda Access window visors. The completion of the exterior meant that all signs of Kane's formerly stripped and abandoned self were forever gone.

The next step to Noops' rebirth was to give the rolling chassis an aggressive stance. Options weren't as widespread as they are today so Reggie chose what he thought was the best setup at the time-Tokico shocks and Skunk2 coilovers. This late-'90s setup, like much of the car, stood the perils of time and remains today. As time progressed, Reggie added other suspension pieces, like Skunk2 lower control arms, a Mugen front shock brace, Spoon lower tie-bar, and EM Racing pillar bars. For rollers, Reggie followed through on the Noops namesake by contacting Speed Quest Performance for a set of Spoon SW388 wheels. The Spoon rims sat on Integra Type R five-lug hubs and around an NSX brake conversion. The wheel setup would remain for a couple of years before its present-day configuration of red 16x7 Gab Sport wheels paired with 215/45-16 Falken Azenis tires.