There's no doubt that the Internet's changed things for Honda enthusiasts. It makes searching for rare parts easy and offers enthusiasts a chance to scope out trends from across the globe. It's also become a breeding ground for virtual car meets-post pictures of your ride, introduce yourself, and befriend just about anybody on earth. The Internet-automotive forums in particular-has opened the lines of communication for just about every enthusiast and made building a car that much easier.
Today's technology affords Honda owners access to whatever it is they need. Chatting with online predators has been superceded by Honda web forums galore and, chances are, you've had an opportunity to take a gander at one. If so, then you've most likely come across Michael "HeyMikeyyyy" Cristi's unique DC2 Integra. Mikey and his DC2 have become a bit of a mainstay on popular web boards and are recognized mostly for their approachable demeanor and one-of-a-kind style, respectively. Mikey and the Phaze2 crew have spent the last seven years trendsetting among the Honda community. Some credit his crew with reintroducing insanely aggressive wheel stances and low offset fitments back into the world of Hondas. A whole new style began to take form once forum lurkers caught a glimpse of Mikey's DC2. While low offsets and Hondas aren't anything new, they certainly weren't common before Mikey and crew came along, that is, unless you happened to frequent the streets of East Los Angeles in the late '80s and early '90s where '87 Accords strapped to low-offset Daytons weren't entirely rare.
Online images of Mikey's Integra have a way of evoking questions from swarms of web companions: "What wheels are those?" Or, "How did you get those to fit?" And of course the obligatory, "Damn, how does your car even turn?" Ultimately the questions turned into notoriety for the Glendale, Calif., native. The fact that Mikey was willing to answer the questions didn't hurt either.
Interestingly enough, one of the sets of wheels in question was derived from a Ford Escort, Mikey tells us. "Yeah, the Enkei 92s came off of my aunt's Ford Escort," he says. Could it be possible that the wheel that helped spark the low-offset Honda revolution was sourced from an old beat-up Ford? Apparently so. "I was hanging out with my boys one night when my aunt drove by and we came up with the idea to test-fit the wheels," Mikey says. "She said that if I could find her another set of wheels, the Enkeis were mine. She rocks Honda hub caps on her Escort to this day." Keep in mind that this occurred over four years ago. Today there are countless Mikey-inspired Honda owners sporting Enkei 92s across the country, not to mention the flocks of Ford Escorts sitting on bricks at the wrecking yards.
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