From Pizza Boy Dream Car To Topless Reality
There are those things that never should have been and those things that never came to be that should have. The automotive world abounds of the former. Donks come to mind. So do Wright brother-inspired boy racer wings and Lambo doors on anything other than Lambos. Convertible conversions should fall neatly into place here too but somehow don't anymore. No, we're not excluding silly minivan chop-top conversions but, as for first-generation CRX ones, consider those excused. This is all because of Florida native Steve McClesky and auto customizer Straman Coachworks. Steve's CRX is by no means an anomaly though. Straman whipped up a good 310 Honda convertibles in the mid-'80s. Other customizers followed suit but Straman remains the original rex converter. Of course, Steve's is a Straman.
If you remember 1984, then it's likely you remember the hype surrounding Honda's newest sports car and the convertible conversion frenzy stirred up by Road and Track magazine. Steve does. He was hockin' pizzas out of his Pinto wagon for Domino's when he first took a liking to the 'vert. Unfortunately, even in the '80s, pizza money and new cars didn't jive, not to mention with Straman-converted ones at that. Steve later settled for an '86 DX, which was then traded for an '87 Si. Dreams of ragtops still haunted the delivery boy at night but the realities of a pizza-funded bank account always seemed to circumvent such dreams.
Life got in the way and 15 years or so went by before Steve happened upon an '85 convertible CRX ad. Fortunately for him, the pizza trade gave way long ago to a career as a Honda master technician, which, needless to say, is a bit more lucrative then delivering pies for a living. Steve refrained from excitement during the hour-long trip to visit the car. He fully expected some "backyard hack job" but what he found was a genuine Straman-converted rex. Yes, the seats were torn, the wheels were dorky and the steering wheel was funny looking, but Steve bought it anyway.
Yeah, it took him 15 years to acquire his very own Straman CRX but it only took Steve a year or so to build it up to his liking. In many respects, his DX is the epitome of era-specific. The 14-inch Mugen CF-48s prove as much as do the Lightspeed Racing torsion bars and rare Honda accessory center reflective rear panel.
Those familiar with the '85 DX know that it's carbureted and those familiar with 20-year-old carburetors know they can be finicky. A B16A engine swap would be nice, Steve thought, but he'd first have to source one and then deal with the carb-to-EFI conversion. As luck would have it, a fine specimen of a B16A was already tucked away in the corner of Steve's garage, awaiting installation into his other CRX, a '91. As you might imagine, plans quickly changed and he decided to focus his attention toward the first-generation along with that B16A.
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