The Dream

Do you remember the first time you laid eyes on your dream car? Was it was love at first sight? Some dream about their first love for decades, and some stay awake to catch their dream.

It’s perfectly normal to have multiple dream cars and to even switch it up every once in a while. It’s all part of being a car enthusiast. But for the few that stay awake, dreams turn into reality sooner than those that sleep. For Karl Perez, it was his father and his uncle, nurturing automotive enthusiasm dating back to the elementary school years.

Rewind back to the early ’90s when any boy enjoyed a toy on wheels more than his Gundam or G.I. Joe action figures. Any young car nut would agree that this relates to them in their adolescent years. And as children turn into teens, the toys they play with evolve to something more age-appropriate and inevitably more expensive. From die cast models to RC projects, the owner personalizes them to perform and look the way they want. Perez’s dream car just so happened to be a 2003 AP1 Honda S2000.

The Reality

Fast forward to 1999 when Perez tagged along with his dad to the Norm Reeves Honda dealership in Cerritos to purchase their family sedan, a Honda Civic. When Perez stepped foot into the showroom floor of the dealership, he knew right away that what he saw in front of him was his dream car

What was on display on the showroom floor was a brand new Honda S2000. Foreign to most people including Perez, he had never seen an S2000 in front of his eyes, but he knew right away that it was meant to be his. Though he was only nine years old, he already had the mindset of owning and driving the car hard through the Angeles Crest Canyons.

Obtaining The Dream

Perez’s love for the S2000 soon became an obsession, to the point that his family members automatically knew what gifts to give him during Christmas and birthdays. Perez became a collector of S2000 toys and scaled models; some modified, some factory, and some still in their packaging.

He also owned a few S2000s in Gran Turismo, which was (and still is) his favorite video game franchise. He would spend hours on the video game simulator, driving his personalized S2000s on the virtual tracks, mastering layouts such as the Tsukuba Circuit and Fuji Speedway.

Those toys and video games only motivated him more to reach his goals. When the time came for Perez to obtain his license, you guessed it, he purchased a Honda! We’ll ruin the surprise here because his first car was not an S2000. A kid saving up his whole life wouldn’t be able to purchase an S2000 on his own quite that easily.

His first car was actually a seventh generation Honda Civic EM2 coupe. As a fresh automotive enthusiast wanting to look cool from the get-go, being able to keep that car stock was difficult. Nevertheless, he learned tons of things to do with the little Civic coupe from appearance, performance, and even how to drive. Some of the mods included painting it Laguna Seca Blue, installing red Stätus bucket seats, and throwing on some CCW Classic wheels.

Still keeping the S2000 in mind, Perez hustled his way through part-time jobs and selling car parts on the side. He also met a lot of people in the car community that allowed him to branch out, and found tons of support and advice along the way to help him pick the perfect S2000 when it came along.

It was after years of owning one of the cleanest modified EM2’s known, Perez was ready to say goodbye and finally make his dream car a reality. He spent those years with the EM2 saving up money for the car, but he also grew into making new friends, building relationships with different companies that became his sponsors, and just being a knowledgeable Honda enthusiast. In Perez’s mind, the golden gate to bigger and better opportunities had been opened.

Personalizing The Love

Throughout Perez’s previous unique build, expectations were high for the next project. Just after obtaining the keys to the new used S2000, it was only a matter of days before the car saw some modifications.

Perez didn’t just bolt on an exhaust or switch out the suspension. In fact, one of the first things he did was hack up the rear quarter panels for the ASM rear over fenders to fit the biggest, baddest wheels and tires he could fit. Modifications started to stack up within a very short time period.

And so it went that Perez had turned a car into a chameleon, never quite “finished” per se, but ever-changing to appear slick and badass everywhere it went. The car has had more than 10 different looks since its purchase, from various wheel brands to a handful of different aero kits. This latest style is all about his first love – the Laguna Seca Blue paint job, GReddy intercooler, and Volk Racing wheels.

S2000s have a high share in after market parts. There are tons of things you can do to personalize it any way you’d like from interior to exterior. And what you see in the photos is Perez’s S2000 personally kitted with different parts starting from a J’s Racing front bumper, J’s Racing style rear bumper, J’s Racing side skirts, Mugen replica hard top, J’s Racing 40mm front over fenders, ASM 25mm rear over fenders, custom vented hood, Voltex Type 3 carbon fiber spoiler, and carbon fiber canards.

A stock S2000 already has a sporty look not only from the outside, but also from the inside. When you sit in the driver seat of a stock S2000, it feels like you’re in a touring car with the tight bucket seats, optimum shifter location, and futuristic digital tachometer. Perez, he turned this “touring” cockpit look into a streetable race car look with the FIA-approved Stätus Racing bucket seats that hug the driver’s body on those tight turns, an Auto Meter boost gauge to monitor boost, Cusco roll cage, and a Key’s Racing steering wheel. A Works Bell steering wheel hub with a Works Bell Rapfix tilt was also installed for ease of getting in and out of the tight cockpit.

Perez is the first to admit he is a sucker for performance on the Angeles Crest canyons. The screaming F20c engine in this race car is equipped with a full GReddy turbo kit which includes a GReddy T518Z-10cm2 turbocharger, Type 28V front-mount intercooler, cast-iron exhaust manifold, oil filter relocation kit, aluminum intercooler piping. An Airinx intake and an AEM EMS Standalone ECU, coupled with 550cc fuel injectors complete the kit.

Along with the turbo, Perez also added a few parts from different brands to complete the car’s performance modifications. These include the HKS Super Sequential blow off valve, Invidia 70mm test pipe, Spoon Sports valve cover, and Buddyclub Spec II exhaust. To go deeper into the performance of the car, Perez backed up his tricked out engine with a tune bringing the horsepower output to 280 hp and 200 lb-ft of torque at the wheels, redlining at 9,000 rpm.

And if you think that’s enough to brag about, there’s one factor about this whole setup that excites us the most: it’s fully street legal with a CARB E.O. number. That is how Perez is able to legally drive his car down the street to the grocery store to pick up some milk and eggs without getting hassled by the cops.

Dream come true? We think so. Not only does it look good, but it performs like a beast!

In case he did have to get away from the 5-0, Perez gave the chassis a little stiffness with Megan Racing coilovers, Spoon front upper tie bar, and a Cusco lower tie bar. Along with the chassis upgrades, the proper shoes were also needed. He slapped on some 17 x 9.5 +12 Volk Racing TE37SLs wrapped in sticky 255/40/17 Falken Azenis RT-615K rubber. Behind the spokes of the TE37SLs are some serious stopping power by Spoon Sports made by Nissin. No, we don’t encourage Perez to run away from the police, but hey, if one ever decides to go after him, he will have a solid chance to see another day.

Living The Dream

Perez has a crazy imagination for S2000s and he loves experimenting the different visions he shuffles around. Hell, he already changed his wheels two days after we shot this feature. And that’s what it’s all about for Perez – the car is his, and no one else’s.

Getting behind the wheel of this sweet S2000 motivates Perez even more to keep going with this endless project. The sound and the feeling of the F20C was everything Perez ever dreamed of, living up to the sensations of his Gran Turismo days, but now it’s a reality. There is no going back for Perez, unless he decides to sell it, which he could never abide by. Could you?

Specifications

Owner: Karl Perez

Hometown: Hollywood, CA 

Car Club Affiliation: Legacy

Car Cost: $10,000

Cost To Build: $15,000

Time To Build: 2.5 years

Date Completed: Never

Powerplant: 2.0-liter F20C; GReddy turbo manifold; GReddy T581Z turbocharger; GReddy front-mount interocoler; HKS blow-off valve; RC 550cc injectors; GReddy downpipe; Invidia 70mm test pipe; Buddy Club Spec II exhaust, Spoon valve cover

Drivetrain: OEM 6-speed manual transmission

Engine Management: AEM EMS

Chassis: Megan Racing coilovers; Spoon front strut bar; Cusco lower tie bar

Brakes: Nissin Spoon Sports big brake kit

Footwork: Rays Engineering Volk Racing TE37 Super Laps; Falken Azenis RT615 225/40/17

Exterior: J’s Racing front bumper, J’s Racing style rear bumper, Mugen replica hard top; J’s Racing front over fenders; ASM rear flares; custom vented hood; Voltex Type 3 wing

Interior: Status Racing buckets seats; Autometer boost gauge; Woks Bell hub; Works Bell Rapfix tilt; Key’s Racing steering wheel

Honors & Awards: N/A

Special Thanks: Falken Tire; Team Legacy; Royal Origin