There are few times I’ve actually had my jaw physically drop when looking at a build video, but Brandon Merlot’s 1985 Honda Wonder Civic build thread had my mouth wide open as I watched in amazement. Around 38 seconds into the video, the 1985 Honda Civic emerges from its paint job looking as fresh as ever.

I had no idea about this build only until recently browsing my youtube feed for what was popular for the last couple of days. With close to 1,000 views in the first few days of being online, I knew I was in for a treat.

NWP4Life also graciously posted an update on the Civic, so I suppose now it’s internet legit.

It looks like this build got most of its fame off Instagram. From what I understand, Brandon Merlot picked up this Civic and immediately handed it over to his good friend William Galan at Willy Werx Autobody whose garnered a reputation for some of the cleanest import paint jobs in Southern California.

After more than 5 months in his personal autobody shop, the 1985 Civic was given a proper restoration that included interior and exterior body restoration as well as a full paint job.

A quick look through Willy Werx’s Instagram will reveal a meticulous attention to detail that would make any car enthusiast proud of the restoration work done.

If you’re wondering why it’s called the Wonder Civic, you’ll have to take a quick trip down Honda history back to the mid 80’s. Super Street describes the nickname quite succinctly.

This third generation Civic was designed by Honda under the MM (man maximum/mechanics minimum) concept. It was clearly designed from the factory to become a fun-to-drive vehicle with the same DNA from Honda’s motor sports. The car would later attain the popular Wonder Civic nickname and win the first Japan Car of the Year award for Honda. Basically, this was the car that put the Honda Civic on the map. It was an obvious choice for Spoon to take this car as a base vehicle and turn it into a full-blown racing machine.

If you want to follow the rest of Brandon Merlot’s build, give his Instagram a follow. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some screenshots that highlight how the 1985 Wonder Civic exited the paint shop.

First we get a glimpse of the fully restored, period-correct Mugen MR5’s, a wheel that compliments this Civic in more ways than one.



It looks like the 1985 Civic already has a decent BBK kit thanks to Wilwood.



Here’s the body with some prep work done and what it looked like before the majority of the paint was applied.



Then the video skips to what the finished exterior product looks like. Looking factory fresh. A tasteful drop eliminates any wheel gap and compliments the wheel choice, filling the wheel well quite nicely



And here we have the Civic loaded onto the trailer on its way to its owner. Engine work is already in the works.



Probably the only other Civic that matches this level of quality off the top of my head is Spoon Sport’s Civic EA-T build which infamously made its way to this coast during Honda Day last year.

Also, give WALLECHAN’s video’s a look and subscribe. He’s always posting great original content.