At 15, Evan Beckerman was working as a pizza chef and putting every dollar into a black 1995 Honda Prelude VTEC he could not yet legally drive alone. He could not operate its manual transmission, either. Years later, the company he co-founded cut into a revived Prelude, grafted on Honda Civic Type R FL5 bumpers, and installed the entire FL5 drivetrain. The Honda Prelude swap addresses a practical question: how would the new Prelude look and drive with the manual transmission and power enthusiasts expected?
The 1995 Prelude that became Beckerman's first workshop
Beckerman bought the Prelude before turning 16. His older brother handled the initial test drive because Beckerman could not drive a manual. When Beckerman took his turn, he stalled in the seller's driveway. It was a rough but honest beginning: he bought the car, then had to learn clutch control.
The car had an H22A1, a 2.2 liter VTEC engine that stood apart from the 1.8- and 1.6-liter Hondas around it. Beckerman and his high school friends all had black Hondas, and they spent nights wrenching at one another's houses until two or three in the morning. The Prelude became their workshop for cylinder-head jobs, clutch replacement, a turbo kit, and nitrous.
The Prelude became their workshop for cylinder-head jobs, clutch replacement, a turbo kit, and nitrous.
Some changes worked better than others. Stripping the entire interior removed weight, but mostly made the car loud. A small race battery also saved weight, then repeatedly died. Beckerman learned both lessons once. At 16, he had someone else drive the Prelude to the drag strip because his limited license permitted only school and work trips. Once inside the track, he could race.
Why Throtl attempted a Honda Prelude swap
Beckerman saw a clear problem with the revived Prelude. After a 20-year hiatus, it arrived with the same amount of horsepower as 20 years earlier, disappointing the enthusiast community. A cosmetic package or a few bolt-on parts would not address that complaint. Throtl and Idemitsu Lubricants instead chose the harder option: installing the entire Honda Civic Type R FL5 drivetrain.
That decision meant building the Prelude around a six-speed manual and over 500 wheel horsepower. An engine swap at this level involves much more than lining up mounts. The drivetrain, controls, packaging, and bodywork must function as one car. If the build looks complete under SEMA lights but cannot run and drive properly, it is not finished.
If the build looks complete under SEMA lights but cannot run and drive properly, it is not finished.
Throtl carried the FL5 influence into the body by grafting Type R bumpers onto the Prelude, then adding custom aero, red carpets, and a more aggressive overall shape. The car already ran and drove before its reveal. Beckerman could call it one of the coolest cars Throtl had built based on the finished machine, rather than a rendering or an unfinished shell awaiting another month of fabrication.
A SEMA build Throtl does not plan to give away
SEMA imposes a fixed deadline, and each year Throtl tries to exceed its previous work. One earlier build was an 800-horsepower all-wheel-drive Acura Integra. For this show, the Prelude was only part of the workload. The team was also rebuilding a wrecked Lamborghini Murcielago for the WD-40 brand as a twin-turbo, Liberty Walk, manual-swapped car for Central Hall.
The two projects posed different problems. The Murcielago arrived wrecked and required recovery, forced induction, and a manual swap. With the Prelude, Throtl had to give a new Honda the character of another model without making it look like a collection of unrelated parts. Grafting on FL5 bumpers sounds straightforward. Making their lines look natural on the Prelude is much harder.
Making their lines look natural on the Prelude is much harder.
Throtl had conducted about 30 car sweepstakes, but Beckerman was direct about this car: it would not be given away. Project cars built for media can become temporary inventory after filming ends. This Prelude instead connects back to the black 1995 VTEC that taught him about clutches, cylinder heads, turbo installation, and why the weight saved by a small race battery was not worth the repeated failures.
Throtl had built roughly 80 or 90 cars in eight years, yet Beckerman wanted to keep this one for a while. The reason is easy to see. His first Prelude was modified until nearly every nut and bolt became a lesson. The SEMA Prelude applies those years of wrenching to the version enthusiasts wanted: a six-speed manual, an FL5 drivetrain, and over 500 wheel horsepower.
Throtl had built roughly 80 or 90 cars in eight years, yet Beckerman wanted to keep this one for a while.
