Circa ~2003 era photos of early exported Honda Civic SiRs, before the idea of preservation came into fruition.
Photos and content of this nature will be published more as time goes.
These were lifted from a long abandoned website, surprisingly still up with most of its contents still available for download. Its a treasure trove of images, and I (not the rest of the team) think its a good way to publicize and preserve these images, in case touch wood, that website goes offline.
This website is for vehicle exporting, so many of these vehicles shown were sitting in fields and fleets as they are prepared for export. We assume the website was last updated around 2003-2006 as most of the cars tend to be scrapping around the five year mark, and none of the vehicles are listed are older than that date.
Then and now, it is a popular move to scrap your car around halfway to earn back the maximum Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebate. Around this time, owners can typically recover 50% to 75% of their initial registration fee (ARF), making the process to deregister a car and hop onto another a popular move.
The red unit, SCX7179K, is a pre-facelift automatic SiR with sunroof, possibly finished in Milano Red.
It may be sitting on Proton Wira 14-inch wheels, particularly the EXi (C99) trim, though I could be wrong. This example is very unmodified as seen in the engine bay, retaining most of the original parts like air intake system that would be the common item to replace. Emblems on the rear were still present, a Civic badge and SiR sticker from factory. The interior seats and doorcards are also the original EK4 “confetti” fabric seats – particularly difficult to find in Singapore currently.
Listed on the website are also the engine and chassis numbers, amongst other information about the car:
| Make and Model : | HONDA CIVIC SIR 4A |
| Chassis No. : | JHMEK4650WS001370 |
| Year of manufacturer : | 1997 |
| Registration Date : | 24/06/1998 |
| Color : | Red |
| Engine Capacity : | 1595 |
| Engine No. : | B16A51200181 |
| Vehicle No. : | SCX 7179 K |
The next car is another SiR saloon, another automatic variant with sunroof, possibly finished in Clover Green Pearl.
Despite being an automatic, someone has tried to play with this car before, albeit the car was exported before that became a reality. The engine’s valve cover is missing, and a rear bumper lip was installed with no other modifications apart from a SiR badge and Type R-esque front badge.
This unit could have been installed with aftermarket foglights, as the intended factory foglights (in other markets) are a rectangular shape designed to smoothly fit the bumper. Hudcaps are present on this car, which are not original to the SiR.
This example has a different interior compared to the usual “confetti” design that the team is accustomed to. Decorated inside is the upgrade of leather upholstery which includes the seats and doorcards. Was it a dealer option? We aren’t sure, but we don’t know of any other market that offered leather upholstery, so there is no precedence to go by.
| Make and Model : | HONDA CIVIC SIR 4A |
| Chassis No. : | JHMEK4650WS003417 |
| Year of manufacturer : | 1998 |
| Registration Date : | 18/09/1998 |
| Color : | Green |
| Engine Capacity : | 1595 |
| Engine No. : | B16A51200365 |
| Vehicle No. : | SCU 8193 C |
These are definitely sad and probably not unheard of that these cars would probably have been scrapped in the next country they were brought into. Now that we know how desirable these cars are now locally and in Malaysia, would you have tried to save one?
Sources for both the red and green units are provided.
~SatriaRX
Read more: SG Archives: Honda Civic SiR (EK4) saloon
