Ah, the good ol' days. Every Friday night was the night: Beautiful women. Automatic weapons. Fast boats. Drugs. More beautiful women. Cool cars. I got to associate with guys with names like Crockett, Tubbs, Switek, and Castillo. In my youth, no TV show quite stoked my adolescent imagination more than Miami Vice. Growing up in white-bread suburbia back in the '80s, it was hard to separate TV land from reality. I just assumed all members of the Miami police department drove Ferrari Daytonas, lived on boats, had crocodiles as pets, and slept with Sheena Easton. Made perfect sense at the time.
Now I'm a bit older and, thanks to the rigorous travel schedule of Super Street, I have been able to go to Miami and check things out for myself. There are lots of nice houses and guys wearing expensive suits. But I sourly report that I never saw any cops driving around in high-dollar Italian vehicles.
I do know a fireman/paramedic who lives in Miami. No, he doesn't own a white Testarossa;although I'm sure he wouldn't mind. But unlike real-life police officers and their land-barge Caprices and Crown Vickys, he drives a pretty cool white Integra GS-R. The fireman's name is Jeff Hackman. He's kind of short and stocky. Bushy eyebrows. Shaves his head. Nice guy, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wrestles crocs in his spare time. Jeff was a good friend of Joe Valdez, whose red turbo Civic appeared exactly one year ago in Super Street. I don't care to revisit the past; you should look it up yourself. My point is, Jeff was instrumental in helping me gather information about Joe's life, and for that I am very grateful.
Visually, this Integra differs from other GS-Rs thanks to a genuine Integra Type R front chin spoiler and rear wing. Red Acura emblems further the Type R theme and paint-matched side skirts help the car look cleaner. The graphics give props to TopSpeed Performance, a shop based in Naples, Florida. A bit of extra visual flair comes from strobe lights mounted in the front and rear turn signals and the rear back-up lights.
The suspension has been upgraded significantly. Underneath, the Integra wears Tokico Illumina adjustable shocks and Eibach springs. Additional components are Eibach front and rear antiroll bars, a trio of Neuspeed strut braces (front tower, rear tower, and rear lower control arm), and a complete Energy Suspension bushing kit. These mods make for a pretty stiff ride, but Jeff is able to get away with it due to the relatively good condition of Miami roads. For rollers, the fireman has bolted up 17x7-inch Enkei RS Evolutions with 205/40ZR17 Toyo T1 Proxes tires. Behind them are Z.Speed cross-drilled/slotted rotors and Goodridge brake lines. When the Integra visits the dragstrip, the front wheels receive 15-inch Enkei RP01s with 15x22x8-inch Mickey Thompson racing slicks.
The B18C1 1.8L Integra engine has a small, but well-chosen, selection of bolt-ons. To get additional air flowing into and out of the engine, there's an Iceman air intake, DC Sports ceramic-coated header, a GReddy after-cat exhaust, and a JG Engine Dynamics over-bored throttle body. JG adjustable cam gears allow further tuning of the powerband. The real muscle, though, is hidden from view. We're talking about a stealthy NOS single dry fogger nitrous system, with jetting for around 60-70 hp. Helping power get to the ground is a KG Precision Engineering ceramic clutch and Clutch Masters lightweight flywheel. Minor engine dress-up parts include a red Type R valve cover and Goodridge red vacuum hose. Jeff's best time-slip so far has been a 13.4-second pass at 101.75 mph.
Back in the May '98 issue, we spewed forth what each of us thought the ultimate street car should be. Jeff says he thinks his Integra follows pretty closely to our descriptions. We'd have to agree.