What Will You Be When You Grow Up?Everyone remembers sitting in their tiny wooden elementary school desks as the teacher tried her best to hold her students' attention, if only for minutes at a time. The age-old question would always come up: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" For some, it's a simple one, and they'd belt out an enthusiastic "fireman!" or "doctor!" Some childhood dreams come about from careful planning, even dedication. Others do not. For some, that classic question isn't quite so simple. Over the years, outside influences or perhaps a change of heart might steer one down a road that's void of painstaking planning and all-out effort in the classroom.
Matt Pratt of Baltimore, Maryland, is a guy who seemed to lose all focus when behind the tiny wooden desk, and during the seemingly endless days of high school, ran into his fair share of scholastic dilemmas. "I was having trouble in school and basically failing some of my boring classes. So I decided to try learning something in the auto body field. Turns out I had a knack for painting," he says. More than just a subtle ability, Matt showed promise immediately, especially in the paint booth. After some dedication and hard work, he was slated to do battle in the annual Skills USA auto body competition. His first experience with the Skills organization proved successful, as he walked away carrying First Place awards for both regional and state divisions. Advancing even further in the series, with more than 70 competitors nipping at his heels during the national level competition, Matt was able to secure a Sixth Place finish and cement himself as one of the nation's best. His success under pressure soon led to the full-time position he now holds as one of O'Donnell Honda's youngest painters to date.
Matt's always been a car guy, but with a history of working on old-school muscle like his '67 Mustang and '68 Barracuda, one might wonder how this paint gun marksman stumbled into the world of Hondas. "A friend of mine was always going through cars so quickly. He had everything from a '98 Blazer on Daytons, to a fixed-up '97 Talon. At one point he owned a Civic that I really liked, so I ended up getting one for myself. Like always, he moved on to something else right away, but I stuck with it and never looked back," Matt says. "Everyone around here drives STIs or EVOs, but I prefer my Civic."
Matt's '00 CX hatchback would soon be on the receiving end of a flurry of upgrades. And with such a finely tuned skill under his belt, it was inevitable that Matt would unleash his painting ability on his own build. After the mandatory suspension and wheel changes, he decided to get down to business and strip the Civic entirely. "I tore it apart, painted it inside and out, every square inch. I wanted to clean up the bay quite a bit, so I shaved some of the sheet metal and I planned on tucking everything nice and neat," he says. Once completed and satisfied that the body met his strict standards, attention was turned toward a suitable power source. Originally, a low-mileage CTR engine had powered the CX during its maiden voyage following a two-year stint in the garage, but a side project in the form of an LS-VTEC powerplant was already in the works.