Alex Soto really needs no introduction. If you have been a member of the vast online Honda community within the last couple of years, you’ve probably heard of the name “Sheepey.” If the name doesn’t ring a bell, then you either lack a connection to the worldwide web, or you’re living under the proverbial rock. To assure that all our readers are on the same page, here is a quick rundown of the Sheepey résumé. Alex first made “Sheepey” a household name when he built an immaculate custom “Jade Sea Metallic” Civic CX street/show car, which graced the cover of this publication back in October of 2007. He followed that up two years later when he unveiled his turbo 2001 Acura Integra, which also appeared on the cover of a sister publication. For any automotive enthusiast, building two great projects and being honored with two magazine covers would be more than enough—but not for Soto. Just a year after that, he reintroduced his original Civic CX to the world, this time in a full-blown drag setup. The fully revamped Civic is sitting in your stack of Honda Tuning mags, plastered on the cover yet again (see August 2010 issue). That’s two different Hondas, built three different ways, all reaching equal amounts of notoriety and inciting enough love and hate from the masses to cement his name as a heavy hitter. Either Alex is incredibly lucky, or he just knows how to build great, well-rounded cars. His attention to detail in each of his builds is second to none, and it’s a style that is almost instantly recognizable.
The man can build the hell out of a Honda, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s something you must know about Alex Soto; he seems to have quite a competitive streak within him. All of his closest friends will attest to that. His biggest competitor, his biggest rival, is someone whom he knows all too well—it’s the man he stares at every morning in the mirror. That is why he continues to top himself with every new build he produces. The satisfaction of knowing that he can outdo himself with every new project is what drives him to do what he loves. The “Sheepey” namesake may have been built around two power-hungry front-wheel-drive Hondas, but the willingness to best himself is what landed him in unfamiliar territory—a rear-wheel-drive S2000. All are from the same family, but the roadster was unlike any Honda he had toyed with before. It was a personal challenge that Alex was more than happy to accept.
“The first time I drove an S2000, man, I just fell in love,” Sheepey recalls. “My buddy, Jared Aguila, let me take his S2K for a spin one day, and I knew I had to have one. I just loved the way his car felt and looked.”
As much as he wanted an S2000, there was no room in his garage or schedule to have one. He was fully entrenched in his Civic drag car build, and all the funds he had were allocated to completing it. It wasn’t until he felt the power of his drag car did it inspire him to take the plunge into the rear-wheel-drive world. “The power that (Civic) produced just made me hungry; I wanted that much power in a daily driver. The only setback with the Civic was that it was front-wheel drive. I couldn’t daily drive that car because there was no way I could run a big enough street tire for me to make use of all that power. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it, so I began to look at what S2000s could do. Usable power on a streetable Honda, particularly in an S2000, became the goal for my next build.”
One signature of a Sheepey-built Honda that he wanted to translate into his next project was the use of the bluish hue. He was a big fan of the color blue and relating paint tones, and he set out to find an S2000 in OEM Suzuka Blue. It may not have been the most popular color choice among other S2000 owners, but Alex was content with his decision. If anything, it would only help to further set himself apart from the crowd. Soto also had no interest in finding an S2K in factory showroom condition because he was going to tear the car down and redo it anyway. As long as the drivetrain and motor were intact and without issue, he was good to go. “I eventually found one in San Diego, California. The body was pretty beat-up, but it was repairable. There were no oil leaks, compression test showed that the motor was good, and the transmission was as smooth as butter. I offered the guy $8,000 for it, and he shut me down. I wasn’t going to budge on my offer, so I took off. He called me five minutes later and told me to come back—long story short, I became the proud new owner of a ’03 S2000.”