She's a pretty 18 year-old with a curvaceous hot body and a voluptuous rear-end. They sure don't make coupés like they used to.

Photos: Joel Tam

Back in the old days, in the early 90's to be more precise, there was a gorgeous coupé called the Honda Prelude. If you were (like me) at the ripe age of 17 or 18 with a drivers' license, the Prelude would have likely been one of your dream cars. It was mine. Now a discontinued Honda model, the Prelude had 5 generations to its name. The 4th generation (BA8/9) was arguably the best looking. It came with 2 engines variants, a 2-litre and a 2.3 DOHC pushing 165bhp. The car had very neutral handling characteristics and the 2.3 units packed a punch.

I spotted this beautiful 2.3-litre example in almost full original condition. Other than a slight bump at the rear, the car was in great condition. The engine gasket seemed worn, showing signs of a minor oil leak on the engine exterior, and the rims and tyres were in a less than ideal condition. But other than that the car was great, the transmission ran smoothly and power delivery was robust.  I bought it in the blink of an eye and within a week, the Prelude was fully serviced with a new engine gasket installed, a projector lamp conversion with Xenons and a new set of 17" light-weight Advanti wheels wrapped in Goodyear F1 GSD3s.

The sexy coupé has since been sold, serving the Burnpavement.com team very well during her time here. A blast up to KL and back for the Super GT race at Sepang this year was one of her small but memorable accomplishments. I'm sure it'll bring more smiles to her new owner.