Member Spotlight: PURTEGGYPUL's 2000 Acura Integra GSR

Five years ago, a black pearl 2000 Acura Integra GSR changed hands for $1,400, sold by its original, one-owner keeper. It wasn't running show-ready, and it definitely wasn't finished, it was a starting point. Today that same car, known around the show circuit by its plate name PURTEGGYPUL, carries three import-class trophies, a fully committed purple-and-black theme, and a build sheet that reads like a wish list checked off one part at a time. It's also one of the first cars in The Garage at AutoShowList to earn Feature Ready status, the badge reserved for the platform's most complete member profiles, which is exactly how it landed here.

The full build profile for PURTEGGYPUL has the specs, the trophy case, and the gallery. Here's the story behind them.

From a $1,400 Find to a Show Contender

The Integra GSR came out of the factory with a reputation to live up to. Its B18C1 engine, a 1.8-liter DOHC VTEC four rated at 170 horsepower at 7,600 rpm and 128 lb-ft of torque at 6,200 rpm, was one of the highest-output naturally aspirated four-cylinders sold in the U.S. at the time, and it's a big reason GSRs still hold a following in the import scene more than two decades later. This one came from a one-owner car bought for $1,400. In the owner's own words: "I have put nothing but time and effort into this vehicle to make it what it is today." Five years of steady work later, that's an understatement.

Inside the Build

The suspension runs Function and Form coilovers, fully adjustable, dropping the GSR onto a set of JNC014 wheels sized 16x8.25 inches, a classic proportion for the era rather than a stretched, oversized fitment. Tinted windows and a purple JDM tow hook front and rear finish out the exterior, while a white-and-purple RG steering wheel on a quick-release hub, paired with a black short hub, gives the cabin its own signature.

Open the hood and the theme keeps going: the valve cover and intake chamber are powder-coated purple as part of a full engine dress-up kit, turning a bay most owners leave stock silver into a display piece in its own right. Audio duty goes to a Kenwood head unit driving a 2,400-watt RMS marine-rated amplifier and a 12-inch dual-voice-coil Scar Audio subwoofer, hardware picked as much for reliability as output, since marine-rated amps are built to shrug off the heat and vibration that can cook a cheaper car-audio unit over a summer of shows.

Purple Everything: A Theme, Not an Accident

Color-matched builds are common in the import scene, but consistency is where most fall apart, a purple valve cover here, a black interior there, nothing tying it together. PURTEGGYPUL doesn't have that problem. From the tow hooks to the steering wheel to the engine dress-up kit, the purple accent theme runs through nearly every panel and system on the car, the kind of discipline that separates a build with a plan from a parts list assembled at random.

What the Judges Saw

The trophy case includes a third-place finish in Best Import at a local import show and back-to-back second- and third-place finishes in Best Import at a Lowrider-hosted event, three podiums against import and lowrider fields, categories that reward finish quality and theme consistency as much as raw horsepower. Most recently, the GSR made an appearance at Thrive Showdown 2026 in Dacono, Colorado, adding another stop to a show history that keeps growing.

The Next Chapter: Air Ride and a 600-Horsepower Target

The build is far from finished. Next up is a switch to air ride suspension, along with bodywork to address sun fading on the bumpers ahead of a full repaint in the car's signature black pearl. The bigger swing is under the hood: the owner is planning a full engine build around a Greddy turbo system, with a stated target of 600-plus horsepower by 2028, a significant jump from the B18C1's stock 170 hp that would put the GSR firmly into built-motor territory, the kind of project that typically means forged internals, standalone engine management, and a fuel system upgrade to match the added boost. It's a multi-year plan, which tracks with everything else about this build: steady, deliberate, one system at a time.

A Build That Started Something Bigger

Ask the owner where the passion came from and the answer goes back to being younger and falling for "anything JDM." That passion didn't stay contained to one garage stall. The build has inspired the owner's daughter to start her own project car, which has also made it out to shows alongside the Integra, two build threads, one family, both running through The Garage at AutoShowList.

See the Full Build

Specs, the full trophy case, and the gallery are all on the 2000 Acura Integra GSR profile page. Building something worth showing off? Browse The Garage for more member rides and get inspired.

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