Photos courtesy of Marine Corps Sgt. Stephen Norton “Elyse“ sporting a full body kit and performance parts post-makeover near Norton's home in White Plains, N.Y.

‘‘My favorite thing about that car is the color. It is the most beautiful color blue I have ever seen. It’s probably the best color I’ve ever seen,” said Norton, emphatically. When he saw the ethereal, Fiji Pearl Blue in the showroom, it was all over. But, unfortunately, the dealership didn’t have the Civic in his newfound favorite color.

‘‘I saw it on an Accord or something and I had to have it,” said Norton, who had one sent down from northern California. ‘‘That’s how much I wanted that color.”

Norton promised himself that this car would be different. It wouldn’t be like the other cars he had owned and also named after elementary school girlfriends. He swore he wouldn’t spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars modifying his latest foreign beauty. After all, the Civic was brand new and Norton was happy with it just the way it was. However, an unhappy accident paved the way to Elyse’s total makeover.

‘‘Four months after I bought the car, I backed into somebody accidentally,” Norton revealed. ‘‘I cracked the bottom bumper on it. I figured since I cracked the bumper, instead of getting a new one, I might as well get a whole body kit. Then I figured, if I had to get a body kit, I had to get rims, and if I had to get rims, I had to lower it, so I lowered it.”

One thing led to another and now Norton’s performance and after-market parts include a full Xenon body kit, 18-inch 5ZIGEN rims, TEIN coilovers instead of lowering springs, an OBX strut tower, SPC cambers, an APEXi exhaust system, DC Sports headers, an AEM cold air intake, a Neuspeed short shifter and a Sony Xplod stereo with a subwoofer.

‘‘I want a car that drives (well), so I mostly concentrated on the suspension,” said Norton. ‘‘The coilovers allowed me to adjust the ride higher or lower, and they make the ride a lot tighter so the car can handle turns better.”

While Norton refuses to tolerate the word, ‘‘problem” and Elyse in the same sentence, he admits to occasionally running into ‘‘part problems” from time to time that he knows have nothing to do with Elyse.

‘‘Having a custom car is high maintenance because while the parts are made for the car, they don't always cooperate when they are all on together,” he explained. He also adds, ‘‘I didn't put a spoiler on the car because I think they look bad on most cars and are only effective if you're racing (over 130 miles an hour) on a track. I have put the parts I want in the car and enjoy it.”

Accidents happen. Sometimes they turn into happy accidents. Sometimes they turn into full on makeovers. At least, that’s the case with Elyse.