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GI Gets Tricked-Out Homecoming Surprise

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By NATALIE SHEPHERD

News Channel 8 and ELAINE SILVESTRINI The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 4, 2008

Kyle Willard always wanted a 1995 Honda Civic.

For 14 months, while he served as an Army infantryman in Iraq, he told his wife to get him that car.

He returned home last month.

As far as he knew, she'd failed.

But on Thursday night, his wife and friends surprised him at Auto Audio in Palm Harbor with a tricked-out, rebuilt 1995 Honda Civic in his favorite color, gunmetal gray.

"When they turned the lights on, my heart dropped," Willard said. "I was stunned. I had no clue.

"I've been wanting one for a long time, been working real hard to save my money. It was one of my goals when I got back from Iraq to get one."

His friends, who drive their own 1995 Civics, found a battered Civic in Mississippi and made it look like new. It has a new engine made from two other engines.

It makes the car fast but still great on fuel.

His friend, Shane Neville, said the car was in bad shape when they got it. It was teal green and had a lot of damage inside and out.

Fixing it up was a thank you to their friend Willard and all the other soldiers fighting in Iraq.

"Everything they do for us," he said. "He's the only person I know that's over there, so it worked out well. It's for everybody, really."

Willard's wife, Kristina, said her husband told her "to find the car while he was in Iraq because he deserved it."

She said she's impressed with the work everyone did to make the car beautiful.

"I love it," she said. "He's wanted it forever."

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