Did you miss the narrow window when Porsche 911 prices weren’t crazy? Were you also sleeping when Panteras and 308s could be had on the cheap? Well, you don’t miss the NSX boat too. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe example may be your last chance, that is if it hasn’t already started the climb.
Wake up, little Suzie, wake up! Fully 60% of you awoke yesterday just to vote Hell Yes! on the price of our 1980 Chevy C-10 sleeper. As many of you pointed out, the 572 alone would potentially cost more than the truck’s asking. That of course was also the third Chevy we’ve featured this week, and as that’s a little too many bow ties for anybody’s taste, let’s go today with what could be considered a palate cleanser - a sake sorbet if you will.
Ah, the Acura NSX, perhaps no other car, save for Mazda’s Miata, has become quite so beatified by the Jalop masses. Genuflect to the East folks, to the East. Not only that, but that rabid attraction translates into valuation, as prices on the NSX continue to rise. Why is that? Let’s take a look at this 161,000-mile 1994 NSX and see if we can pin-point the reason.
This one, in Brooklands Green over biscuit and rocking a 5-speed stick, looks like an excellent example of the breed. It does have a cone filter on the intake, and some aftermarket wheels on the corners. Those seem to have been added since 2005, but it otherwise appears stock.
It also looks to be in great shape, with no evident peppering on the nose, no dings on the sides, and no crazy wings on the back - just the stock hoop. That donut hole rear end is probably the NSX’s most ostentatious design feature. The rest of the car has timeless styling, and these early ones have pop-up headlights, which are the most incongruously endearing automotive styling feature ever.
On the inside, things look equally natty, the seats appearing in excellent shape and only some delaminating of the switch panel on the passenger door, some additional minor wear, and a little bit of seat belt grime to show evidence of its age. Well, the cassette deck in the stock head unit gives it away too.
There’s no word on the car’s mechanical condition in the consignment dealer-posted ad (sorry about the CarLols badges in the pics), and there is work that needs to be done on these to keep them feeling sassy. Hopefully it comes with a manila folder full of receipts.
The original NSX - crap, when the new one comes out, we’ll have to figure out how to refer to the these ones - was a technological tour de force. To overcome Honda’s reticence to build a V8, the company instead went the other route in achieving a super car-esque power to weight ratio by making the car light as possible by way of the extensive use of aluminum. The handling was also dialed in by professional driver Ayrton Senna. That was state of the art back then.
The new NSX will be a hybrid made out of reclaimed unicorn and its handling will probably be tuned by IBM’s Watson running a virtual Senna emulation layer. Yeah, it’ll probably be wonderful, but for some reason I don’t think the new car will garner quite the mystique as is enjoyed by the Ur NSX.
Would you enjoy this lean mean green machine? Would you do so for $25,000? That’s the price, to which I think you’d want to add the cost of a rag and a bottle of Goof Off to get rid of the dealer stencil on the back. Stop doing that, dealers!
What’s your opinion on this NSX, as presented in the ad, and its $25,000 price? Does that seem like a steal? Or, is that too much to tithe to the church of awesome?
You decide!
Cars.com out of Virginia, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to dhunt for the hookup!
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