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Beater NSX

NSF

Registered Member
Joined
19 November 2001
Messages
31
Location
Shoreline, WA USA
DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely nothing against anyone who likes to go to extremes to keep his/her (especially exotic & expensive) car in perfect shape cosmetically - this is just me telling a story of a thing I saw & how I thought it was cool...

Okay - so, yesterday I cruise up Hwy 99 into lovely Lynnwood, WA to check out a 1985 Ford Econoline van at Tequila Motors - a used cat lot - (gotta do about 10 trips worth of hauling & I figger buy/sell is a better bet than U-Haul at $.49/mile & plus I get the bonus of not having to deal w/U-Haul - but I DIGRESS...)

So I check out the van & it ain't what I'm after but, parked right next to the lot office is a black/tan 199? (? - has the little silver badge on the console that you guys say gets too hot in the sun, but the interior is tan, not ivory, and it's an NSX, not an NSX-T) NSX which looks very <cough!> "lived-in." Lot-dude explains that it's "the boss's car" and that it's for sale for $35K - he goes on to explain that it has $20K worth of engine mods - I think he's full of it, but that ain't my point, my point is:

This car was beautiful. It hadn't been washed for at least 3 weeks, the paint had the old "I never get waxed or garaged" scratches and lack of lustre, the fancy aftermarket wheels had lots of drunken-parallel-parking dents and scratches, and the driver's seat (which useta be tan but was now a filthy grey/tan) was ripped and the interior was one giant litterbag. It had 90K miles on the clock and looked just as badass as any spit-shined, drilled-taillighted, checked-for-ticking-noises-in-the-engine-compartment-at-300am, parked at the corner of the mall lot (if parked in the lot at all), lloyd's-insured, worried-about fetish object. It was cool.

I mean - I dunno - it had an intrinsic cool (as do all NSXs) which a bit of dirt and trash couldn't hide, and this sort of "chill, dude, it's just a car" down-to-earthism about it.

Don't mean to say that messed-up is better than nice, just that the NSX's badassness trancends the clean/unclean dichotomy and that, as a bonus, this one had that "favorite sneakers/Levi's with a hole in the knee" casual charm - you know, a couch it's OK to spill beer on next to a coffee table upon which you can rest your feet in a house where the neighbors don't care if you blast the stereo kinda vibe.

And it was LOW (maybe lowered?) low like one of them sideways-swimming bottomfish (sole?) - low like the shadow cast by a helicopter.

And it made me happy & so I thought I'd share - is that so wrong?

(edit = aftermarket proofreading)

[This message has been edited by scott s (edited 01 June 2002).]
 
I might have to go back to school now, coz i can't understand half what he's saying
wink.gif
 
that is a very brave post---and i definately know what you mean.

i think it would be fantastic to have a stripped down, dont care what it looks like track nsx which i could flog whenever i wanted. that would be a car i really owned, not the other way around.

sigh. that aint never gonna happen in the near future.
 
I think Scott's post was well-written, and I understand what he means. I am, however, one of those who are anal about the way my car looks. I just got back inside from a quick wash/Zaino, and it's off to Greenwich Concours de-show-off-what-you-got...A large part of the pleasure I derive from owning something is taking good care of it, whatever it is. That's probably true because I work hard for what I have, and replacements don't come easily. However, to each his own. Enjoy it any way you can...
 
Originally posted by huckster:
that is a very brave post---and i definately know what you mean.

i think it would be fantastic to have a stripped down, dont care what it looks like track nsx which i could flog whenever i wanted. that would be a car i really owned, not the other way around.

sigh. that aint never gonna happen in the near future.

Well, the dirty garbage filled interior has to go but I completely understand the point of the post. One of the cars that I sometimes fantasize about is a slightly ratty track worn 308. I guess it stems from the days when I used to take the MR2 Firehawk car out on the public roads. The looks from law enforcement were priceless as they wondered if it was worth the risk of missing the fresh donuts while they tried to figure out if it was "legal" or not.



------------------
Andrew Henderson
The NSX Model List Page

"We have long acknowledged that enthusiasm for things automotive is a sure
sign of emotional instability if not outright dementia"
- Brock Yates
 
I know what was he is saying,just the other day I spyed a 91or2 red coupe in the service bay of my dealer and of course took a good look.It was dull and filthy ,parts of the rear had been repainted with poor panel trunk fit.The wheels had wonderful gouges and the interior was worn to the point of looking like a movie theater after the mattinee of rugrats the return.The car was so beat looking that If I owned it I wouldnt care were I parked it and thats the beauty, to each his or her own.Btw It had 90k on the odometer and had many small personal items (detritis)strewn about the cabin .The point is that we on this board are a small fraction of the nsx owning public and many do not suscribe to newsletters or clubs and think of the car as interresting but not a lifestyle vehicle.
 
Hey - thanks to all for the positive feedback. And again, I don't think broken toys are better than new toys & the fun I was poking at you "car-in-the-plastic-bubble" weenies was meant only as fun & nothing more - just, somehow, this particular car on that particular day seemed to have more of the soul-of-the-NSX panther/hawk thing going on than a new-looking one does. To me at least. Pretty sure it's me & not the car - betcha a shrink would say that my low self-esteem demands that a car be brought down to my level before I can see it as something that I could own - but, then again, there *is* something to be said for a girl who isn't too pretty to take to Wendy's - or an NSX with an ashtray that gets *used...*

Whatever.

AND (here's my "good save") it reassures me to see that a filthy NSX is (IMO) still 100% kickass. See, I plan to get one of these cars, and, barring drug addiction or a gambling problem, keep it. For a real long time. Long enough for it to end up looking pretty scuzzy. And I'm glad to know that I'll still be into it long after its looks go to hell. I mean, it's what's inside that counts, right?

2000 Toyota Corolla
1985 Ford Econoline
 
Originally posted by docjohn:
The point is that we on this board are a small fraction of the nsx owning public and many do not suscribe to newsletters or clubs and think of the car as interresting but not a lifestyle vehicle.
IOW -- dude, its just a car. Its not your whole life.
biggrin.gif
 
Originally posted by huckster:
i think it would be fantastic to have a stripped down, dont care what it looks like track nsx which i could flog whenever i wanted.

Originally posted by NSXLNT:
I am, however, one of those who are anal about the way my car looks. I just got back inside from a quick wash

I enjoy having an NSX I can flog at the track, then bring home and wash and Zymol to perfection again.
biggrin.gif
 
Right on Ken,there aint too many cars that can survive so much track use and look so good after a nice wash.
 
Yah...I'm always envious of Ken's NSX when I see it...he puts way more track miles on it than I put on mine, and YET it looks showroom new, while mine looks like...

-Andie
 
Nope, I am a liar. I semi-fictionalized my account of the incident 1) for dramatic effect & 2) 'cuz I forgot a few details & my fact-checker was off smoking crack & so I had to compose my post myself...

The NSX really did look like I said, the seat really was ripped & the color of said seat was "non-stock" due to years of extreme filthyness, but there was less trash in there than I said - I <cough!> embellished...

And the deal with the van is I already had a verbal agreement to purchase my 1985 Ford van, but hadn't yet taken posession, and went to the lot to check out a 1985-7 (forget the exact year) Econoline to see if I had screwed myself with the deal I had already made - I hadn't - their van was more thrashed (actually mine wasn't "less thrashed," it was "more nice," I think it was sold to me by a closet NSXer - books and records, owner's manual for the stereo, q-tip & magnifying glass detailing - oops, I'm embellishing again - but it has been well-kept, and does have the manuals) - so the van on the lot cost more, wasn't as nice as mine, wasn't a cargo van, and may not have been a 1985. But the whole van thing was an intro, & not the point, but I did bend the truth a little...

So I'm a big fat liar. But these were moving-the-story-along lies, not odometer-swap hellbound scumbag whopper doozy lies...

edit = spell-checker off w/fact checker

[This message has been edited by scott s (edited 04 June 2002).]
 
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