Many of you have been following the story of our crashed NA2, the 1999 NSX-T that was taken by Valencia Acura for service and never returned. In short form, the driver picking it up took it up a mountain road and spun violently. The "fender bender" (as the dealer described it when refusing to fix anything) reached an estimated repair cost of $36,000 before USAA and we agreed to call it a day. VIN JH4NA2169XT000068 (Damn. I can still do that VIN from memory) is now a memory.
Here are some clean-up comments. Some information gained that may help someone else.
First, San Pedro Auto Body was excellent in every respect. We were determined to get our car back on the road again and I researched the shops closely before choosing one. San Pedro AB is not only mentioned here on NSX Prime, but I also managed to reach some people inside Acura Corporate. (Technically, "Honda America" at that level.) No one would be quoted naturally, but they effectively said that San Pedro's people knew at least as much about repairing the NSX as does the factory in Tochigi. I even found the guy who was driving the first NSX in the country when he was rear-ended. Heavily. They researched body shops near the port of entry, found San Pedro Auto Body and sent in factory engineers to jointly develop methods of repairing that unique thing: an all-aluminum car. San Pedro Auto Body has since repaired hundreds of NSX cars for Honda America. (I expressed disbelief and got an inside story probably worth repeating, but not tonight.) And to my obvious question: yes, the staff are the same. They named the owners and shop manager and those people are the ones Cindy and I met.
Speaking as an engineer, I found nothing to disagree with concerning their expertise. We met with the shop manager and one of the owners and enjoyed working with them all. No bullshit from anyone, and a very careful bunch of people when it comes to handling exotic cars.
Fabian in particular is extremely knowledgable. The shop manager. He reminds me of some very experienced sergeants I knew in airframe repair. One of those people you hope to find. You know he can build up an NSX from the parts shelf if he has too, but you feel like he could do with his eyes closed after you work with him for a day. I should say we went over XT000068 like a forensics lab trying to find all the damage from a poorly reported accident and then determine how much was cosmetic and where the structural stuff began.
At the end, the finishing touch was finding frame damage. Repairable, and located where we could magnaflux the affected areas after straightening, but nevertheless it was the unforgivable case of "a bent frame" which means the resale value will plummet. I spent a final week discussing with our attorney and Cindy, racking up a total of nearly $75,000 we would have to sue for from the dealer if we proceeded with repairs. After all that, Cindy said no.
It was her car. I bought it for her when we retired. (A symbolic return on the computer she bought me to start our business.) She said no. "Sell it to the insurance company. I don't want it back. Buy a car for yourself. It's your turn now."
So I'm driving a 2009 Carrera 911S now. While it not's quite the class act an NSX is, it seems very fast and with enough quirks to have a personality of its own soon. May call it LCOMOTIV since it pulls like one from low rpm. And after all, I am an engineer.:wink:
For those who don't know the whole story, Cindy had a major stroke a couple of years ago. She was just a passenger in her car since then, and I know that always grieved her. Adding the wounding memory of this crash by getting in a different NSX every day would not have been a happy thing, so I moved to another exotic famous for daily driver livability.
For the record, we considered three very good cars before deciding to buy Porsche instead. Actually, four, but the fourth one sold while we were working out our options. All of these are low mile NA2 cars with clean carfax and in the first two cases, the sellers struck me as people I'd be willing to buy a car from at long distance. That's saying a lot if you knew Cindy and me. So someone might as well benefit from our search:
Dr Phil in Connecticutt has one in the very rare Red on Red color combination. First reaction is shock, then you start thinking how it would look in your driveway. Lovely striking car. [email protected]
Dr Loos in Philadelphia has a black on black. He has a BMW seven series for bad weather days so the NSX was just his weekend darling. Now he has a Ferrari too, and his wife is chiding him about the size of his toy box. (Oh to have such problems.) Another pampered darling I'll always regret not buying. [email protected]
Fabian at San Pedro Auto Body told me of another special find just tonight. In this case, I haven't spoken to the owner myself, but Fabian vouches for the car's condition and I can't imagine a better judge of an NSX, so this recommendation is at second hand, but a strong one anyway.
He didn't know we'd made up our mind and bought a 911S already. He called mostly to say that our NSX had been picked up and he was mailing us some items he thought we might want, like the personalized license plate. This one he told me about is silver on black -- just like ours -- with 25k miles. A friend of his is recently widowed and this was his wife's car. He has four others and wants to sell the NSX. (Probably to help get over her death, I would say; but that may be an old man talking. Maybe his insurance premiums are just too high with five cars. Oh, to have such... wait. I said that already.) I wouldn't have considered this one at all since choosing the same color Cindy did would have really made it hurt every time she got in. Nevertheless, it sounds like another sweetheart. Nice VIN too: "Ol' number six" JH4NA21674S000006 [email protected]
I would commend these to your personal attention, but everyone here on the owner's forum is already happy. You wouldn't want to be greedy and buy two or three of these rare and lovely cars, would you? [You in the back! I know you. Put your checkbook away.] But if you know anyone looking for a car who would be happier in a car -- that is, the NSX -- let them know of these beauties.
I have nothing to do with any of them of course. All I did was run a carfax and talk to the current owner. Except in the last case where I talked to the guy who has maintained the body work from life's occasional insults. (From the carfax, it looks like all the service was done by a single dealer for the car's lifetime: Power Acura South Bay in Torrance California.) I guess I'll go post a third party note on the "for sale" forum about this one at San Pedro. Maybe a fellow NSX Primer can take advantage of one of these opportunities.
It's been a long traumatic haul from the phone call on 25 Sep about "the little accident" in our car, but these things usually work out for the best. We've got a new car warranty to keep us warm, and Fabian insists that somebody will grab our NSX at auction and get it back on the road. Without insurability concerns from that straightened frame some lucky soul will have a bargain price for an NA2 that was so well maintained. (Until the morning from Hell anyway...:frown
Not precisely signing off, but I'll probably not even lurk for a few weeks until we quit moaning here. My best to you all. Enjoy your cars,
Gary
Here are some clean-up comments. Some information gained that may help someone else.
First, San Pedro Auto Body was excellent in every respect. We were determined to get our car back on the road again and I researched the shops closely before choosing one. San Pedro AB is not only mentioned here on NSX Prime, but I also managed to reach some people inside Acura Corporate. (Technically, "Honda America" at that level.) No one would be quoted naturally, but they effectively said that San Pedro's people knew at least as much about repairing the NSX as does the factory in Tochigi. I even found the guy who was driving the first NSX in the country when he was rear-ended. Heavily. They researched body shops near the port of entry, found San Pedro Auto Body and sent in factory engineers to jointly develop methods of repairing that unique thing: an all-aluminum car. San Pedro Auto Body has since repaired hundreds of NSX cars for Honda America. (I expressed disbelief and got an inside story probably worth repeating, but not tonight.) And to my obvious question: yes, the staff are the same. They named the owners and shop manager and those people are the ones Cindy and I met.
Speaking as an engineer, I found nothing to disagree with concerning their expertise. We met with the shop manager and one of the owners and enjoyed working with them all. No bullshit from anyone, and a very careful bunch of people when it comes to handling exotic cars.
Fabian in particular is extremely knowledgable. The shop manager. He reminds me of some very experienced sergeants I knew in airframe repair. One of those people you hope to find. You know he can build up an NSX from the parts shelf if he has too, but you feel like he could do with his eyes closed after you work with him for a day. I should say we went over XT000068 like a forensics lab trying to find all the damage from a poorly reported accident and then determine how much was cosmetic and where the structural stuff began.
At the end, the finishing touch was finding frame damage. Repairable, and located where we could magnaflux the affected areas after straightening, but nevertheless it was the unforgivable case of "a bent frame" which means the resale value will plummet. I spent a final week discussing with our attorney and Cindy, racking up a total of nearly $75,000 we would have to sue for from the dealer if we proceeded with repairs. After all that, Cindy said no.
It was her car. I bought it for her when we retired. (A symbolic return on the computer she bought me to start our business.) She said no. "Sell it to the insurance company. I don't want it back. Buy a car for yourself. It's your turn now."
So I'm driving a 2009 Carrera 911S now. While it not's quite the class act an NSX is, it seems very fast and with enough quirks to have a personality of its own soon. May call it LCOMOTIV since it pulls like one from low rpm. And after all, I am an engineer.:wink:
For those who don't know the whole story, Cindy had a major stroke a couple of years ago. She was just a passenger in her car since then, and I know that always grieved her. Adding the wounding memory of this crash by getting in a different NSX every day would not have been a happy thing, so I moved to another exotic famous for daily driver livability.
For the record, we considered three very good cars before deciding to buy Porsche instead. Actually, four, but the fourth one sold while we were working out our options. All of these are low mile NA2 cars with clean carfax and in the first two cases, the sellers struck me as people I'd be willing to buy a car from at long distance. That's saying a lot if you knew Cindy and me. So someone might as well benefit from our search:
Dr Phil in Connecticutt has one in the very rare Red on Red color combination. First reaction is shock, then you start thinking how it would look in your driveway. Lovely striking car. [email protected]
Dr Loos in Philadelphia has a black on black. He has a BMW seven series for bad weather days so the NSX was just his weekend darling. Now he has a Ferrari too, and his wife is chiding him about the size of his toy box. (Oh to have such problems.) Another pampered darling I'll always regret not buying. [email protected]
Fabian at San Pedro Auto Body told me of another special find just tonight. In this case, I haven't spoken to the owner myself, but Fabian vouches for the car's condition and I can't imagine a better judge of an NSX, so this recommendation is at second hand, but a strong one anyway.
He didn't know we'd made up our mind and bought a 911S already. He called mostly to say that our NSX had been picked up and he was mailing us some items he thought we might want, like the personalized license plate. This one he told me about is silver on black -- just like ours -- with 25k miles. A friend of his is recently widowed and this was his wife's car. He has four others and wants to sell the NSX. (Probably to help get over her death, I would say; but that may be an old man talking. Maybe his insurance premiums are just too high with five cars. Oh, to have such... wait. I said that already.) I wouldn't have considered this one at all since choosing the same color Cindy did would have really made it hurt every time she got in. Nevertheless, it sounds like another sweetheart. Nice VIN too: "Ol' number six" JH4NA21674S000006 [email protected]
I would commend these to your personal attention, but everyone here on the owner's forum is already happy. You wouldn't want to be greedy and buy two or three of these rare and lovely cars, would you? [You in the back! I know you. Put your checkbook away.] But if you know anyone looking for a car who would be happier in a car -- that is, the NSX -- let them know of these beauties.
I have nothing to do with any of them of course. All I did was run a carfax and talk to the current owner. Except in the last case where I talked to the guy who has maintained the body work from life's occasional insults. (From the carfax, it looks like all the service was done by a single dealer for the car's lifetime: Power Acura South Bay in Torrance California.) I guess I'll go post a third party note on the "for sale" forum about this one at San Pedro. Maybe a fellow NSX Primer can take advantage of one of these opportunities.
It's been a long traumatic haul from the phone call on 25 Sep about "the little accident" in our car, but these things usually work out for the best. We've got a new car warranty to keep us warm, and Fabian insists that somebody will grab our NSX at auction and get it back on the road. Without insurability concerns from that straightened frame some lucky soul will have a bargain price for an NA2 that was so well maintained. (Until the morning from Hell anyway...:frown
Not precisely signing off, but I'll probably not even lurk for a few weeks until we quit moaning here. My best to you all. Enjoy your cars,
Gary