The NSX: Collectible?

[NA3]

I'm in the market to buy an NSX (it'll be my third), and recently found a very good condition 1992 model that's completely stock (as far as I can tell on first inspection). The car even has very low mileage on the odometer. I was wondering if there is any chance that early year NSXs could be considered collectible, from an investment point of view.

I realize that the depreciation on used NSXs has tapered off a fair bit now, but is there any chance that these cars, if they are in really good condition and everything is kept stock, will one day be really worth something.

If I buy the car, I know I'll probably have a hard time resisting the urge to make modifications to it.

Thoughts, anyone?

(Apologies if this topic has come up before.)

 

[JPS Europa]

Way down the road these cars will be worth more than they are today, but if you consider the time value of money, it would be a lousy investment. To give an example, my Europa was an $8K car in 1974. It is now worth roughly twice that in 30 years. That is for a car in very good shape. The NSX was produced in similar numbers and has the same lack of cachet as the Europa, so I expect a similar sort of return. Collectible, yes. Highly collectible, no. Too many produced, not enough "cool" factor.
As far as I am concerned this is not a bad thing. It allows those in the know to enjoy the cars and will help keep costs down in the future.

 

[nsxtasy]

I was wondering if there is any chance that early year NSXs could be considered collectible, from an investment point of view.

I doubt it. Maybe the Zanardi NSX or 3.2-liter '97-01 NSX Coupe, but not any others.

Get the car if you want to enjoy owning it, not because you anticipate its value going up.

$.02

 

[NeoNSX]

Honda's are not Ferrari's or Lamborghini's, so i doubt their value will increase like that.
Honda doesn't focus on selling a limited numbers of cars, which is what causes the prices to hike.

My $0.02.
We're up to $0.04 so far.

 

[hlweyl]

I would politely disagree with the earlier posts. I would consider the NSX a "collectible".

If you look at a few of the factors that make a car collectible, such as, styling, technology, how rare the car is (all of these factors should be compared to similiar cars of the era), then I feel the NSX nails all of them. If they discontinue production, then the car becomes even more collectible.

So yes, the car will most likely be worth more 20 years from now than it is today. But if you are looking to make your money work for you, invest elsewhere. But if you are having a mental dialogue with yourself about buying it or not, then I say whatever you have to tell yourself to be convinced to buy it, do so.



An interesting show to watch is the Barrett-Jackson Auctions. I seen a yellow 69' Z28 Camaro go for over $100,000 US. Even my ratty 67 camaro is worth over 4 times the original purchase price and it wasn't even an original V8 car.

 

[vintagecarman]

The best will go up in value

Here are a few words that describe automobiles. I think you will agree that the NSX falls under all the following categories

“Exotic” Imported, foreign, fascinating, and unusual.

“Collectible” Gems worthy of being gathered or collected

“Classic” Masterwork or a masterpiece

“Vintage” Model of a particular period or representative of the best

I believe the NSX that remains stock, original with low miles with be a very sought after car in the future. There have been just under 10,000 made. In thirty years how many will remain? Out of that how many will be in the above-mentioned condition. If history repeats itself, low production cars in original condition have always brought big $.

 

[Autophile]

The clean, original NSX of today will certainly be desirable and highly collectible 20-30 years from now.

Let me compare my two cars. A Cuda is basically a sexy body with an RV engine. No technology, marginal build quality from the factory, manual everything, fragile parts ... Basically, nothing special on paper. So why is it one of the hottest cars on the collector market? Because it has distinctive body styling, and it represents a performance era. No one was aware of Cudas until they were shown on a couple TV shows and movies which exposed them to the larger market.

The NSX also has very distinctive body styling, and it has groundbreaking technology to back it up. Production numbers are roughly the same for the NSX and the Cuda, i.e., very low. The NSX also represents a performance era (the current period). All the NSX needs to start an upward trend in resale value is a) the eventual end of its production, and b) exposure to a wider audience (via TV/movies, etc.).

 

[tucsonsx]

If I buy the car, I know I'll probably have a hard time resisting the urge to make modifications to it.

Don't hold back!!! - In fact I urge everyone to make as many modifications as possible to their cars ( especially carbon fiber body parts - and don't forget to throw away all those OEM parts ). This will do more than anything else to insure that original " unmolested " examples of the first Japanese supercar actually do become collectible.

 

[vintagecarman]

Test of Time

I agree with Autophile’s analogy completely! Although they made More 1971 Cuda’s {16,159 produced} than 1970 Superbirds {2,783 produced} both in original condition are some of the most desirable and expensive collectible cars in the market. There was a Hemi Cuda convertible that sold for 1 million and Superbirds sell at Barrette Jackson for $250K. Give it another 20 years and watch what happens.

Other than super exotic’s, there were very few decent cars built in the late 80” or early 90” Word still is not completely out on the NSX. At least once a week a get questioned on what kind of car I am driving! We are talking about arguably one of the best sports cars ever built

 

[NSX2F1]

Gran Turismo generation

The cars that kids want to drive yet can't afford today will be the collectible cars of tomorrow. Thanks to Gran Turismo, the NSX, the Supra Twin Turbo, FD RX-7, and Skyline GT-Rs will be the Cudas and Shelbys of tomorrow. Even unmolested WRX STi(not the pedestrian WRX) and Lancer Evolution will probably be collectible in the future. In general, kids today know these cars more than the older generations. More than a few times, teenage boys caught me off guard with their knowledge of the NSX. I bet more often than not, their fathers think of it as just another Corvettes.

 

[NA3]

Wow! Thanks for all the well-considered and measured responses.

One of the things that got me thinking about this is I really cannot remember the last time I came across a completely stock NSX in the marketplace. I bought a 1991 new from the showroom when I was young, and not having had the foresight at the time, I modified the car like a lot of other people did (and still do). But the one I'm looking at now is really amazing. It has the stock paint (never been crashed, according to dealer records), stock interior (even the leather's been well-maintained), stock wheels, exhaust, you name it. It doesn't even have the obligatory crack in the front perimeter of the dash. I probably will buy the car, regardless of its potential to become a (valuable) classic, barring any major untoward discoveries made during the test drive I'm taking this coming weekend.

The interesting thing is, previously, we had to spend lots of money modifying an NSX to make it more personalized, make it perform more to our liking. But nowadays, if we want a unique NSX, we have to keep it stock. Go figure.

 

[tucsonsx]

Re: Gran Turismo generation

The cars that kids want to drive yet can't afford today will be the collectible cars of tomorrow. Thanks to Gran Turismo, the NSX, the Supra Twin Turbo, FD RX-7, and Skyline GT-Rs will be the Cudas and Shelbys of tomorrow. Even unmolested WRX STi(not the pedestrian WRX) and Lancer Evolution will probably be collectible in the future. In general, kids today know these cars more than the older generations. More than a few times, teenage boys caught me off guard with their knowledge of the NSX. I bet more often than not, their fathers think of it as just another Corvettes.

Very perceptive!!! I think you are absolutely correct. My friend's teenage son is more excited about the car than anyone else that I know ( probably even me ) - reminds me of drooling over the cars that my father's friends used to have that are worth a ton now.

 

[Tony Montoya]

Why would an NSX have a crack in the front of the dash?

 

[fredderf]

Re: Gran Turismo Generation

The other day my wife opened the garage door to take the dog for a walk and this 13yr old kid comes up and asks if he can look at that NSX in the garage. He proceeds to ask what year as he knew with it being Sebring Silver it was older, once she told him it was a 91 he went down the list of how much HP it had, what they cost new etc. She said he knew more about the car than she did. I think these cars will be worth money some day, thanks to video games. Lyle

 

[nsxtasy]

Why would an NSX have a crack in the front of the dash?

That's a common problem. Click here.

 

[NSXBOX]

In japan their collectibles especially Type R's.. NSX R's 93' were roughly US$90K brand new and US$60-70K now.. Also, you've got to take into consideration japan has very fast depreciation for cars due to their policy of wanting to keep cars under 10 years old on the road.
Even than normal NSX NA1's command extremely high prices relative to cars of the same year.

Macs Tokyo

 

[NA3]

In japan their collectibles especially Type R's.. NSX R's 93' were roughly US$90K brand new and US$60-70K now.. Also, you've got to take into consideration japan has very fast depreciation for cars due to their policy of wanting to keep cars under 10 years old on the road.
Even than normal NSX NA1's command extremely high prices relative to cars of the same year.

That's a good point. Just look at some of the prices for these used NSXs.

 

[nsxbadboy]

I fee the only NSX that would be collectible would be the first or the last one.To many made.

Joe

 

[docjohn]

The cost of collecter cars has alot to do with the age at which the buyers were lusty kids who had big dreams and no $,When they get to be 40-60 y.o.'s you bet they will finaly buy those cars and the nsx is poised to be one of those lust objects in 20-30 yrs.Only problem now is that we don't know what the state of autos will be at that time(in the future) and how that might effect buyers' choices.

 

[westernb4]

Don't think anyone will consider the NSX as a possible "collectible" as long as Honda is still building and selling new ones.

 

[NA3]

Don't think anyone will consider the NSX as a possible "collectible" as long as Honda is still building and selling new ones.

I was actually thinking about 10, 20 years down the road. And in fact, even today, the original NA1, the purest form of the NSX envisioned by Honda, is already a thing of the past. I can't help but think that an all-original, (near) mint condiiton NSX would generate considerable collector interest a decade or so from now.

I wonder how much a Toyota 2000GT would be worth today.

 

[hlweyl]

Don't think anyone will consider the NSX as a possible "collectible" as long as Honda is still building and selling new ones.

I really don't see the logic there. Corvettes are still being mass produced, why don't you go price any Vette produced in the 50's or 60's. How about an original L88 67' convertible? I would guess it's going for over 100k.

 

[ss_md]

Value is in the eye's of the beholder - some collector, somewhere, sometime may want a first year NSX with low mileage. Ya never know - ya know. Could be 20, 30 or even 50 more years. The questions is: are you willling to maintain and preserve the car until that day?

 

[westernb4]

I really don't see the logic there. Corvettes are still being mass produced, why don't you go price any Vette produced in the 50's or 60's. How about an original L88 67' convertible? I would guess it's going for over 100k.

The Corvette has changed significantly in most ways since it was introduced. Can't imagine it would be considered collectible if Chevrolet still manufactured and sold them essentially as they were when introduced in 1953 (1954?).
I think that they are definitely not collectible at present. That doesn't mean that they might become such in the future; for that to happen, I think, Honda would wither need to stop manufactuing/selling the car altogether or modify a future version in a significant way.

 

[lowellhigh79]

Just bought a mint stock 91 Blk/Blk with low miles, minor add ons with all the stock parts present. I plan to drive it a little and keep it stock. I also have a 92 RED that is the most modified NSX in the country. It is registered but not very streetable. Coming full circle, I can still drive the 91, put 20-30k miles on it and still sell it in a few years for the same or more than what I paid. I believe 25-30,000 is where the price of a good low mileage used NSX is at a bottom.

If I decide to keep it long term, the possibility of it becoming collectible is another added bonus. I believe the 91s, Zanardis, and the last year will be the most valuable. The extra 20 hp from the 3.2 is too small to make any difference in value over a 3.0 (as compared to all the block Hp differences of the 70's Corvettes) and the Targa is not the "low production convertible" that has tripled the values to the Ferraris and Mopars.