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1994 Green/Tan currently for sale in VA - JH4NA1154RT000256

Lud

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I was in Richmond VA the other week on business and saw this car on a lot so I stopped to take a quick look. I did nothing more than a walk-around. I didn't even open the doors, much less try to start or drive it.

It's for sale at a consignment-only dealer. Current asking price is $25000. Stated mileage is 161,572.

Here are some of the pics I took walking around and my opinions.

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This is the first thing I saw walking up to the car. The gap between the trunk lid and the rear tail light assembly shouldn't be that big or uneven. It should be roughly an even 1/4" all the way across.

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Looking from the side the tail light assembly appears bowed out abnormally in the middle in relation to the trunk lid.

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Aftermarket DC exhaust installed. I understand it also has an aftermarket cone-style air intake but I did not open the engine compartment. I did not crawl under to see if it had aftermarket headers. Rear valance doesn't line up with the rear bumper cover.

2015-04-07-15-07-09.jpg


Taking a closer look at that taillight assembly situation I saw the lights were kind of popped out. It looks like someone tried to seal with with clear silicone or something, but that doesn't seem to have been very effective.

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I took this not to show the scratches around the door handle on the drivers side, but the completely jacked up window trim (forward of the "NSX" logo). I have no idea why that gap exists between the rubber pieces. Obviously the piece below it that is all misaligned as well. The rubber sticking out crookedly under the door handle area isn't right either.

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This isn't the best shot, but it's the reverse angle from above.. Shot with the camera beside the drivers window looking backward toward the B pillar and door handle area. You can see there is a gap between the glass and molding both to the back and bottom. The windows were all the way up as you can see in other photos.

2015-04-07-15-07-26.jpg


The top of the drivers side window. Again, that strip of trim along the edge of the roof shouldn't have that gap above the rear corner of the window. The two pieces aren't fitting together correctly.

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Paint on the wiper blades is pretty shot. I'd guess the car sat outside a lot. Inspection sticker from last month.

2015-04-07-15-07-46.jpg


A couple pretty good gouges in the paint above the wheel well there. Some others on the hood and quarter panel didn't show up too well in this pic. Notice the nose/front bumper cover and right front quarter panel do not line up correctly either.


2015-04-07-15-07-59.jpg


Front lower spoiler is a bit scraped up and pulled a little loose but really that's pretty normal on cars that are driven a lot. You can see the actual painted lower nose has been scraped as well, mostly on the left center (to the right of the license plate). A couple pretty good paint chips as well, but again that's probably to be expected on a 160k mile car.

2015-04-07-15-08-08.jpg


You can see the front bumper cover and quarter panel misalignment from another angle here. The headlight gap is wrong - off center, as well as misaligned with the nose especially when you compare the gap between the front edge of the headlight cover and the nose on the left and right headlights. The hood is not flush with the nose evenly across the front either.

2015-04-07-15-20-50.jpg


At first I was just looking at the gap at the top corner of the windshield between the glass and the molding strip that runs horizontally across the top and thinking that was unusual. Then I realized the whole molding strip is unusual. The factory molding is very low profile, this one is very thick. I am still unsure what is causing that gap in the corner. You can also get another angle on the way the rubber weather seal around the door handle trim is separated from the window glass.

2015-04-07-15-22-30.jpg


The trim finish is bubbling up as is fairly typical of older NSXs that have sat outside a lot.

2015-04-07-15-22-46.jpg


Leather peeling off shift knob. I wish I got a better shot of the seats, but they looked like they were just re-covered... They looked quite nice from what I could see!

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Another question mark. How does the rubber around the window get torn like that? Misaligned window pinching it against the door frame? I have no idea.

2015-04-07-15-24-08.jpg


The wheel well trim is sagging/misaligned here. I didn't crawl around in the mulch to try and see if it was just missing fasteners or if it's something more serious.

2015-04-07-15-24-55.jpg


Unusual wear in the paint along the edge of the trunk lid/rear spoiler.


That's the main stuff. A few more pics I didn't comment on are in the gallery I attached to the VIN page for the vehicle here: http://www.nsxprime.com/jh4na1154rt000256/

Anyone interested in the car would do well to have a good body shop look it over, as it appears to have a number of issues with alignment of various body and trim panels.

2015-04-07-15-24-27.jpg


It doesn't show up well here but the wheel is pretty well curbed. I couldn't easily see the ones on the other side.

I saw some recent paperwork from a repair shop in McLean VA (about 90 min north of Richmond) but I couldn't tell what was just a quote vs. what work was actually performed. Things referenced included: horn button, headlight and taillight bulbs, rear tires (though the rears on the car looked worn..?), oil and filter, rear trunk struts weak, r134a refrigerant and 15A fuse, a/c removal and re-installation, misfire between 700-1200 rpm when cold or warm which it says was traced to an ignition coil shorted by water, cracked vacuum hose, leaking valve cover gaskets and cam plug seals, floor mats, cup holder, and a couple misc. fasteners/stoppers. Again it's not entirely clear to me what was a quote and what was actually done.

Here is a link to the carfax report which shows one accident in 2012:
01/22/2012 Virginia Damage Report Accident reported Involving left side impact with another motor vehicle Involving a parked motor vehicle

Hope this info is helpful to somebody!
 
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Thanks for taking a look. I was going to take a look at it on Fri, but it seems that now I don't have to.
 
This car is in rough shape however, 161k miles would certainly pertain to some of the smaller issues. For example: "Unusual wear in the paint along the edge of the trunk lid/rear spoiler."
Also, that may not be paint on the wipers; could just be related to usage.
My '02 has 79k miles, while the wipers do not have this much scuff, there certainly is some wear from driving.

Obviously this particular car has been wrecked and requires TLC however, they are not asking $35-40k. If I were in the market, I would offer $20,000, put $5,000 into it immediately for
maint. and other things, then one would have a decent '94.

I can certainly appreciate all of the issues you identified but.... in my humble opinion, the asking price would suggest the seller or STEALERship is well aware of the condition.
IDK......... A nice '94 under the current market is somewhere between $35-40k if not more.

Offer $20k..... they can only say no.

my .02
 
Doesn't seem like that bad of a deal to do some work/tlc too. There doesn't seem to be any examples out there anymore complete for under 30k.
 
I inquired about this car last week before I saw this thread. I am glad I found this thread. Thanks for the pics and description Lud!

I got a copy of a bunch of maintenance on the car. All maintenance since 2005 (when it was last sold) seems to have been done at Foreign Service in McLean, VA. Most things done within the last few months including:

Horn Button
Light bulb
2 Toyo Proxie tires
Oil and filter change
Clutch set
bearing
left window regulator
'frsh air motor'
4 tailight gaskets
thermostat
ignition coils (2)
spark pluts (2)
VTEC solenoid gasket
valve cover gaskets

The timing belt seems to have been changed in 2005 (around 80k) at the same shop.

I am surprised that the taillight has so many issues considering that 4 gaskets seem to have just been replaced. I was thinking about offering around $20k, but now I am more inclined to stay away...
 
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This car is in rough shape however, 161k miles would certainly pertain to some of the smaller issues. For example: "Unusual wear in the paint along the edge of the trunk lid/rear spoiler."

Certainly many of the cosmetic issues are common on an older high mile car that has led a rough life. On the other hand I have seen NSXs with comparable mileage that were still in beautiful condition. It largely comes down to how they are maintained.

Also, that may not be paint on the wipers; could just be related to usage.

Not sure what you are saying here. I wasn't saying there was light colored paint on the wipers. The light spots are where the factory black paint has worn away due to weathering.

Obviously this particular car has been wrecked and requires TLC however, they are not asking $35-40k. If I were in the market, I would offer $20,000, put $5,000 into it immediately for
maint. and other things, then one would have a decent '94.

Doesn't seem like that bad of a deal to do some work/tlc too. There doesn't seem to be any examples out there anymore complete for under 30k.

I think both a normal mechanical pre-purchase inspection as well as a thorough inspection by a body shop that knows something about the NSX are required to figure out what this car is worth. As it stands anything else is basically a gamble with most of the risk on the down side. Just my opinion!

- - - Updated - - -

I inquired about this car last week before I saw this thread. I am glad I found this thread. Thanks for the pics and description Lud!

I got a copy of a bunch of maintenance on the car. All maintenance since 2005 (when it was last sold) seems to have been done at Foreign Service in McLean, VA. Most things done within the last few months including:

Horn Button
Light bulb
2 Toyo Proxie tires
Oil and filter change
Clutch set
bearing
left window regulator
'frsh air motor'
4 tailight gaskets
thermostat
ignition coils (2)
spark pluts (2)
VTEC solenoid gasket
valve cover gaskets

The timing belt seems to have been changed in 2005 (around 80k) at the same shop.

I am surprised that the taillight has so many issues considering that 4 gaskets seem to have just been replaced. I was thinking about offering around $20k, but now I am more inclined to stay away...

Are you certain those maintenance items were all completed? I think I saw most of the same paperwork you saw but it wasn't clear to me what was a quote versus what was actually done. One particular example is the rear tires, which you can see in the photos look pretty well worn, but the paperwork mentioned rear tires just a few months ago.

As for the tail lights, the gasket is what sits between the light assembly and the body. The gaskets are cheap. The light assemblies themselves are expensive (MSRP is around $1400 total for left, center, and right pieces as if I remember correctly) and that is what it looks like someone tried to silicone seal.
 
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