So last week, I flew out to Los Angeles to go pick up my shiny new-to-me 1995 NSX and drive it back to northern Virginia. Here is the quick story in pictures, or as I was going to subtitle it, "Getting to Know Your NSX in Just Five Days - A Cross Country Crash(less) Course".
The story began by flying into LAX. I got picked up by the seller (an all-around good guy). After some ritual In-N-Out Burger and some chitchat about life back in Hawaii, I had my first introduction to the NSX:
Quick details:
-seller was the second owner
-83.5K miles
-clean CarFax, clean AutoCheck, near-flawless PPI from nearby Acura stealership
-VIN: JH4NA1185ST000671
Unfortunately during the test drive (just my second time driving an NSX ever and definitely my first time over 20mph), the car pinged a CEL :frown: the seller was visibly distraught, especially considering it had just earned excellent marks in a PPI a few days beforehand and I had flown in from literally the other side of the country to pick up the car. The NSX was immediately taken to a local Honda-friendly shop (Dan's Auto Shop in Torrance) and had an O2 sensor replaced. How can one trust a shop with an NSX?
If the owner drives an NSX himself.
After that was sorted (including an oil change while the car was being worked on) and the transaction was finalized, I drove down to San Diego to visit my folks.
My sister was pretty excited by it.
We taped off the front of the car to protect it a bit for the long trip ahead. Then I picked up my g/f from the airport and we were on our way back to Virginia.
Typical driving view for the first two days of the trip.
One nice thing about being so low and having to look up to every other car on the road is that basically anything can provide shade. This massive econobox blocked the sun for us for nearly an hour across the desert.
I also very quickly learned that parking faaaaaar away from everyone else in the parking lot did not guarantee that I'd be safe from someone parking right next to me in the middle of the night.
Eventually we took the tape off because it started to rain and I didn't want soggy tape stuck on the car.
Another thing I learned was that one does not simply drive an NSX into a gas station and not get asked a dozen questions about the car. The typical questions I got (and the answered I started to lean on):
"Is it fast?" I've never gotten up to the speed limit so quickly before!
"How much was it?" I don't want to think about it if I can help it.
"What color is that?" Nighttime answer: it's black. Daytime answer: it's blue. Answer to a lady asking: it's plum/"midnight pearl"/purple.
On the third evening, we got into New Orleans ~ the only 'scheduled' stop on our blast back to the East coast and the bargaining chip I used to convince my g/f to join me on the road. By then, the car was looking kinda disheveled:
But still cool:
We stayed in New Orleans a few hours longer than planned to let a tornado warning blow over. Then we continued on through MS, AL, TN, and VA.
Parked it next to my Legend, nearly 3000 miles later. What a drive!
Over the weekend, I cleaned up the car and had the battery replaced. I went out this morning and took a few more pics:
And that's it for now! Special thanks to the seller(s) who were honest and up-front as much as they could be during the whole deal. Also a big thank you to LostBuckeye (Ed) for giving me some NSX-buying advice and taking the time to look over another candidate NSX, a thank you to 4cruizn (Tyson) for checking up on me throughout the trip, as well as a thank you to the handful of Primers who kept an eye out for NSXs for me.
I look forward to being a part of this community and taking care of 'Inarra,' my new-to-me 1995 NSX :biggrin:
The story began by flying into LAX. I got picked up by the seller (an all-around good guy). After some ritual In-N-Out Burger and some chitchat about life back in Hawaii, I had my first introduction to the NSX:
Quick details:
-seller was the second owner
-83.5K miles
-clean CarFax, clean AutoCheck, near-flawless PPI from nearby Acura stealership
-VIN: JH4NA1185ST000671
Unfortunately during the test drive (just my second time driving an NSX ever and definitely my first time over 20mph), the car pinged a CEL :frown: the seller was visibly distraught, especially considering it had just earned excellent marks in a PPI a few days beforehand and I had flown in from literally the other side of the country to pick up the car. The NSX was immediately taken to a local Honda-friendly shop (Dan's Auto Shop in Torrance) and had an O2 sensor replaced. How can one trust a shop with an NSX?
If the owner drives an NSX himself.
After that was sorted (including an oil change while the car was being worked on) and the transaction was finalized, I drove down to San Diego to visit my folks.
My sister was pretty excited by it.
We taped off the front of the car to protect it a bit for the long trip ahead. Then I picked up my g/f from the airport and we were on our way back to Virginia.
Typical driving view for the first two days of the trip.
One nice thing about being so low and having to look up to every other car on the road is that basically anything can provide shade. This massive econobox blocked the sun for us for nearly an hour across the desert.
I also very quickly learned that parking faaaaaar away from everyone else in the parking lot did not guarantee that I'd be safe from someone parking right next to me in the middle of the night.
Eventually we took the tape off because it started to rain and I didn't want soggy tape stuck on the car.
Another thing I learned was that one does not simply drive an NSX into a gas station and not get asked a dozen questions about the car. The typical questions I got (and the answered I started to lean on):
"Is it fast?" I've never gotten up to the speed limit so quickly before!
"How much was it?" I don't want to think about it if I can help it.
"What color is that?" Nighttime answer: it's black. Daytime answer: it's blue. Answer to a lady asking: it's plum/"midnight pearl"/purple.
On the third evening, we got into New Orleans ~ the only 'scheduled' stop on our blast back to the East coast and the bargaining chip I used to convince my g/f to join me on the road. By then, the car was looking kinda disheveled:
But still cool:
We stayed in New Orleans a few hours longer than planned to let a tornado warning blow over. Then we continued on through MS, AL, TN, and VA.
Parked it next to my Legend, nearly 3000 miles later. What a drive!
Over the weekend, I cleaned up the car and had the battery replaced. I went out this morning and took a few more pics:
And that's it for now! Special thanks to the seller(s) who were honest and up-front as much as they could be during the whole deal. Also a big thank you to LostBuckeye (Ed) for giving me some NSX-buying advice and taking the time to look over another candidate NSX, a thank you to 4cruizn (Tyson) for checking up on me throughout the trip, as well as a thank you to the handful of Primers who kept an eye out for NSXs for me.
I look forward to being a part of this community and taking care of 'Inarra,' my new-to-me 1995 NSX :biggrin:
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