The intention of this thread is to document what I’m able to learn about 1998 ACURA NSX JH4NA2131WT000070 and return it to the state in which it was released into the wild, by mother Honda. Although, the mod-addiction is strong within me and there will be a few very minor reversible mods. This car has been thought for many years to be the Zanardi Edition prototype and is listed in the wiki, as such. Whether this info is accurate or not has yet to be determined with any concrete evidence. If you happen have any information regarding this car or know a guy whose brother’s cousin knows a guy, I’d appreciate your help and please feel free to contribute to this tread or PM me. There have been several generous people thus far that have helped me gather the info that I have and I greatly appreciate their assistance. It’s wonderful to be a part of such a generous community.
So, off we go. I’ve done my best to try and organize what I have.
The story of this particular car has always intrigued me when reading about it on NSXPRIME and when it was listed for sale, over a year and a half ago, I contacted Major Stoner with some questions. However, I wasn’t in a position to purchase the car and couldn’t persuade my father to purchase it. Although, I did try which I reserve for very few cars.
This is the listing in the NSXPRIME classifieds
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...X-Red-Blk-Zanardi-Prototype-w-Procar-02-NSX-R
Time passed and last year I decided to sell my supercharged 02 conversion
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/153568-McDork-s-Silver-NSX-R-inspired
Although, I poured my heart and soul into building it, I was at a point in my life where I thought I better do the Fcar while still young and dumb enough to enjoy it. Although, I’m sure I’m not running low on the dumb, closing in on 40 this year is freaking me out a little. To my surprise it sold faster than I thought and I immediately started the hunt for the Fcar. In fact, I had a friend dispatched to look at a 360 Spider when for whatever reason I felt like I had some unfinished business with Major Stoner’s car, having never seen the classified post closed. So, a year and a half after our last communication, I decided to send him an email. To my surprise he replied and the car was still available. We quickly came to an agreement and I made plans to head east and pick it up. Major Stoner was an incredibly nice guy whom was obviously engrossed in everything NSX for many years and it was my privilege to purchase the car from him. It’s not that easy to escape the NSX vortex and I guess you can add me to the multiple NSX owners list. Anyhow, here is what I know so far.
OWNERSHIP DATA
The first and only titled owner, prior to me, was Major Stoner of NSXPRIME. He purchased the car at Paragon Acura NY, in 2000. The car report shows that it was “Listed as a manufacturer vehicle sold at auction” meaning that Honda sent it to auction after it was in their possession for two years.
THE STORY “Zanardi Prototype” ?????
http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Rare_NSXs
I put together some of the quotes from Major Stoner regarding the car that I have compiled from the classified add on nsxprime.com and various posts over the years:
VIN DATA
What I have learned thus far is the car has a full Zanardi Interior including the seats, matching door panels, red stitched steering wheel and e-brake, shift knob, titanium console and surrounds, and all of the mats. In addition it has all of the exterior bits including the wheels, door badges, and mesh side vent screens. However, it does not have the Zanardi Edition suspension components, single pane firewall glass, or lightened rear wing, and most obvious the Zanardi Edition plaque and it has power steering. Essentially, it is a 1998 coupe with every single Zanardi edition cosmetic component.
The car is listed in the Honda database as being Red / Tan and the door jamb stickers do indicate this, as well. The color code sticker is R-77 (Formula Red) and it has Interior Type 7 (Tan).
The only quasi compelling piece of evidence that I have been able to find to prove what Major Stoner has said all along came from the following Honda press release photos of the Zanardi Edition NSX I found here:http://www.boldride.com/ride/1999/acura-nsx-alex-zanardi-edition
This picture in particular
After enlarging this photo it’s clear that the color code label on this car is R-77. All of the Zanardi Edition NSXs are said to be color code R-510 (New Formula Red).
After sending this to Ben he advised me to take a closer look at the VIN sticker. To say I don’t have the best eyesight is an understatement and I had a few friends see what they could do to pull the VIN from the image. I was told that there wasn’t much pixel data to go from, but I think that it’s pretty conclusive that this is my car. .
Based on the information on decoding NSX VINs I definitely think this my car and most certainly it is not a 1999 Zanardi Edition VIN.
http://www.nsxprime.com/nsx-faq/nsx-vin-information/
The 7th digit can only be a 1 or a 2
1 is manual transmission which we can see in the picture.
2 is automatic.
The 8th digit can only be the following and if the W in digit 10 is correct (meaning the car pictured is a 1998) only a 3 would be valid.
2 = 1999 Zanardi Edition NSX coupe with manual steering
3 = 1997-2001 NSX coupe with power steering
5 = 1991-1994 NSX coupe with manual steering
6 = 1991-1994 NSX coupe with power steering or 1996 NSX Coupe with power steering or 1997-2005 NSX-T with power steering
8 = 1995-1996 NSX-T with power steering
Digit 9 is a check digit and I don't know how these come about, but it's like a parity bit to make sure the vin is valid
Digit 10 is the model year.
M = 1991
N = 1992
P = 1993
R = 1994
S = 1995
T = 1996
V = 1997
W = 1998
X = 1999
Y = 2000
1-5 = 2001-2005
Digits 12-17 are the sequential 6-digit serial number.
THE WHEELS
I wasn’t sure exactly what this was all about and decided to see if I could track it down. To my surprise if you look at the majority of the exterior Honda press release photos you can see the “ACURA” center caps. Also, there is a picture of the Zanardi edition at one of the auto-shows and you can see the center caps plain as day.
Oh and this one too!
The production Zanardi Edition center caps are the black A logo. With more of the helpful advice of Ben, I looked at the back of the center caps and there is no part number. The only marking is HONDA.
My wheels
I think it’s safe to say that Ben feels that these could be pre-production center caps, as they wouldn’t be something that could have been shared with a Type-S and it’s unusual that they do not have a part number.
Coincidentally, the online parts breakdown for a Zanardi Edition wheel doesn’t show the A logo.
Anyhow, that is about the extent of my fact finding mission thus far. Next up some pictures of the car.
- - - Updated - - -
Here are some of the pictures Major Stoner sent me. He started to modify the car very soon after he purchased it.
I believe this is the first iteration:
Then he hit a snowbank and decided to go for an the 02 NSX-R cosmetic conversion with loads of carbon fiber.
So, off we go. I’ve done my best to try and organize what I have.
The story of this particular car has always intrigued me when reading about it on NSXPRIME and when it was listed for sale, over a year and a half ago, I contacted Major Stoner with some questions. However, I wasn’t in a position to purchase the car and couldn’t persuade my father to purchase it. Although, I did try which I reserve for very few cars.
This is the listing in the NSXPRIME classifieds
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...X-Red-Blk-Zanardi-Prototype-w-Procar-02-NSX-R
Time passed and last year I decided to sell my supercharged 02 conversion
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/153568-McDork-s-Silver-NSX-R-inspired
Although, I poured my heart and soul into building it, I was at a point in my life where I thought I better do the Fcar while still young and dumb enough to enjoy it. Although, I’m sure I’m not running low on the dumb, closing in on 40 this year is freaking me out a little. To my surprise it sold faster than I thought and I immediately started the hunt for the Fcar. In fact, I had a friend dispatched to look at a 360 Spider when for whatever reason I felt like I had some unfinished business with Major Stoner’s car, having never seen the classified post closed. So, a year and a half after our last communication, I decided to send him an email. To my surprise he replied and the car was still available. We quickly came to an agreement and I made plans to head east and pick it up. Major Stoner was an incredibly nice guy whom was obviously engrossed in everything NSX for many years and it was my privilege to purchase the car from him. It’s not that easy to escape the NSX vortex and I guess you can add me to the multiple NSX owners list. Anyhow, here is what I know so far.
OWNERSHIP DATA
The first and only titled owner, prior to me, was Major Stoner of NSXPRIME. He purchased the car at Paragon Acura NY, in 2000. The car report shows that it was “Listed as a manufacturer vehicle sold at auction” meaning that Honda sent it to auction after it was in their possession for two years.
THE STORY “Zanardi Prototype” ?????
http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Rare_NSXs
I put together some of the quotes from Major Stoner regarding the car that I have compiled from the classified add on nsxprime.com and various posts over the years:
VIN DATA
What I have learned thus far is the car has a full Zanardi Interior including the seats, matching door panels, red stitched steering wheel and e-brake, shift knob, titanium console and surrounds, and all of the mats. In addition it has all of the exterior bits including the wheels, door badges, and mesh side vent screens. However, it does not have the Zanardi Edition suspension components, single pane firewall glass, or lightened rear wing, and most obvious the Zanardi Edition plaque and it has power steering. Essentially, it is a 1998 coupe with every single Zanardi edition cosmetic component.
The car is listed in the Honda database as being Red / Tan and the door jamb stickers do indicate this, as well. The color code sticker is R-77 (Formula Red) and it has Interior Type 7 (Tan).
The only quasi compelling piece of evidence that I have been able to find to prove what Major Stoner has said all along came from the following Honda press release photos of the Zanardi Edition NSX I found here:http://www.boldride.com/ride/1999/acura-nsx-alex-zanardi-edition
This picture in particular
After enlarging this photo it’s clear that the color code label on this car is R-77. All of the Zanardi Edition NSXs are said to be color code R-510 (New Formula Red).
After sending this to Ben he advised me to take a closer look at the VIN sticker. To say I don’t have the best eyesight is an understatement and I had a few friends see what they could do to pull the VIN from the image. I was told that there wasn’t much pixel data to go from, but I think that it’s pretty conclusive that this is my car. .
Based on the information on decoding NSX VINs I definitely think this my car and most certainly it is not a 1999 Zanardi Edition VIN.
http://www.nsxprime.com/nsx-faq/nsx-vin-information/
The 7th digit can only be a 1 or a 2
1 is manual transmission which we can see in the picture.
2 is automatic.
The 8th digit can only be the following and if the W in digit 10 is correct (meaning the car pictured is a 1998) only a 3 would be valid.
2 = 1999 Zanardi Edition NSX coupe with manual steering
3 = 1997-2001 NSX coupe with power steering
5 = 1991-1994 NSX coupe with manual steering
6 = 1991-1994 NSX coupe with power steering or 1996 NSX Coupe with power steering or 1997-2005 NSX-T with power steering
8 = 1995-1996 NSX-T with power steering
Digit 9 is a check digit and I don't know how these come about, but it's like a parity bit to make sure the vin is valid
Digit 10 is the model year.
M = 1991
N = 1992
P = 1993
R = 1994
S = 1995
T = 1996
V = 1997
W = 1998
X = 1999
Y = 2000
1-5 = 2001-2005
Digits 12-17 are the sequential 6-digit serial number.
THE WHEELS
I wasn’t sure exactly what this was all about and decided to see if I could track it down. To my surprise if you look at the majority of the exterior Honda press release photos you can see the “ACURA” center caps. Also, there is a picture of the Zanardi edition at one of the auto-shows and you can see the center caps plain as day.
Oh and this one too!
The production Zanardi Edition center caps are the black A logo. With more of the helpful advice of Ben, I looked at the back of the center caps and there is no part number. The only marking is HONDA.
My wheels
I think it’s safe to say that Ben feels that these could be pre-production center caps, as they wouldn’t be something that could have been shared with a Type-S and it’s unusual that they do not have a part number.
Coincidentally, the online parts breakdown for a Zanardi Edition wheel doesn’t show the A logo.
Anyhow, that is about the extent of my fact finding mission thus far. Next up some pictures of the car.
- - - Updated - - -
Here are some of the pictures Major Stoner sent me. He started to modify the car very soon after he purchased it.
I believe this is the first iteration:
Then he hit a snowbank and decided to go for an the 02 NSX-R cosmetic conversion with loads of carbon fiber.
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