So, I have been scraping and saving and working like no other human on this planet to finally be able to purchase my dream car. I mean, I didn't take any days off of work for 8 months! Not 1! (I drive a truck and was picking up parts from across the U.S. as I drove and that way I could save on shipping)
Here's how it all started. Saw my first NSX in 1991. Pursured a very sad but well acknowledged music career. Got involved with a girl who had a habbit. Lost everything I owned on this planet in just under a year. Went back to work. Invested everything I had earned into a bar. Lost it all. Decided that all I wanted still was my NSX. Went to truck driving school. Got hired on at a big company. Was able to save money over the last year + and borrowed a little from the bank to finish paying off the NSX I had chosen.
I chose to purchase a rebuildable titled car that had been repaired as a friend of mine owns a very respectable restoration shop and I have a better than average knowledge of car and thier workings. Deciding I could have fun doing a complete teardown and rebuild of the car I've always wanted and along the way adding and improving on the car to enhance what I percieved as the perfect automobile.
This is what I did. I found a person who had an NSX for sale. Salvaged/rebuild title. Car has been up and running since it was hit for over 8 years and had some minor mods to the motor. The owner let me make payments on the car, ultimately reducing the final cost of the car when I finally came to pick it up. (we did a 6 month time frame) Anyhow, final price on the car with my plane ticket to NY to get the car was $18,026.00.
The owner drove over to JFK and picked me up personally in the car. I knew what I was getting. It was a car that had been rode hard, put away wet, and never taken care of. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. I mean to the "T"! interior needed work, body needed lots of work, but... it ran and drove like a roller coaster! On rails!
After we finished the bill of sale, and the passing of the cash, I grabbed the keys, got in my new toy, and set the GPS for a trip from Queens, NY to D.C. to park the car so I could go back to KS and get my truck and trailer so I wouldn't have to drive the car and rack up the miles. ('91, 76,xxx miles)
Well, this was yesterday (7/21/08) at 10:30 EDT.
My journey leaving Queens was a miriad of bumpy winding roads that didn't leave much room for the car to show me why I had purchased her (lowered). Pot holes so deep I was bottoming out every 20 feet. Then finally! I was on 95 south in NJ heading for the turnpike! Smooth road just miles ahead! Hit the ticket booth, put the hammer down and hit that redline! Yeah baby! Oh yeah! I had got it out of my system! After 17 years of waiting for my toy, I had lived it! Then, tragedy struck.
I had been crusing along now on 95 for about 10 miles just below the speed limit (48-49 mph in a 50, traffic was a little thick) and I pulled over into lane #3 on 95 southbound, NJ turnpike, when I came over the crest of a hill and realized I'm boxed in by semi's and a guy riding in my blindspot. I looked in my drivers side mirror and noticed that I had room to move over to lane #4 when I looked up and forward to see what I assumed was my emminent death. There were 4 trucks in front of me, all assuming a lane of their own, and 2 trucks staggered to my right blocking my exit. Appearantly, one of the semi's in front of the wall of trucks had a tire come apart and it took along with it the pile of snow chains attached on the side of the trailer. This, is not good. The 2 trucks in the center held thier position and hit the tire and chain debris with all 32 wheels, sending huge chunks of rubber and chain airborn into the sides of the outter 2 trucks and leaving me the decision of this: go left into the divider (no shoulder on 95 S. NJ turnpike, make note) go to my right and get crushed by a semi or 2 riding in the 2 slow lanes, or swerve a little to the left, put on the brakes and have the idiot riding in my blind spot hit me and shoot me into the 2 semi's in the slow lane and possibly some other cars behind me... or... let this chunk of tire take me out. Well, here's what I did..
I pushed the brakes down, hoping for the best from the rear. Saw my speed get down to about 35-40 and let off the brakes noticing a car approaching with a lead foot behind me. Swerved as much as I could to my left without putting the Nissan Maxima into the divider, and proceeded to let a super single tire tread try to molest the front of my car with the brutallity of a Angus Bull. I was now down to about 35 but the super single tire is a semi tire, it's just twice the normal size... how do I know? I use them on my truck and the DOT collected the one I hit for me as well for a present. (hopefully in an evidence locker in NJ) Well, it folded the front end of the car under, wrapping everything up in the front wheels and then spit it all over the sides and under carriage of the car. Luckily, I didn't pop a tire and was able to force her over onto the shoulder where I could get a look at what just ended the smile on my face... it's bad. Anything that wasn't heavy gauge aluminum is pretty much destroyed on the front end. Tire and aluminum pieces made it several rotations around the wheels and ripped apart the fenders and wells, A/C cooler was on the ground, etc. Like I said, it's pretty bad. :frown: Lowered aluminum car = not a demo derby canidate.
So, long story short... car is still in NJ at a body shop getting a very good, fine toothed comb, estimate. My insurance didn't have an adjuster in NJ in that zip code so they are working off of the body shops estimate for now to see if it's going to be a total loss or if it's repairable.
Had the car in my possession for about 30 minutes. And what an incredible 30 minutes they were! I will be getting this one fixed and then back home to do what I had originally intended or they are going to total it out and I'll be looking for a new/used one. (don't get any ideas if they total it, I'll be buying it back from them, I know what they're worth)
So, that's it. It's quite a long read... quite a sad story. Just thought I'd share my story. Of course, the important thing is that I'm ok and can live to share this story with my fellow NSX owners and what is quickly becoming a nice group of friends and fellow enthusiast in my life.
Have a better day then me! :smile:
Here's how it all started. Saw my first NSX in 1991. Pursured a very sad but well acknowledged music career. Got involved with a girl who had a habbit. Lost everything I owned on this planet in just under a year. Went back to work. Invested everything I had earned into a bar. Lost it all. Decided that all I wanted still was my NSX. Went to truck driving school. Got hired on at a big company. Was able to save money over the last year + and borrowed a little from the bank to finish paying off the NSX I had chosen.
I chose to purchase a rebuildable titled car that had been repaired as a friend of mine owns a very respectable restoration shop and I have a better than average knowledge of car and thier workings. Deciding I could have fun doing a complete teardown and rebuild of the car I've always wanted and along the way adding and improving on the car to enhance what I percieved as the perfect automobile.
This is what I did. I found a person who had an NSX for sale. Salvaged/rebuild title. Car has been up and running since it was hit for over 8 years and had some minor mods to the motor. The owner let me make payments on the car, ultimately reducing the final cost of the car when I finally came to pick it up. (we did a 6 month time frame) Anyhow, final price on the car with my plane ticket to NY to get the car was $18,026.00.
The owner drove over to JFK and picked me up personally in the car. I knew what I was getting. It was a car that had been rode hard, put away wet, and never taken care of. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. I mean to the "T"! interior needed work, body needed lots of work, but... it ran and drove like a roller coaster! On rails!
After we finished the bill of sale, and the passing of the cash, I grabbed the keys, got in my new toy, and set the GPS for a trip from Queens, NY to D.C. to park the car so I could go back to KS and get my truck and trailer so I wouldn't have to drive the car and rack up the miles. ('91, 76,xxx miles)
Well, this was yesterday (7/21/08) at 10:30 EDT.
My journey leaving Queens was a miriad of bumpy winding roads that didn't leave much room for the car to show me why I had purchased her (lowered). Pot holes so deep I was bottoming out every 20 feet. Then finally! I was on 95 south in NJ heading for the turnpike! Smooth road just miles ahead! Hit the ticket booth, put the hammer down and hit that redline! Yeah baby! Oh yeah! I had got it out of my system! After 17 years of waiting for my toy, I had lived it! Then, tragedy struck.
I had been crusing along now on 95 for about 10 miles just below the speed limit (48-49 mph in a 50, traffic was a little thick) and I pulled over into lane #3 on 95 southbound, NJ turnpike, when I came over the crest of a hill and realized I'm boxed in by semi's and a guy riding in my blindspot. I looked in my drivers side mirror and noticed that I had room to move over to lane #4 when I looked up and forward to see what I assumed was my emminent death. There were 4 trucks in front of me, all assuming a lane of their own, and 2 trucks staggered to my right blocking my exit. Appearantly, one of the semi's in front of the wall of trucks had a tire come apart and it took along with it the pile of snow chains attached on the side of the trailer. This, is not good. The 2 trucks in the center held thier position and hit the tire and chain debris with all 32 wheels, sending huge chunks of rubber and chain airborn into the sides of the outter 2 trucks and leaving me the decision of this: go left into the divider (no shoulder on 95 S. NJ turnpike, make note) go to my right and get crushed by a semi or 2 riding in the 2 slow lanes, or swerve a little to the left, put on the brakes and have the idiot riding in my blind spot hit me and shoot me into the 2 semi's in the slow lane and possibly some other cars behind me... or... let this chunk of tire take me out. Well, here's what I did..
I pushed the brakes down, hoping for the best from the rear. Saw my speed get down to about 35-40 and let off the brakes noticing a car approaching with a lead foot behind me. Swerved as much as I could to my left without putting the Nissan Maxima into the divider, and proceeded to let a super single tire tread try to molest the front of my car with the brutallity of a Angus Bull. I was now down to about 35 but the super single tire is a semi tire, it's just twice the normal size... how do I know? I use them on my truck and the DOT collected the one I hit for me as well for a present. (hopefully in an evidence locker in NJ) Well, it folded the front end of the car under, wrapping everything up in the front wheels and then spit it all over the sides and under carriage of the car. Luckily, I didn't pop a tire and was able to force her over onto the shoulder where I could get a look at what just ended the smile on my face... it's bad. Anything that wasn't heavy gauge aluminum is pretty much destroyed on the front end. Tire and aluminum pieces made it several rotations around the wheels and ripped apart the fenders and wells, A/C cooler was on the ground, etc. Like I said, it's pretty bad. :frown: Lowered aluminum car = not a demo derby canidate.
So, long story short... car is still in NJ at a body shop getting a very good, fine toothed comb, estimate. My insurance didn't have an adjuster in NJ in that zip code so they are working off of the body shops estimate for now to see if it's going to be a total loss or if it's repairable.
Had the car in my possession for about 30 minutes. And what an incredible 30 minutes they were! I will be getting this one fixed and then back home to do what I had originally intended or they are going to total it out and I'll be looking for a new/used one. (don't get any ideas if they total it, I'll be buying it back from them, I know what they're worth)
So, that's it. It's quite a long read... quite a sad story. Just thought I'd share my story. Of course, the important thing is that I'm ok and can live to share this story with my fellow NSX owners and what is quickly becoming a nice group of friends and fellow enthusiast in my life.
Have a better day then me! :smile:
Hope she's back up and running again soon.
