If you often find yourself browsing Bring A Trailer, every so often you come across a result that almost makes you jump out of your skin. This is one of those times. Our subject today is a 2001 Acura Integra Type R, and when the virtual hammer dropped on Friday, it crossed the digital auction block for $204,204. No, that’s not a typo.
Six figures, starting with a two, all for a quick Acura. That’s starter house money in many parts of North America, or at least the sort of cash to get you into a condo. That’s supercar money, powerboat money, pay off your student loans money, the sort of money that can buy an air-cooled Porsche so impressive that the president of your local PCA chapter will bow in your presence.
The Acura Integra Type R is already an inherently special car. Sure, 195 horsepower isn’t a whole lot by modern standards, but neither is 2,639 pounds. We’re looking at one of the most iconic sport compact coupes of the ’90s on a factory diet of trenbolone and taurine, a muscled-up, sharpened-up spear showing just what Honda—and indeed Japan—was capable of.
At the heart of this machine sits a hand-built B18C inline-four displacing just 1.8 liters, but it got a larger throttle body, a free-flowing exhaust system, polished intake and exhaust ports, lighter intake valves, beefier cams, high-compression pistons with molybdenum-coated skirts, balanced forged connecting rods, and a micro-polished forged crankshaft that work in harmony to 8,500 RPM in U.S.-spec examples. From there, a close-ratio five-speed manual transaxle with a helical limited-slip differential converted that power into forward motion, and the whole assembly sat inside a strengthened chassis adorned with lighter glass and less sound insulation. Heavily revised suspension, five-lug hubs, and beefier brakes completed the package, and the result wasn’t just an Acura with a higher specific output than a Ferrari F355, it was one of the all-time great Japanese cars.
This particular Integra Type R is one of 1,173 examples sold in America for the 2001 model year, but it’s in the desirable hue of Phoenix Yellow, and it’s covered just 4,800 miles under the watch of two registered owners. The second owner? The renowned RealTime Collection Hall, as in RealTime Racing, Peter Cunningham’s pro team that found huge success in SCCA World Challenge Touring Car racing with the Integra Type R, among other Honda models. Given the mileage, it shouldn’t be surprising that the underbody is almost clean enough to be surgical, with everything from the transaxle case to the wheel arch liners to the floors in astonishing condition. These cars weren’t exactly dirt-cheap when they were new, but they were inexpensive enough that few pristine examples survive, so this is a bit of a case of “find another.” Still, $204,000?
I’ve driven an Integra Type R and it’s a brilliant, effervescent little thing with the agility of a mosquito and the fizz of prosecco. It technically can go slow and be an economical three-door runabout but it doesn’t want to. It goads you into cracking VTEC and riding the dopamine hit to redline, relishes a bit of lift-off action, and turns in with proper tenacity. It’s a more memorable experience than loads of more powerful cars, and one that’s proof of why these cars deserve a strong following.
Is it a $204,000 experience, though? As overwhelmingly potent yet well-rounded as a 993 Turbo, as rarified as the nicest of gated 550 Maranellos, as starship warp-drive as a McLaren 720S, as much of a style icon as a split-window 1963 Corvette? To most people, probably not. After all, you can still get a really nice—if not absolutely perfect—Phoenix Yellow Integra Type R for less than $50,000, and a four-time multiple to own one of the nicest examples on the planet seems a tad excessive.
Then again, perhaps it’s only excessive if nobody wants to pay for it. This isn’t just a case of one wild out-of-the-blue bid, as it was a three-horse race well beyond $175,000. There’s actually a six-figure market for pristine ultra-low-mileage Integra Type Rs, and this new record likely means we’ve crossed into a new frontier. Oh, and if you ever knew someone who said that Japanese cars will never be collectable, don’t you just wonder how they feel now?
(Top graphic image: Bring A Trailer)
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Wow, this is completely absurd…
do you know how many shitboxes I could buy w/ that?!
i’m going to guess that some car related “business” bought it for the owner’s collection.
That much money would almost pay off my mortgage. At the very least it would let me refinance for a significantly lower monthly payment, to finish paying off the rest which would free up a massive amount of money for other interests.
Shoot… 204k gets me my dream 5-car garage!
1969.5 A12 440-6 4 speed Dodge Coronet Superbee: 90k
1981 Toyota Trekker: 30k
1967 Austin Countryman woodie: 20k
1966 Amphicar 770: 60k
1994 Mazda Miata: Already owned, bought for 5K before they got expensive
The foibles of the wealthy are charming diversion in these troubled times. Perhaps the buyer is just celebrating his tax breaks, and had no more room in the couch cushions. Tough times….
How fun, I remember seeing this when Peter brought it to a local car show last year. Never would have figured it to go for six digits though!
Sadly that $204k doesn’t buy much of a house, as many others have said. Even my little 1200sq. ft. ranch is worth quite a bit more than this these days.
Also, these cars are a riot but that price is absurd. I could buy 3 or 4 of my dream cars for that price.
Welcome to the money laundering segment of ‘collector’ car sales.
Also, this doesn’t buy a basement condo in a triple-decker around here.
Wouldn’t buy 1/3 of a condo around here
Last month I was dumbfounded while getting emissions done. The car in front of me was aPphoenix Yellow ITR, bone stock. Any Type R is rare enough, but bone stock? Chatted w/ the guy a little bit while they did his car and he was very happy w/ how it came from the factory. Smart man.
After he left I mentioned to the tech that car was worth at least $80k and you’d never know it. Turns out my assumption might have been wildly underrated.
I was very much into the sport compact import tuning scene in the early 2000s. I remember these coming out and being underwhelmed by them. They did the typical Honda, add little or no power, and give it some handling (Im fully prepared to be attacked for that statement), and they charged a lot more money for not much more performance.
To see one going for this much money is both surprising and not.
At the peak Type-R theft, an ITR had an annual chance of being stolen (and then likely distributed into 100 civics) of about 1 in 5.
These cars are scouted and cased. Had a childhood neighbor friend that owned multiple Type R’s (at different times). He lived at home in college and his parents were nice enough to let him garage it. Sure enough, the only times he left the car parked outside overnight they were stolen.
The last one was stripped to its frame within 3 hours. It’s all that was recovered, so he sold the frame on ebay to a guy rebuilding a Type R. Wouldn’t be surprised if the rebuilder bought many of the stolen parts unawares of origin!
There is a graph/scale upon which, what was a…
“Cool car”
…is priced absurd and transitions to:
“Are you fucking kidding me!?” [money]
At 200k, this damn near pegs the scale.
This is almost exactly what I paid for my house actually.
People who wanted these in high school now have FU money. That’s all this is. BAT just enables it. All the golden era Honda’s are up now for the same reason. Clean stock EG and EK hatches are $10-15k now.
That plus rapid attrition when they were new.
If lusting for the DOHC VTEC experience, there are plenty of S2000’s at more reasonable prices.
Twenty five years ago I bought the Civic Si instead of the Integra Type R. I got the Civic Si below MSRP vs the Acura dealer wanting a small premium. No regrets.