If you love your car, you may find it hard to let it go to certain buyers. You might try to make sure your ride has the greatest chance of going to someone who will love it, not dishonest flippers or wannabe WhistlinDiesel types. Life doesn’t always work that way, but it’s great when it does.
Last week, Steve Balistreri wrote about how he bought a high-mileage Acura NSX right before it exploded in value. He doesn’t own the car anymore, but there’s good news, from Michael Tung:
Hi Steve,
So you might appreciate this, but I own this same car now. I bought it from our mutual painter friend.
I was living in Ann Arbor at the time and had been on the NSX hunt for a while. He posted it on Facebook to raise funds for a business opportunity and I showed up the same day. This was I think 2019, right before the 30th anniversary of the NSX unveiling.
You know when you’ve lived with a car so long they feel like part of the family? For me that’s this car. Today it’s got around 193k miles, it’s my daily and I use it quite often. It got me through covid driving from Michigan to Knoxville monthly during lockdown to see my wife. I was able to sneak in a couple visits to the Tale of the Dragon and surrounding hidden gems, and I’d agree the experience is sublime. We moved West in 2021 and it came with us on our move out to California. It drove my wife to the hospital to give birth to our first child. We’ve gone to 5 track days (Laguna/Streets of Willow/Chuckwalla). It gets to stretch its legs on the magnificent backroads of Southern California (Angeles Crest, Malibu, Ortega Hwy, GMR). I even took it to a drift day!
This was a great read, learning a little more of the origin story of the car. It was like learning more about where your parents grew up. It’s still got the painted interior trim you did, the typeR shift knob and the same silicone sealed tail lights.
Some things have changed however. After a couple years it was time to add my own style to it. Installed KW v3 to lower the ride height and sharpen an already sharp weapon. Went through 4 different sets of wheels until I landed on NS01/TE37 double staggered in white. Now it’s got some carbon accent bits. Lip, skirts, Marga hills gt wing. In the end it’s become a physical manifestation of my ideal car styling. I smile every time I see it.
Like you, it’s the most exotic thing I’ve ever owned and likely ever will. It gives joy to random passersby and myself alike. Now I’ve created so many memories with the car, with my family, with friends. It’s truly a special machine. I’m glad you were lucky enough to experience it and I’m thankful I’m lucky enough too.
Cheers!
-MichaelAlso another cool fact about this car. I was working at GM performance cars while in Michigan. The B-line intake you installed sounded so good we used it as a C8 Z06 intake noise benchmark.
What a heartwarming tale! For a second nomination for today, we have a great one from David’s weekend post about procrastinating so long he gave up $1,000 in free money. From AlterId:
As someone diagnosed with both depression and ADHD, I know the dangers of procrastination and absentmindedness very well and have often had to drive on to a state of acceptance myself. But I have found that one thing to help in these situations and in many others is outright fraud. Yes, it’s extra work that you may not want to do, but with a little planning to pull it off well and a complete lack of any ethical sense, it can be not just compensatory but fun and profitable in its own right.
…That’s an interesting sense of humor, there! And one last one from Anoos:
Why is David writing about headlights and Torch writing about Jeeps?
Have a great evening, everyone!
With a name like Mike Tung, it has to be good! Hey Twangers! -Lambo
How cool is that? Knowing your very own and specific car had such an effect. Semi-relatedly, I have a 1954 Panhard Dyna Z. The first year and half of production, ’54-’55, featured all aluminium construction. In the 80s the engineers at Honda working on the development of the aluminium construction of the Acura NSX acquired a small number of such all-aluminium Dyna Zs to study (it’s unlikely that my Dyna Z was one of those though the previous owner I bought it from did not know much about its past beyond having purchased it as part of a small collection of vintage European cars from a family in Michigan but I like to think such a possibility is greater than zero, ha.) The Dyna Z was noted for its roadhandling and even power (42 hp from an air-cooled 851cc flat *two* with tuned versions in the Tigre variants producing as much as 50 to 60 hp; for comparison the contemporary VW Beetle with its air-cooled 1,192cc flat *four* produced all of 36 hp) and was successful in many racing endeavors including the Monte Carlo rallies so it’s not so surprising that the NSX engineers would be interested in studying the Dyna Z; plus it’s possible that since those cars were some 30 years old at that point the engineers were perhaps also interested in noting the effects of age (as well as wear and tear) on automotive aluminium construction.
While the aluminium construction of the Audi TT was nowhere near as extensive as the Acura NSX the engineers working on the TT’s development in the 90s also studied some early Dyna Zs though I do not think they actually purchased any outright like the NSX engineers did.
OMG that is an awesome response I missed on the original post. AMAZING!
What a heartwarming NSX tale, Michael! I love cars that grow with you, as a metal member of the family. The mods and personal touches also just help it feel so much more familiar and like it’s yours.
But, on the topic of mods…. I have a suggestion for one for you.
Somehow your posts are always the perfect ratio of interesting and entertaining.