Wrecked Exotic: 1994 Acura NSX
The Acura NSX is one of the more sought-after sports cars of the 90s, offering the rare combination of Honda-like reliability with the exotica factor that keeps limited-production cars like this creeping towards six-figures with ease. The NSX shown here represents a rare opportunity to get into a project for far less than the cost of a pristine example, and the bodywork needs look pretty straightforward. Find it here on eBay with bids to $35,000 and no reserve.
A few months ago, a story started circulating on social media that showed a severely waterlogged NSX sitting at a salvage yard. It had literally been drug out of the lagoon after being dumped as a stolen vehicle years earlier. The winning bidder paid $8,500 for that car, which will need significant structural work in addition to the complete rebuild of all electrical and drivetrain-related components. The seller isn’t wrong that his car, with what looks like a hard bump on the passenger side rear quarter, will bring quite a bit more.
Mileage is a hair below 130,000, which is high for most supercars but not a big deal for an NSX (provided its belt services have been done.) The interior is in decent shape for a car that clearly hasn’t seen any real pampering in years, with leather buckets that don’t show nearly as much evidence of soiling as I would have expected. The butterscotch leather pairs nicely with the original exterior color of black, which is hidden beneath the blue wrap the NSX currently wears.
The seller claims he has five NSXs and doesn’t have time to fix this one up. Anytime you get in deep enough with a particular make or model, they tend to start following you home with other enthusiasts and owners tipping you off that a certain vehicle is coming up for grabs or is churning through the wholesale market. This NSX will need a thorough mechanical refresh in addition to the bodywork needs, so the purchase price of $35K or more is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Comments
Back in the day was an ongoing cartoon series about 2 HS kids. One of those showed them sitting at the drive in talking about he cars they’d just bought.
One kid said “it’s a ‘56 Bel Air with a new big block, headers, 3 deuces and a 4spd stick! What’d you get?”
The other said “it’s a ‘55 Fairlane with a cracked small block, Stock exhaust, 4 barrel, and a 3 spd.”
The first said “why’d you buy that? It’s gonna need a bunch of work!”
The second one said “yeah but it was cheap!”
I believe Tyler Hoover may or may not have been inspired by the other kid. Just my observation.
Yes mighty rough!! No steering wheel.
We do have the steering wheel and other parts for it. It’s a break away steering wheel. We bought almost all the parts to fix it. Just don’t have the time.
Body wrap + drifting the car sideways into a pole = a younger owner who beat the sh** out of this car. I’ll bet the side body damage is the least of the worries..
We do have the steering wheel and other parts for it. It’s a break away steering wheel. We bought almost all the parts to fix it. Just don’t have the time. The car was in pristine condition prior to an idiot friend wrecking it. We have 4 others at home as well. One of which is a targa.
The car still runs and starts. Ran wonderfully prior to the idiot friend taking a corner to fast. He just curb checked both tires on the passenger side and went down an embankment and hit a pole. He’s no longer a friend. I’ll send more pics or videos if anyone wants to see them.
this comment is totally uncalled for…
Trade around like a baseball card, driven hard, whipped like a cur, then put away drenched. But hey! A lot of supercars have Toyota Corolla milage on them.
Well they are extremely rare so you take what you get; no reason for the condescendence.
Dreadfully sorry to have offended your purchase.
Almost 9000 made? Extremely rare? Not at all.
I had a 1997 NSX-T White on Camel interior. Beautiful, fun car. Wish I had never sold it.
It would appear this NSX has been used like the proverbial “rented mule”. You should probably jack up the VIN tag and slide an Acura under it
They have five NSX’s – aka any good bits have been taken and replaced by the crap from the other four…Ridden hard and put away wet, and bent
I bought one of these, running and driving, a red one, back in 04 for my son, for $2,750! Oh yeah!
Mesa, Az. Great, excellent car!
My son sold it a couple of years later for $6,000, and boy he was happy. That money allowed him to buy his first house back then…
Seriously or April fools day? At $2750 you got a fantastic deal and at $6000 someone else got a fantastic deal. I have never seen a running NSX sell for that little. Not even in 2004?
Yeah, for sure. I don’t think these were ever selling for less than $30k
In my humble opinion, price is way too high for this car and its milage/condition. Again, only my thoughts, may want to significantly lower asking price.
Really?? There is no asking price, unless you consider the opening bid as an asking price. It is an auction. The potential buyers are setting the price with their bids. And since there are 13 bids (as I write this) so there are at least a few people who do feel that this is what it is worth.
For the record I have no involvement with this car. I am not the seller. I do not know the seller. I am not a bidder.
I was very lucky to be invited in early 1991 to a USA introduction of the NSX held at the Pomona, CA drag strip grounds. We drove the new NSX (an automatic version) hosted by INDY 500 drivers, Dominic Dobson and Roberto Guerrero (a third driver who I can’t recall). It was a lot of fun; we competed in an autocross that had been set up for FTD. A memorable experience!
$38,100 and 4 days remaining.
traded 1 fora 928 back in the day. Today that would B a finical loss, still 1 for beauty, the mechanics and my own desirability.
Nice write up Jeff, but the past tense of “drag” is “dragged”, not “drug”… to say that’s “dialect”, is being kind.
Didn’t these things eat very expensive tired every 6,000 miles?