- Joined
- 2 May 2005
- Messages
- 249
(long) Story Time!!
This first photo here (http://imgur.com/3pLeuGl.jpg) is a photo I took way back in 2014 - little did I know that 2 years later (today), I would be signing my name on the title!
To give some background - this was when I had my 1991 Sebring Silver NSX, and I had just dropped it off to Jim Russell the NSX guru’s shop in Redwood City. As I walked out of his shop, this black beauty caught my eye - I stopped to admire it, snapped this shot, and went about my business. Fast forward about 10 months and I’ve put my silver NSX for sale - something I’d end up regretting quite a bit.
As some of you may know by now, I’ve been hunting for a stock NSX, not necessarily low-miled - but a well maintained one with all service records, inspected and approved by an NSX guru before purchasing. The red supercharged one in sacramento caught my eye - even though I didn’t care for the supercharger at first, *ALL* service records were immaculately presented, which made me think it might be a good idea to consider. This one: http://imgur.com/vyVDM1T.jpg
I went up there two weekends ago to test drive it myself. Fell in love with how it pulled and whined, and it rode exceptionally well. I figure it’s a done deal, but just to be safe, I requested Jim Russell’s services for an inspection, and he agreed to meet me up there in sacramento to do as thorough an inspection as he is able (what a guy!). I bribe him with money and promises of steak dinners.
Anyhow, Jim Russell is *incredibly* thorough. He found a myriad of issues from some work that was done at an audio/stereo shop - missing trim pieces, badly done stereo wiring pushed through a hacked firewall grommet letting water into the car, cracked door trim on the passenger side, holes drilled in the headlamp covers where a former HID kit used to sit, a binding/clicking passenger seat at the top of its adjustment travel, to name a few. They had the car listed for $75k, and I bargained them down to $66k and got them to give me an extra $5k on my trade, so I thought I was doing great. But after adding up all the fixes I was going to do after Jim’s discoveries, it was a pretty terrible deal for me. It was a real shame, because the performance work done on this car by Shad @ DA was *impeccably* done, and Jim Russell gave a big thumbs up on a well done, proper install for all the performance modifications. And it drove like a beast, Jim kept talking about how hard it pulled afterwards with a big smile on his face, haha. But I just couldn't get past the shoddy audio/stereo work (done at some weird outside audio shop, not DA). And of course, there was those ugly tweeter warts that the p/o installed by drilling through $2k/each door panels. I had already decided to pass on the car, when Jim mentioned this car only passed smog because sacramento county runs an “unenhanced” smog test - just a visual and sniffer - he was pretty sure that this car would fail the dyno sniffer in the “enhanced” smog tests of my area, and that’s *if* the tech skimps on the visual and doesn’t catch the non carb-legal fuel pressure regulator and oversized fuel injectors.
Anyways, later that night I give him a call to tell him thanks, and to schedule a steak dinner for his services. I mentioned to him I passed on the car, and he replies with a “yeah, I’m glad you didn’t buy that car. Want a stock black one? 1996 nsx-t? I’m not sure if he’ll sell or not, but I can ask.” I jump at the chance, of course.
Turns out, it’s the black one I saw in front of his shop 2 years ago. Jim reaches out to the owner to ask if he wants to sell, and is immediately answered with a “nope.” But Jim vouches for me, letting him know I’m not one of those kids who would put giant wings, goofy body kits, neon lights, spinning wheels,etc on the car. He hems and haws a bit and is reluctant. That’s when Jim mentions that I’m looking to sell my Carrera 4S (here: http://imgur.com/C2K1DYl.jpg), and owner lit up. He had been thinking about getting an AWD car to take to his numerous tahoe trips that is still “fun” and sporty, and has been curious about 911s for a while. Bonus is that the C4S is ready to accept a luggage/bike rack (he is an avid cyclist).
Jim completely vouches for this black NSX as one of the most pristine he’s ever seen, and seeing how OCD and thorough he was with the red NSX’es inspection, that meant a lot. His exact words were “This car is a *stud*. Needs nothing. Owner is completely anal, didn’t even drive it in the rain. I’m the only one who’s worked on the car since ’99 or ’00 and he never drives the thing.” I am sold.
So, the past Sunday night, Jim connected the two of us. I gave the owner a call, and we just hit it off. Chatted about what we were looking for, asked and answered questions about our respective cars. The next day, I drove over to his place in half moon bay and we inspected each others cars and test drove them. (his soon-to-be-mine NSX: http://imgur.com/PVEVJOe.jpg) He immediately scheduled an inspection on my C4S for wednesday morning, and with Jim Russell’s endorsement I was ready to buy the black NSX as-is without inspection. BTW, I had a glorious drive home on 84/skyiline back from HMB in the C4S, it was a pretty fantastic parting-ways drive that made me a bit emotional.
The C4S passed its PPI today with flying colors (dealer’s words were “one of the cleanest C4S’es we’ve seen in a while”), outside of finding a torn CV boot on the front left - which I subtracted from the cost of the car to cover for the new buyer. After a bunch of paperwork and cashiers checks, here we are! Mission Accomplished. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I am still stunned at how quickly and smoothly this all went down, and I feel the positive experience makes the car even more special - I didn’t just walk into a dealer and walk out with a car like I have in the past. I made a connection with another enthusiast, and worked with him to make a deal happen that we were both very happy about.
I swap cars often, but I will die with this car. Whether it’s a month from now or 30 years from now, I make no promises. But man, I’m afraid to drive it now as it is completely accident or even blemish free (the paint still looks like you can reach right through it), and pretty much pristine - it’s going to get harder and harder to find another NSX in this condition. Oh - and I took it away for $55k, a steal for an NSX of condition, imo!
Truly, “an eternal sportsmind for me.” Here she is at home in her new garage - sorry for pic quality, it was dark and rainy: http://imgur.com/boOLZle.jpg
This first photo here (http://imgur.com/3pLeuGl.jpg) is a photo I took way back in 2014 - little did I know that 2 years later (today), I would be signing my name on the title!
To give some background - this was when I had my 1991 Sebring Silver NSX, and I had just dropped it off to Jim Russell the NSX guru’s shop in Redwood City. As I walked out of his shop, this black beauty caught my eye - I stopped to admire it, snapped this shot, and went about my business. Fast forward about 10 months and I’ve put my silver NSX for sale - something I’d end up regretting quite a bit.
As some of you may know by now, I’ve been hunting for a stock NSX, not necessarily low-miled - but a well maintained one with all service records, inspected and approved by an NSX guru before purchasing. The red supercharged one in sacramento caught my eye - even though I didn’t care for the supercharger at first, *ALL* service records were immaculately presented, which made me think it might be a good idea to consider. This one: http://imgur.com/vyVDM1T.jpg
I went up there two weekends ago to test drive it myself. Fell in love with how it pulled and whined, and it rode exceptionally well. I figure it’s a done deal, but just to be safe, I requested Jim Russell’s services for an inspection, and he agreed to meet me up there in sacramento to do as thorough an inspection as he is able (what a guy!). I bribe him with money and promises of steak dinners.
Anyhow, Jim Russell is *incredibly* thorough. He found a myriad of issues from some work that was done at an audio/stereo shop - missing trim pieces, badly done stereo wiring pushed through a hacked firewall grommet letting water into the car, cracked door trim on the passenger side, holes drilled in the headlamp covers where a former HID kit used to sit, a binding/clicking passenger seat at the top of its adjustment travel, to name a few. They had the car listed for $75k, and I bargained them down to $66k and got them to give me an extra $5k on my trade, so I thought I was doing great. But after adding up all the fixes I was going to do after Jim’s discoveries, it was a pretty terrible deal for me. It was a real shame, because the performance work done on this car by Shad @ DA was *impeccably* done, and Jim Russell gave a big thumbs up on a well done, proper install for all the performance modifications. And it drove like a beast, Jim kept talking about how hard it pulled afterwards with a big smile on his face, haha. But I just couldn't get past the shoddy audio/stereo work (done at some weird outside audio shop, not DA). And of course, there was those ugly tweeter warts that the p/o installed by drilling through $2k/each door panels. I had already decided to pass on the car, when Jim mentioned this car only passed smog because sacramento county runs an “unenhanced” smog test - just a visual and sniffer - he was pretty sure that this car would fail the dyno sniffer in the “enhanced” smog tests of my area, and that’s *if* the tech skimps on the visual and doesn’t catch the non carb-legal fuel pressure regulator and oversized fuel injectors.
Anyways, later that night I give him a call to tell him thanks, and to schedule a steak dinner for his services. I mentioned to him I passed on the car, and he replies with a “yeah, I’m glad you didn’t buy that car. Want a stock black one? 1996 nsx-t? I’m not sure if he’ll sell or not, but I can ask.” I jump at the chance, of course.
Turns out, it’s the black one I saw in front of his shop 2 years ago. Jim reaches out to the owner to ask if he wants to sell, and is immediately answered with a “nope.” But Jim vouches for me, letting him know I’m not one of those kids who would put giant wings, goofy body kits, neon lights, spinning wheels,etc on the car. He hems and haws a bit and is reluctant. That’s when Jim mentions that I’m looking to sell my Carrera 4S (here: http://imgur.com/C2K1DYl.jpg), and owner lit up. He had been thinking about getting an AWD car to take to his numerous tahoe trips that is still “fun” and sporty, and has been curious about 911s for a while. Bonus is that the C4S is ready to accept a luggage/bike rack (he is an avid cyclist).
Jim completely vouches for this black NSX as one of the most pristine he’s ever seen, and seeing how OCD and thorough he was with the red NSX’es inspection, that meant a lot. His exact words were “This car is a *stud*. Needs nothing. Owner is completely anal, didn’t even drive it in the rain. I’m the only one who’s worked on the car since ’99 or ’00 and he never drives the thing.” I am sold.
So, the past Sunday night, Jim connected the two of us. I gave the owner a call, and we just hit it off. Chatted about what we were looking for, asked and answered questions about our respective cars. The next day, I drove over to his place in half moon bay and we inspected each others cars and test drove them. (his soon-to-be-mine NSX: http://imgur.com/PVEVJOe.jpg) He immediately scheduled an inspection on my C4S for wednesday morning, and with Jim Russell’s endorsement I was ready to buy the black NSX as-is without inspection. BTW, I had a glorious drive home on 84/skyiline back from HMB in the C4S, it was a pretty fantastic parting-ways drive that made me a bit emotional.
The C4S passed its PPI today with flying colors (dealer’s words were “one of the cleanest C4S’es we’ve seen in a while”), outside of finding a torn CV boot on the front left - which I subtracted from the cost of the car to cover for the new buyer. After a bunch of paperwork and cashiers checks, here we are! Mission Accomplished. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I am still stunned at how quickly and smoothly this all went down, and I feel the positive experience makes the car even more special - I didn’t just walk into a dealer and walk out with a car like I have in the past. I made a connection with another enthusiast, and worked with him to make a deal happen that we were both very happy about.
I swap cars often, but I will die with this car. Whether it’s a month from now or 30 years from now, I make no promises. But man, I’m afraid to drive it now as it is completely accident or even blemish free (the paint still looks like you can reach right through it), and pretty much pristine - it’s going to get harder and harder to find another NSX in this condition. Oh - and I took it away for $55k, a steal for an NSX of condition, imo!
Truly, “an eternal sportsmind for me.” Here she is at home in her new garage - sorry for pic quality, it was dark and rainy: http://imgur.com/boOLZle.jpg
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