97 Hardtop Blue Production numbers

[mlambert890]

I'm really suspicious of an NSX-T vin on a coupe. I'm even MORE suspicious that production numbers from Honda indicate there is only ONE coupe that's a legit US car and we know that this isnt it.

There is clearly something wrong. At this point, the car is totally suspect. Non-matching vin is a massive red flag. Pictures would probably shed some light...

 

[Auraraptor]

Harrier,

I beleive the people here would love to help, so please don't take this the wrong way (by reading some of the posts)

if you post pics, it would take less than a second for many NSXers to tell you alot about the car, that said, where are you located? I am sure there are NSXers somewhere on this board that are nearby and can help you with the car as much as possible and give you a unbiased opinion....

that said, if possible check the VIN in a number of locations on the car and see if it matches...it should, but who knows?

Hope the best for you and your car!

------------------
Resident E38er

-97 NSX "Nina" #183

 

[Lud]

I wonder if this was originally a press/media car, similar to the yellow coupe with the black roof that is now owned by D. Swartz. The blue press car also had a black roof I believe. Does this car have a black roof?

If it was a media car, it would not show up in the retail sales numbers I have from Acura since it was never sold as a new car. Whoever ran the carfax - is there a Southern California area auction early in this car's history? I believe media cars are auctioned when they are no longer needed.

 

[tabasco]

Originally posted by D'Ecosse:
Blue is very undesirable color in NSX...

I find that a subjective and offensive statement. Who died and made you the color God?

Tell that to the many who admire the color on my NSX. I believe that my car has a slight advantage for resale because of its color.

I love red sports cars, and I am sure yours is beautiful. I hope when time comes and you want to sell it you will get the most you can for it.

I'm sure you will spit out some statistic from the air to try to prove your thoughtless remark.

 

[D'Ecosse]

Man- lighten up!!!!!!!

Originally posted by D'Ecosse:

Still, I am willing to take it off your hands ...... Yeah, nice try

(to clarify, the above was somewhat tongue in cheek)

Did you somehow miss this part??? The smiley face usually depicts humor but I even stressed the tongue-in-cheek comment to avoid anyone actually taking this seriously!
Since it was apparently too subtle for you, it was a joke to offer to "take it off his hands" at a low price.
No intent to offend - I actually believe it happens to be an extremely desirable color.

[This message has been edited by D'Ecosse (edited 03 January 2003).]

 

[harrier]

Originally posted by Lud:
I wonder if this was originally a press/media car, similar to the yellow coupe with the black roof that is now owned by D. Swartz. The blue press car also had a black roof I believe. Does this car have a black roof?

If it was a media car, it would not show up in the retail sales numbers I have from Acura since it was never sold as a new car. Whoever ran the carfax - is there a Southern California area auction early in this car's history? I believe media cars are auctioned when they are no longer needed.

It does not have a black roof. We did purchase the car from a southern California auction. I contacted Acura's headquarters about the vin and the only answer they came up with was that they could have made a mistake in the vin during production since very few hardtops were made in 1997. Pretty lame answer! They did have the car listed as a -T in their records. I'll have photos soon.

 

[Lud]

Yeah, Acura customer service is not very helpful with things like tracking down VINs. There are so many departments and it's such a large organization that I guess they just don't have that kind of information easily available.

Even with the blue roof it may have been a press car. I'm not positive of the roof color on the US blue coupe press car. I guess it is also possible the roof was repainted to match the body color at some point.. I doubt Acura would have done that while it was a press vehicle, but it's probably been out of their press fleet for quite a while now. The low serial number (20) also suggests a press car.

If that's what it is, then it's one of two blue 1997 coupes, the other one of which is owned by a gentleman in California and has a different VIN number. Pretty cool, though he may be disapointed to hear there is another one floating around

Look forward to seeing the pictures.

 

[tabasco]

Originally posted by D'Ecosse:
Man- lighten up!!!!!!!
Did you somehow miss this part???

Sorry!

I got to that first part and went ballastic. I see you were joking.

Happy New Year!

 

[D'Ecosse]

No problem - if I had really meant that your comments would have been completely justifiable.
I agree that negative criticism of any individual's personal choices is unjustified, even when they might look questionable to the masses.

Originally posted by tabasco:

Happy New Year!

Back at you!

 

[Black Knight]

Originally posted by D'Ecosse:
Blue is very undesirable color in NSX B]

I have to agree that this type of prejudice is totally inappropriate on the NSX board....

Gotcha! Happy New Years! This is your local south bay blue nsx talking. I sniffed out your intentions a mile away. I think you were one of the people at our monthly lunch meets that commented on the nice blue I have. Hope to see you soon at the club luncheon. Later on....

------------------
'98 Blue NSX-T

 

[kinnsella]

I just sold a 99 Monte Carlo Blue NSX T with 17500 miles with HRE Rims and Comptech Hdrs and Exhaust for $61k.

Here's the link...
www.nsxprime.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000379.html

The color is very rare and very pretty, I would think if this car is legitimate that a coupe would carry a premium and probably sell in the high 50's. Personally I would prefer a coupe because the NSX - T is a noodle....the targa roof destroys the structural integrity of the car. They were never designed that way, it was just Acura's way of trying to push more cars.


[This message has been edited by kinnsella (edited 03 January 2003).]

 

[BostonNSX]

I dont think the blue coupe would carry any premium. the market demand for T is more than coupe overall. Only track, etc people like coupe. with is very minimium compared to most people who want to buy the NSX for showing off and cruise.

Originally posted by kinnsella:
The color is very rare and very pretty, I would think if this car is legitimate that a coupe would carry a premium and probably sell in the high 50's. Personally I would prefer a coupe because the NSX - T is a noodle....the targa roof destroys the structural integrity of the car. They were never designed that way, it was just Acura's way of trying to push more cars.


[This message has been edited by kinnsella (edited 03 January 2003).]

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by kinnsella:
the targa roof destroys the structural integrity of the car. They were never designed that way, it was just Acura's way of trying to push more cars.

That's not true - not true at all. While the NSX-T isn't quite as rigid as an NSX Coupe, it has plenty of structural integrity. Acura did not simply cut off the roof. They added quite a bit of reinforcement to many of the parts, notably the side rails. At NSXPO, we've seen cross-sections of the NSX-T side rails compared with those of the coupe, and the metal used is a lot thicker. The NSX-T is more rigid than almost any other removable-roof car. With the roof panel removed, you can jack it up using the middle jacking points in the car and the distance between the front windshield and the rear roof element won't vary more than a millimeter or two. Try to do that with any other removable-roof car and the difference is usually at least an inch, often more.

Originally posted by BostonNSX:
the market demand for T is more than coupe overall. Only track, etc people like coupe. with is very minimium compared to most people who want to buy the NSX for showing off and cruise.

That may be true, but that ignores the fact that over 95 percent of the 3.2-liter NSXs are the NSX-T and not the coupe. What matters is not just demand, but also supply.

 

[Deuce]

Now there's someone else advertising the same car in the for sale section..... I'm really anxious to see the pics.

 

[WeakestLink]

I think Lud knows everything?!?@?!?. He is correct that this car was sold at a Southern CA auction early in its life. So I guess this could be the press car you speak about.



The CARFAX database contains a total of 6 vehicle history records on this 1997 ACURA NSX-T (JH4NA2167VT000020):


DATE
REPORTED ODOMETER
READING INFORMATION
SOURCE GENERAL
COMMENTS
06/01/1997 California
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Registered as
commercial lease vehicle


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

06/23/1997 75 California
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Title issued
First owner reported
Registered as lease vehicle
Odometer reading recorded on 05/26/1997


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11/06/1997 288 Auto Auction
Pacific SW Region
Vehicle sold


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

06/03/2002 California
Inspection Station
North Hollywood, CA
Passed emissions inspection


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10/15/2002 3,735 Arizona
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Phoenix, AZ
Title #411M002288001
Registration issued
Ownership transfer reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11/26/2002 4,287 Georgia
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Gainesville, GA
Title #774591023306010
Title issued
Ownership transfer reported

 

[Tony Montoya]

A press-car? That explains the repainted quarter-panel. They managed to destroy the 97 press-car here.

 

[DocL]

The press car rationale can be correct. I purchased a 3000GT Spyder VR-4 press car that wasn't even released to the press. When I called Mitsubishi, they didn't even know that the car was released from the factory and were curious as to how I got it. Also, the car's VIN was never entered into the system so theoretically it never existed until I registered it.

So, for all we know, this car probably does exist as stated, and it's a good find for someone who wants a georgeous color and a rare coupe.

 

[BostonNSX]

I dun get wuts the quarter panel have to do with the press car..

Originally posted by Tony Montoya:
A press-car? That explains the repainted quarter-panel. They managed to destroy the 97 press-car here.

 

[grippgoat]

Press car would also be consistent with thrashed tires. It's probably seen a lot of track miles or at least hard street miles. And was probably driven hard before the break-in period was done.

-Mike

 

[TigerNSX]

Harrier,

You wouldn't feel extra generous to post the price that you picked up the car from the auction, would you?

 

[Tony Montoya]

Originally posted by BostonNSX:
I dun get wuts the quarter panel have to do with the press car..

The mechanic inspected the car and thought the quarter-panel had been replaced. The press drive cars hard and sometimes crash them.


[This message has been edited by Tony Montoya (edited 05 January 2003).]

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by Tony Montoya:
A press-car? That explains the repainted quarter-panel. They managed to destroy the 97 press-car here.

Originally posted by Tony Montoya:
The press drive cars hard and sometimes crash them.

Yes, we're very familiar with another press car, a blue '97 that was the U.S. car (VT000019) built right before the one being discussed here (VT000020). That one was crashed, and they kept half the car while welding on an entirely different rear half, as noted in the FAQ. However, since it was done by the factory folks, the job was perfect, and the most experienced NSX techs couldn't tell that it had been done. That car was the subject of a presentation at NSXPO '98 in Ohio, where the car was driven from California.

 

[Paul65K]

Just one more comment on the pricing front. I just bought a 97 NSX-T last week(via an advertisement on this forum) here are the specifics:

Black/Tan
12,932 miles
Certified Car with 4 years remaining
Tires at 50% (Front and Rear)
No rock chips, repaint etc..
Interior "Perfect"
CD Changer (Alpine)

Asking price $53,000
Sales Price: $50,000

We got bact to CA from Atlanta Friday evening and just got back from a drive down the coast to La Jolla with the top off as the temp. here today is ~80!!

Cheers!

------------------
97 NSX-T Black/Tan
00 Mercedes 430CLK (Cab)
93 Cadillac Allante (Northstar)
83 Cessna 303 (Crusader)

[This message has been edited by Paul65K (edited 05 January 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Paul65K (edited 07 January 2003).]

 

[Lud]

Latest update... This VIN was run through the Acura computer by someone who works at a dealer and wishes to remain anonymous. Here are the results:

"The car was sold new may 26, 1997 at dealer 251042. It had 75 miles at time of sale. It has had 5 warranty repairs at two different (251197 and 251506) dealers. On 05/18/02 is was reported to have 288 miles, and on 07/26/02 1,529 miles. It has engine number C32B11000038. It should be a 'T'."

No idea where that really leaves us, but it's interesting to NSX geeks like me. It seems to rule out my press car theory though...

[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 06 January 2003).]

 

[ck]

Originally posted by Paul65K:

Paul65k,

I just wanted to let you know that you have an impressive list of "toys" in your signature at the bottom of the post. Just one note, you probably drive a 00 CLK430 CAB, not a 420CLK, as there is no such thing.

Regards,
Chris