Picking up nsx in 4 hours any basic tips..

Joined
30 April 2017
Messages
143
Location
Los Angeles
Flying to Sacramento to pick up a 95 nsx and drive back to Los Angeles- I've talked extensively with seller and feel good about service history, timing belt ect. Any basic tips on what I should look for..Sure hope I don't have to hitch hike back..
 
AAA just in case.
 
Check the windows and wipers and lights.... all of which are quick checks you could do which will affect your trek back. Also might make sense to bring a fix-a-flat or just buy one on the way back.

I'm assuming the other important stuff you've already talked about. Make sure the VIN matches the carfax lol.
 
Ahh the excitement of anticipated ownership. I still remember the night before I went to pick up my nsx. I had trouble sleeping since I was so excited and nervous (only slept for 3 hours).

I woke up at 6am and then my buddy came to pick me up at 7am, then we drove 4 hours to the owner's house.

I remember planning it all, from considering to tow the vehicle home to getting CAA (Canadian AAA) for back up etc. Then I just decided to YOLO it. Car had no maintenance records with 10 year old tires, however, I made it home without a problem (besides having no AC and sweating like a pig). I did get the car PPI'ed a few weeks earlier prior to my purchase. Also checked the weather forecast to make sure the drive there and back would be sunny only!

I remember driving the car in 30 minute intervals and stopping at gas stations along the highway to check for leaks under the car, hood and engine hatch. I paid close attention to the water temperature and oil pressure. For the remaining 2.5 hours of the trip, I just drove straight home. I drove around 100 km/h to 120 km/h.

The number of thumbs-ups and people sticking their head out of their windows on the highway made the experience invaluable. When we got closer to the city and got stuck in traffic, people in cars next to me just started conversations with me about the car!

Anyhow, I hope your drive back is as drama free as mine was. Oh and remember to share your story when you get back!
 
Last edited:
Check the windows and wipers and lights.... all of which are quick checks you could do which will affect your trek back. Also might make sense to bring a fix-a-flat or just buy one on the way back.

I'm assuming the other important stuff you've already talked about. Make sure the VIN matches the carfax lol.

...and the title...ask me how I know...
 
Let's see...on the purchase of my first NSX, i lost the car at the gas station. Yep. I was inserting my credit card into the dispenser, turned around to put the nozzle into the filler tube and the car was gone. Just like that. I look right, no car. I look left, no car. Wait, yes...car...slowly rolling away, down a slight hill. Heart racing, scared it is about to hit a kid or a dog or another car...it bounces off a 2 to 4" curb and sits there. I just stared in disbelief. I hadn't set the parking brake. On the second car, I bought it sight unseen and finally saw it showed up at my house. No PPI, nothing. Just the Hunter Alignment report, a torn in half cashiers check stuffed into the map pocket and my car. Third one, I flew to Toronto in January (yes, it was bitterly cold), took a car service to the wine region near Niagara, bought the car and immediately began my drive home after dark...yes, with the top off. My first NSX targa. The border crossing was interesting as was having an inoperable CCU and no heat. Top had to go back on. The seller (good guy by the way) was perplexed as to why I would drive an NA2 across the frozen midwest on summer tires in the dead of winter. A man has to do what a man has to do...and I got my fill of the car that trip. And onto my last one. I show up with bundles of Benny Franklins and take the car. Naturally I check the first four and last four of the VIN. I should have counted all the digits because...wait for it...the title was missing a digit. Painful but worth the effort to fix that.

If the above didn't dissuade me, and I like to think I am baseline normal around here, then whatever happens to you tomorrow will be an adventure and something you will write about here for all of us to read.
 
Be sure to stop somewhere en route and look left right up down, and just take it all in. You only get your first day as a new owner once. This is just the beginning. :)
 
Last edited:
Not an NSX story, but I remember trailering my first 68 Charger back home. It was an 8.5 hour drive that took 11 due to the speed limit of the trailer. It started at 1 PM and ended at midnight. Before it got dark I got three thumbs-up and a guy offering to buy it from me during one of my stops.
 
No joke! I picked my NSX up in Houston and started the 1,200 mile drive home to North Carolina late at night. I was having a good time and really making good mileage but a few hours after midnight I decided to start looking for gas. It turned out that the area was still devastated by hurricane Katrina and I nearly ran out of fuel (fuel low light was on) when I finally found an open/operating gas station.
 
If you go 130 you'll get home twice as fast as if you go 65.
 
If something gets in your way.........turn.


th
 
Now some actual advice: checking the coolant is an obvious thing to do, but how you do it isn't so obvious because you usually can't see through the white coolant tank in the engine compartment where you check it unless it's new. If the car's cold and you can take the fill cap off, you can either use something like a chopstick as a dipstick, then hold it outside next to the tank's MIN/MAX lines, or hold a flashlight in the filler neck and illuminate the coolant that way.
If the car's warmed up, you don't want to take the filler cap off. Sometimes holding a very bright flashlight next to the coolant bottle will illuminate the coolant from outside.
Have a great trip and be happy, you have gotten a great car.
 
lol at the lifting advice.....now here is a wacky tidbit....If the car does not want to start or gets weird when turning key....move the passenger seat forward all the way......then slap the hell out of the rear bulkhead until your hand is numb...then jiggle the hell out of the key whilst in the ignition....:eek:
 
lol at the lifting advice.....now here is a wacky tidbit....If the car does not want to start or gets weird when turning key....move the passenger seat forward all the way......then slap the hell out of the rear bulkhead until your hand is numb...then jiggle the hell out of the key whilst in the ignition....:eek:

Then click your heels 3x and then what?
 
......follow the yellow brick road....:wink:....oh by the way ...if you jiggle key too long you may get acne.....
 
Last edited:
Back
Top