Prospective Buyer: Any information on this? (1991 Black/Tan) - JH4NA1152MT003052

[eferl]

Anyone have any information on this NSX?

http://bringatrailer.com/2015/11/25/25k-202k-miles-scruffy-1991-acura-nsx-5-speed/

direct ebay link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272054989381?rmvSB=true

Guy is interested in a potential trade for my current car (audi S4). I have wanted an NSX for quite some time, and don't really mind the high miles, all of my previous hondas and acuras have been high milers.

Thoughts on condition/price? I tried to search prime for just the vin, couldn't come up with anything...

Thanks!
Evan

 

[JD Cross]

As always the maintenance records really do help determine value.
Cosmetics and detailing aside neglected maintenance on a high miler could run $5-8 quickly.
Can you get any information on maintenance?

 

[blue_myriddn]

Will repost here what I said on BaT

“we’d take the opportunity to have both carpets and off-white plastics switched to black when reupholstering the seats. ”
That would be an expensive proposition as most Ivory items have been discontinued for the NSX. Currently it is in correct “stock” form for an ivory interior with the exception of the floormats. You can no longer find new ivory floormats and finding used ones in good shape is very, very hard to do. Bottom line – other than the seats, the interior should probably stay the way it is in this car.

 

[docjohn]

agreed on the interior...to the op there were no 91 black tan coupes..this is black ivory....which is actually nice...I like the ivory interior on black cars..it brightens up the interior making it seem larger.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

This car has a 99% chance of having a snap-ring trans, make sure you get the trans serial number and check.......and ask for a repair bill for the trans if they say it has been repaired.

 

[eferl]

Thanks all for your responses! I've tried to answer/comment where I could. I think my main concern is, given that the maintenance is an unknown, the miles, and that the seats need work...is the price point reasonable? That is what i'm wrestling with.

As always the maintenance records really do help determine value.
Cosmetics and detailing aside neglected maintenance on a high miler could run $5-8 quickly.
Can you get any information on maintenance?

Yea, that's what I'm worried about. Looks like they have no maintenance info, which worries me. Question is, IF this car is still in good running shape, is the price point still OK?

blue_myriddn

Will repost here what I said on BaT

“we’d take the opportunity to have both carpets and off-white plastics switched to black when reupholstering the seats. ”
That would be an expensive proposition as most Ivory items have been discontinued for the NSX. Currently it is in correct “stock” form for an ivory interior with the exception of the floormats. You can no longer find new ivory floormats and finding used ones in good shape is very, very hard to do. Bottom line – other than the seats, the interior should probably stay the way it is in this car.​

Agreed, I would leave interior as is, likely just get the seats recovered. I'm worried that the price point should be lower due to the seats needing to be redone

docjohn

agreed on the interior...to the op there were no 91 black tan coupes..this is black ivory....which is actually nice...I like the ivory interior on black cars..it brightens up the interior making it seem larger.​

Apologies, wasn't sure exactly what the name of the interior color was. And agreed, I like the contrasting interior

Larry Bastanza

This car has a 99% chance of having a snap-ring trans, make sure you get the trans serial number and check.......and ask for a repair bill for the trans if they say it has been repaired.​

One of the things the BaT comments said was that if the car was in snap ring range, at this mileage it would have already been taken care of, but perhaps not? It has no maintenance records according to the seller.​

​

 

[JD Cross]

Not sure about the price as with maintenance a question mark, snap ring in question, and cosmetics weak you could be looking at a lot of $ to bring it to a sound state.
And with that done it's still a high mileage unit.
I would say if you are very handy and can do a lot of your own work then you could make a daily driver out of this car and enjoy it for another 100 k miles.
I'd budget for a minimum of $5K in parts.

 

[eferl]

Not sure about the price as with maintenance a question mark, snap ring in question, and cosmetics weak you could be looking at a lot of $ to bring it to a sound state.
And with that done it's still a high mileage unit.
I would say if you are very handy and can do a lot of your own work then you could make a daily driver out of this car and enjoy it for another 100 k miles.
I'd budget for a minimum of $5K in parts.

Yea, seems like a lot is up in the air. I am certainly looking for just a DD style NSX, I don't need anything that is showroom, but I also don't want one that's just going to bog me down and cost me as much money as a nicer, lower miles one a few years down the road. Would you say that the potential money suck of this car would equal just buying a lower mileage one down the road?

 

[JD Cross]

Yea, seems like a lot is up in the air. I am certainly looking for just a DD style NSX, I don't need anything that is showroom, but I also don't want one that's just going to bog me down and cost me as much money as a nicer, lower miles one a few years down the road. Would you say that the potential money suck of this car would equal just buying a lower mileage one down the road?

I'm not a good source on this as I'm retired and don't do as much work on my NSX as I did 20 years ago.
However after buying a lot of beaters in my younger years and fixing them up etc. I reached a conclusion.

That conclusion was to always buy the best maintained, best looked after car I could find and pay a reasonable price for it.
It always worked out to saving a lot of time, money, and grief over the years.
So this car would not be first on my list were I in the market for an NSX today.

 

[blue_myriddn]

I'm not a good source on this as I'm retired and don't do as much work on my NSX as I did 20 years ago.
However after buying a lot of beaters in my younger years and fixing them up etc. I reached a conclusion.

That conclusion was to always buy the best maintained, best looked after car I could find and pay a reasonable price for it.
It always worked out to saving a lot of time, money, and grief over the years.
So this car would not be first on my list were I in the market for an NSX today.

+1 My guess is that by the time you have fixed all the problems you could have just bought a better car for the same amount of $$