- A 1991 Honda NSX sold for $51,000 despite severe flood damage.
- Automatic coupe has 236,776 km, or roughly 147,100 miles on the clock.
- Photos show floodwater reaching roughly the upper portions of the doors.
The original Honda NSX has become precious enough that even a thoroughly drowned example can apparently command serious money. This 1991 NSX spent part of last July sitting in floodwater high enough to cover much of its doors. It also has nearly 147,000 miles and the less-desirable four-speed automatic. Somehow, none of that stopped bidding from reaching ¥8.004 million, or just over $51,000.
Read: There’s A Wrecked 2017 Acura NSX For Sale At Salvage Yard
The Formula Red NSX appeared on Yahoo Auctions Japan after suffering flood damage in July. The listing identifies it as a 1991 NA1 with 236,776 km (147,126 miles), a 3.0-liter V6, a four-speed automatic transmission, and multiple previous owners. Most importantly, the seller wasn’t trying to hide what happened. The listing explicitly described the Honda as a flood-damaged car being sold as-is, calling it a restoration base and, rather bluntly, “junk.” The photos are even less subtle.
93 Bids Later
Photos: Yahoo Japan
The NSX is pictured sitting in murky water reaching high up its doors. And that’s where this gets weird. The auction started at just ¥1 million (about $6,400). That seems considerably more appropriate for a 35-year-old supercar that’s effectively been turned into an aquarium, even if just briefly. But any amount of time as an aquarium is a bad time for a car. Instead, 93 bids eventually pushed the price to ¥8.004 million. The auction ended August 15.
That’s serious money for an NSX with several strikes against it even before the flooding. Again, this isn’t the more desirable manually-equipped version of the car. Then there’s the potentially enormous job of rehabilitating a vehicle submerged this deeply.
Water getting this high means far more than replacing some soggy carpet. Wiring harnesses, connectors, control modules, switches, seat components, and countless electrical connections can become future corrosion problems. The drivetrain presents its own questions depending on how long the car was submerged and whether water found its way inside. Remember that NSX found in a river a few years back? A professional NSX restoration crew vowed to bring it back to life. It’s STILL not done.
One Case For Buying It Anyway
Photos: Yahoo Japan
That said, there is one big thing working in its favor, though. Put simply, it’s an NSX. Its aluminum-intensive construction also makes the shell itself potentially interesting to a determined restorer or someone who needs an increasingly valuable collection of NSX-specific parts. Still, $51,000 isn’t exactly parts-car money.
Perhaps the winning bidder sees a restoration project worth saving. Maybe the car’s Japanese-market provenance makes it particularly desirable to someone. Whatever the explanation, paying that much for a 147,000-mile automatic NSX that recently impersonated a submarine takes considerably more optimism than we’d have.
