Crashed Honda NSX Hasn't Moved an Inch in 10 Years. Will It Start Again?

The NSX came in 1990 with supercar looks but has always been labeled as underpowered and too expensive for the things it was capable of. The Toyota Supra and the Mazda RX-7 were cheaper and could do more.

That is probably why sales figures came crashing down these last few years. In 2017, 581 US customers ordered an NSX. Two years later, half that number was sold. Two more years later, that figure was cut in half again. Low numbers were a two-edged sword, though. Its rarity enhances its exclusivity, with a select few owners making a serious fan base.

However, what we are looking at is a first-generation sports car that had a misfortunate destiny. One rainy morning, on the way to work, the driver lost control of the NSX. And that was the end of it. The insurance company decided the sports car was a write-off, but it was never sold for parts. And nobody even dared pick up such a repair project.

The car was heavily modified. It came with an aftermarket turbo setup that produced more noise, supported the extra oomph, and turned more heads. So, finding parts for the car with an aluminum semi-monocoque and bringing it to its former glory seemed next to impossible. It was too expensive, too time-consuming, and it just wasn't worth it.

So the NSX just sat there, crumpled like a piece of paper, not moving a single inch for a whole decade, wasting the life it still had in it. Lee Carter, the owner of ScrapLife Garage, has been trying to get his hands on it for quite a while. The owner finally agreed.

The first generation came out of the hands of Chief Designer Masahito Nakano and Executive Chief Engineer Shigeru Uehara, both of them found inspiration for the dashboard in the F-16 fighter jet cockpit. Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna gave a helping hand in the final stages of the development of the sports car.

The first-gen NSX is set in motion by an all-aluminum 3.0-liter V6 engine sporting Honda’s love-it-or-hate-it VTEC (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) technology. The engine is mated to either a SportShift four-speed automatic transmission known as the F-Matic, which also allows manual shifting with the help of a fingertip shift lever on the steering column, or the five-speed manual box.

Honda came up with a larger 3.2-liter V6 engine and ditched the pop-up headlights with the facelift. But what we have in front of our eyes is a pre-facelift 3.0-liter V6-powered NSX. Lee is amazed by the quality of the aftermarket modifications.

The car sports a high-quality setup and can't wait to fire it up. But there is still a long way to go. You can't just go firing up a car that has been sitting for ages; there are stages you have to go through.

But first, they have to figure out if the front end is not too damaged for the engine to run after changing fluids and checking all the wiring and hoses did not have to deal with rodents over all these years.

Lee starts by cutting the hood and bumper off the car. It is the only way he can get access to the engine bay. The crumpled hood doesn't open anymore. And that is not enough.

He uses two Yale forklift trucks to pull the bent front end sideways, which allows him to get the engine out. A bit of cutting and hammering later, he realizes how bad the damage is, with the bending going all the way to the windshield. Lee drains the engine oil tank and has to take out the gas, too. The tank is full, so it is not going to be a walk in the park.

The first attempt to fire the car is a complete failure. Lee believes he has to replace the injectors or fix them. And then, the VTEC finally comes to life for the very first time in ten whole years. It is fluctuating and smoking up the entire shop, but at least the team knows that it can run.

They take out all the internals to make room to rebuild the entire front end. When the carbon fiber parts arrive, they fit them on the car like Lego pieces. Everything lines up almost perfectly. There are some uneven gaps between the hood and fenders, but they are not very obvious. One that Lee dislikes in particular is the one between the fenders and doors. But when the fenders will be painted in red, like the doors, everything will look better.

Only a few days passed since the car entered the shop, looking as if the best destination for it would have been the crusher.