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The Story of My NSX

By: Brian Smith

There was a time when I didn’t much care for fast cars.  Hard to admit, but true. On the other hand, my younger brother was always talking about this car and that car.  Finally, in the middle of high school, he managed to score a 1990 Nissan 300ZX. This car was his pride and joy, it was naturally aspirated but still the fastest car I had ever been in. Something sparked – I had to drive this car.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t drive stick. Long story short, my younger brother taught me to drive stick on his most beloved possession.  I need not tell you, it was not a pretty sight at first.

However, that day changed the course of my life and unlocked some deep passion for cars that has burned ever brighter in the last 10 years. After college, I bought a 1996 Honda Prelude and moved out to Seattle.  I fell in love with Honda after buying the car and soon became enamored even more with Honda's NSX line.

In 2002, on a real estate scouting trip with my friend, I spotted a moss-covered 300ZX with four flat tires sitting in someone’s driveway. I walked up to get a closer look.  The entire car was encased in almost an inch of thick green moss making it impossible to see inside or much of the car at all. I noticed the intercooler vents on the front and when I wiped off the right rear corner, sure enough I saw the infamous “Twin Turbo” badge. I went up and rang the doorbell and asked the guy what the deal was with the car.  He said he had bought a motorcycle five years beforehand and just stopped driving the car at 40k miles. According to him nothing was wrong with the car when he parked it. As I looked at the car some more, I realized that the moss had acted as a cocoon – protecting a mint condition 300ZX underneath.

A 300ZX (Z32 chassis) - photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org.

Knowing that the car was worth at least $12,000 if everything checked out – I convinced the guy to let me flat bed it to my mechanic and if it was all good, I’d give him $5,000 cash the next day. It all checked out and then some – the car was perfect.  (As a side note, it turns out this guy was the second owner and the first owner was Gary Larson of the “The Farside” comics.)  I bought the car, cleaned it up – did all the service and entered the world of Japanese sports cars.

I fell in love with my 300ZX, started tracking it and really getting into performance mods. After two years of bliss with the 300ZX Twin Turbo, a friend of a friend offered to sell me his '91 black NSX at a price I couldn’t refuse. Although, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of the 300ZX….for a time I ended up with an NSX, a Prelude, and 300ZX. Not the most practical arrangement for a single guy, but I’m sure many “car people” can relate. I decided that because my brother was so influential in getting me into cars, I would give him the 300ZX and then sell the Prelude to finance NSX mods. It was the obvious choice.

// Next: All About the NSX Continued... //