I was zapping through channels the other day, pondering about the best way to explain to normal people why I call the Hyundai Tucson “Elantra Wagon” when something caught my eye. It was a little movie called The Fast and The Furious.
FnF is on my crap list and believe you me, it’ll have its turn on the chopping block in this space sooner rather than later. But here’s a preview of it: I dislike the movies because they meant the ruination of many an honest car. Have you tried looking for a stock Honda Civic or Mitsubishi Eclipse lately? Of course you haven’t; you know that such silly pursuits are the stuff of proverbial knights chasing proverbial windmills. Oh they exist alright, but they are either in the hands in the people who know that if they sell it they’ll doom them to a life of neon, fart cans and exploded engines. Or automatics, which if put on sale they’ll be subject to a manual swap, then neon and fart cans and exploded engines. But a couple of days ago while I was perusing eBay as usual when I came upon this, could it be?
Indeed it is, a bona fide, unrestored and unmolested Acura Integra. If I was a betting man I’d say this was a proverbial old-lady car: 14 years old, only 57, 768 miles, not a nick in the upholstery, and located in Florida. If it wasn’t, it has certainly lived an exceptionally good life not just for an Integra, but for any car approaching its age.
Would this thing be affected by the Takata Airbag recall? Perhaps, not that it’d a concerned of the dudebro that looks at it to make it his own tuner car; he’ll replace it with some silly weirdly shaped wheel and miss out on both protection and a perfectly mint steering wheel. While perhaps not as nice, the factory Acura-branded CD player is still present and correct. Normally that’s the first bit to go, even before the rims and the stock bumpers.
After this generation of Integra, Acura got the alphanumerical bug from the Germans and called its replacement the RSX. At least in America, Japan still got it branded as Honda Integra until it was discontinued in 2006 without any replacements. Car & Driver swears that Acura’s chief designer gave a hint for a new Integra in the future, but like the mid-engined Corvette rumors that surface every few years, it’s better for it to be actually announced and released before taking the champagne glasses out.
Back at our subject car, you’re looking at the reason while this car has survived the way it has up until today. Clearly whomever bought this car didn’t have the least amount of interest in fitting his car with NOS or dramatic gear changing; the movie was a year or so away at this point so there was no way he or she could’ve known what was lurking just around the corner. Pricing is set at $5,900, which is not that bad for a unicorn of a car. Buy it now before the young and the careless get to it.
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My Curbside Classic: 1997 Acura Integra – Not Just A Fancy Honda
The CC effect is in full force. Took the dog for a walk and the next street over is one of these cars with all the ‘modifications’, also missing front bumper cover, primer spots, expired tags and a note written on drivers door glass, ‘ This is not an abandoned vehicle, do not touch this car’. I would not mind having this example if it was a stick, but would worry about theft.
It was cars like this one which prompted me to make an analogy between the 1962 Skylark and the Integra. The Honda is more famous because of sporty versions, but a genteel, well-equipped small car with minor prestige was also part of the goal in creating the car. This is especially evident in the second generation (90-93).
I will say, though, that even the basic versions with manual transmissions can move very well once above 3500 rpm, and they keep pulling hard all the way to redline.
Integras are indeed excellent. A little low for the old folks and hard to find in this condition.
I live in Florida, and every now and then I consider buying one of these Integras to replace my well worn 97 Civic. I owned a 92 Integra sedan with automatic, so I pretty much agree with “Slow and Calm” and indeed finding a gently used one is not easy. However, they do pop up on Craigslist every now and then and I am kicking myself for not contacting the seller of a nice LS sedan with manual a few months ago.
A car that is MUCH harder to find un-modified that is quite similar to this Integra is a Nissan 240SX. Now there’s a car that suffered mightily thanks to the F+F movies.
I live here too, and I always see interesting “survivor” cars around town (Sarasota). Years back, we picked up a near-mint ’91 Tempo LX with just 8k miles on the clock for the low, low some of $2500. It was essentially a “new” car! If one is in to the Brougham thing that is so popular on this site, this is the place to come. Ancient Caddys, Lincolns, Lexuses, and Buicks abound.
Very nice. I can only hope it is purchased by someone who understands the significance of its preserved, unmolested condition. Sadly, it will probably be purchased by someone who wants to “fast and furious” it all out.
I would be suspicious if it were a 5-speed even for a lot more money because by now countless “do you want to sell your car?” inquiries would have been made by neighbors in person or through notes left on the windshield.
Unless there is something wrong with the car why go through the hassle of a CL or EB ad? This is my theory as to why in five years of causal looking I’ve never seen a low mile Volvo 740 Turbo Wagon for sale with 5-speed (or auto for that matter). Cult cars in good condition seem to get spoken for.
Good luck finding ANY Volvo with a manual. I’ve also been looking for years to no avail. They exist only in theory, which is probably why you haven’t had much luck finding one.
Also, with the idea that CL and ebay ads are mostly shady, I’ve personally bought and sold several cars (including a VERY low mile Volvo 850 and a great-running ’88 240DL wagon for $300) on CL. True, some of the stuff on there is crap but some are just ready to move on to something else, as I was. However, I would say that if the price seems too good to be true it usually is, like the “nice” cars for $1000 with blown headgaskets and bad transmissions. Just ask a lot of questions before you waste a trip across the state–like I found out the hard way.
I used to work with a guy who had two of these – a red 94 and a green 96 with leather. Both had 5 speeds and even though he was around 60, he drove them like a boy racer. I liked these a lot.
He traded the 96 on a red Accord coupe, which he didn’t keep long because he just didn’t like it. He replaced it with an RSX Type S, another car that was a real hoot.
You have to drive them like boy racers; there’s not much choice, but thankfully a lot of reward.
I used to own a ’90 Integra. It was a clean, one-owner little-old-lady car just like this one when I bought it. I absolutely enjoyed it stock, but oh, how many times I was given “helpful” suggestions on how I should modify it… and that was before any movie. It got a lot of attention everywhere for all the wrong reasons. I was blissfully unaware just how desirable it was in certain circles, but I soon found out. There were two unsuccessful attempts to steal it. Unfortunately, it met its demise in a wreck before a smarter thief had a chance to succeed. I never much cared for the riceboy culture one way or another, but owning a stock Integra made me absolutely hate and despise it to the core.
I love the Century Motors Site on eBay. 90% of the vehicles look like their owners were 100 years old, did all their maintenance at the dealer, and never went over 55 mph.
I LOVE these Integras, didn’t know they were still making this model in 2000. The 4-door version was on my short list years ago, but I reasoned that spares would be hard to find, since they are grey-import only , and finding a manual one can be tricky.
I’d almost forgotten how good-looking these were in 2-door form with stock alloys. I still see the sedan version now and again (not a bad-looking car itself) but unmolested coupes are indeed quite rare these days, to say nothing of the Type-R. I’d expect there are precisely zero of those in daily use anymore, with probably something like a 50-50 split of “destroyed by hooning, careless mods, or on the racetrack” and “garage-kept near-show car or dedicated racer”.
Also a little bit of irony that so many met an untimely end is that, when taken care of, these can rack up huge miles (it’s a Honda 4-cyl after all.) I know a fellow on another message board who has over 300,000 miles on a 1993 (previous generation) GS-R. Original engine, original transmission. And that car isn’t driven gently–he takes it to track days!
I’ll admit that I found the Integra pretty attractive, I can say this now that they’re practically extinct and won’t see the glee in the eyes of F&F fanbois who I have loooong made fun of. The Honda version is much more attractive to me though, I really don’t like the Acura’s bugeye nose, the rectangular wrapawound light Honda is where it’s at.
I love the Fast and Furious movies! All of them, even the old ones. The earlier films are probably a little easier to appreciate in retrospect now that the import tuner phase has waned considerably. The Fast and Furious movies are reflective of a time and place in car culture- kind of like American Graffiti or other great car related movies.
if they sell it they’ll doom them to a life of neon, fart cans and exploded engines.
That crossed my mind when I sold my minty 98 Civic last year. For most of it’s life, I had had two cars, so the Civic was put up for the winter, hence was rust free.
The kid that bought said he was looking for “a daily driver to use while I look for a WRX for a project car” I think he’s an engineering student at the University of Michigan. The guy who drove him over the night he picked it up was wearing an employee ID for the Toyota Engineering Center in Ann Arbor.
The night after he picked it up, he called “where are those mainenance records you were showing me?”, which I took as a hopeful sign he might take care of it, so I dropped them in the mail.