It never fails: You lend a car to someone, and they ding it up. And a red gen1 CRX, no less. Ouch!
I wondered about the damage on the front end of this CRX and the note on the windshield. But as best as I can make it out, it says “Melanie…I dented your door pulling out Friday night….”
So presumably they’re off the hook for the googly-eyed front headlight and some collateral damage? Maybe another friend?
So I went and looked for the damaged door, and this all I could find. Not so bad.
The exterior of this lovely little buzz bomb may be somewhat worse for wear, but its interior looks mighty nice for a thirty year old car.
There used to be about three or four red CRXs around, including two Si versions, but lately they seem to have disappeared. I’m a bit sorry to see this one getting dinged up, but it’s still very fixable. Hopefully that’s what’ll happen, but is the person who dented the door going to actually step up and offer to pay? There’s a big difference between saying “sorry”, and “how much do I owe you?”
The solution: don’t lend your car; there’s a carmic law that always seems to punish rather than reward the person doing the good deed.
I have the spitting image of that one running around my neighboorhood and it looks even better on the exterior. Although I haven’t seen the interior, I would imagine it’s pristine. I’ve exchanged an upraised thumb with the owner a time or two when driving around in my ’81 X1/9.
Looks very much like the one my best college buddy owned. Buzz bomb is a great description. It was a perfect around-town car, but we drove it once from Indiana to New Jersey, through a snowstorm on the Pennsy Turnpike, and while it handled OK, it was an awfully cramped space to spend time in, even with your best buddy.
That had to be better than taking a stripper Chevette from Norfolk VA to Copper Harbor MI (way north on the Upper Penninsula) straight through.
OT as usual, but the drive was followed immediately by a ferry trip across Lake Superior to Isle Royale, in conditions that had had my buddy humming “the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. That sure got him some dirty looks from the othe passengers.
I always liked the look of the CRX, especially the stubbier-looking first generation. The color combination with the red stripes in the lower body cladding/bumpers and wheels are very nice and have definitive Eighties character.
I agree — the two-tone treatment of this car works very well with the design.
Right now, I’m working on a CC for a 1990 CRX, and I’ve been looking at a lot of CRX pictures over the last few days… even though the first-generation car like this is smaller (almost a foot shorter than the 88-91’s), it almost looks more substantial than the later models due to the contrasting bumpers & body cladding. I think it was a very effective design element for a little car.
I was always a fan of the original CRX, but a 2 seater was not practical for me when they were common cars.
I wonder if there is a diagnosis in that big manual that the psychiatrists use for someone who loves both the CRX and the Excursion?
I think there was a 2+2 in other markets.
It was a 2+1.
The small lockable compartment in the US version was a jump seat in the home market.
Maybe Melanie was busy with “Candles in the Rain”?
Sorry, ’bout that…
I too was a victim – twice of having a door and a fender dented by someone pulling out of a driveway. One had a note that led to getting the car fixed. The second time it was a phantom. I think the same person, but couldn’t prove it.
Nope.. cars, guns and girlfriends should never be lend !!!
Or chainsaws and/or power washers!
Nice looking CRX and I hope the light cluster damage is repaired plus the car is not left to be beaten to death.
A friend of my mama is an intense PETA member I am not even sure if she approves of house pets, but anyway she borrowed my mama’s Dart, was going over the 55 MPH speed limit, and hit a Deer. Oh the irony, but even at 55 she might have killed the Deer anyway. The Dart was fine by the way and the friend went to church for about a month asking the Lord for forgiveness.
That was the pizza delivery car of choice for many brazilian imigrants working for Pizza Hut in Atlanta GA (me included)
Nice little Coupe .
I always liked the first Gen. one best and wanted a blue Si but didn’t have the $ back then , the dumbassed kiddie boi racers killed them all in So. Cal. sad to say .
My Son had one for a while , it was red and had been horribly wrecked , poorly repaired and re sold , every so often the tweaked body stress would cause the plastic (!) right front fender to crack .
He offered it to me when he was done with it but it was badly hammered , basically junk by then .
Nice to see one still buzzing around in the land of little rust .
The stories I could tell about Customers who loaned their cars then got stuck with the repair bills and worse…
Me too once in a while .
_Nate
It looks like someone backed into it and that’s why I hate parking on the side of the road. I knew one guy who used to have a manual gold ’89 Probe in the family and his neighbour accidentally backed into it but took responsibility. My other friend with a black ’09 Corolla was not as lucky. I believe someone hit the drivers side front fender while parked at work and they didn’t leave a note. A few days later he had parked it on the side of the road while they were redoing the driveway. Someone backed into the drivers side door while he was asleep. We suspected that the neighbour across the street had done it but they never admitted anything and he didn’t have any proof. He had to go through insurance. In cases like the CRX, people might just see it as an “old” car or beater so they don’t care if they put another ding or scratch. In Ontario, Canada, it is harder to find a descent rust free and original CRX.
Learned my lesson when I allowed my landlord at a trailer park I was in at the time to allow his son to use my truck to move a couple of the 5th wheels around while I was at work. He assured me he was skilled at using a clutch. 2 weeks later I decided to give it a drive (Jetta was my DD). The transmission (4 speed saginaw) sounded like a washing machine full of rocks. I drove about 20 ft, parked it and pulled the trans. The rebuild cost $400.00 in 1990 dollars and showing him the broken gears that were replaced got a “my son didn’t do it” response. Lesson learned. When I first started driving in 1972 it was rare that a parking lot bump didn’t result in a note on the windshield offering to repair the damage. That doesn’t happen today, unless you know the person. I once witnessed a car bump in a parking lot back then, and as the driver tried to leave people in the lot walked up to his car and “convinced” him to leave a note. I’ve lost count of the dings and scrapes my vehicles have received over the years, and not once have I found a note. Back in the day it was pretty much unthinkable not to own up to your mistake. So now I just park in safer areas and walk further to my destination. End of rant.
Really nice-looking little CRX, cluster damage notwithstanding. A high school friend has one of the same generation, red with the four-hole alloys, in immaculate condition. Great little cars!
Ha! Reminds me of the time my Mom took my ’83 Toyota Supra and came back with the passenger side door skin completely gone, peeled like a tin can. “Sorry, a fire hydrant attacked me”….
In the fall of ’83 I was coming off bad experiences with the 2 Hondas I had, but somehow ended up at the local dealer where a salesperson practically begged me to test drive a new CRX. Loved the car, but just couldn’t get past what I had experienced previously.
I hope the damage on this car is repaired, I still like these little runabouts. Around here, they all disappeared long ago to the “ricer” kids.
Too bad about the damage. These are nice.
This was what our “little” hit-and-run looked like back in 2005. No note of course!
I haven’t seen a CRX around Motown in about 15 years. The last couple I saw I wouldn’t want to breath on for fear of the rust breaking away and leaving a huge hole.
For that matter, I haven’t seen a Del Sol around in years either.
My first new car was an ’84 CRX 1.5. In the days of “voluntary” import quotas I had to wait two months for delivery. It was worth it. Kept it to about 140,000 miles until I surrendered to incurable overheating.
reminds me of a joke I heard….
guy comes out of work and finds a big dent in the side of his car and a note under the windshield. it reads;
“a lot of people just saw me back into your car and figure that I am writing you a note to leave you my name and number. I’m not!”
In the mid 80s a female co-worker had a red 1st gen CRX. Her’s was a HX and what I remember of my 1 or 2 rides in it was that it felt like we were riding in a go kart with a thin metal body over it. Very cramped feeling and very lightweight/minimal feeling.
As close to the perfect car for my wife (girlfriend at the time) and myself was her 87 Crx SI. High revving , fun to drive , and great on gas.
Sadly traded off for a 91 Taurus when we were to become a family.
PSHOAR :
Unless you got divorced and your Kids hate you , that sounds like a *very* good trade .
-Nate