American collectors continue to fan the flames of a booming 90s sports car sector
Like many once-affordable Japanese sports cars of the 90s, Honda’s NSX has only recently seemed to pop up on the radar of wealthy collectors. Over the past year, we’ve observed numerous low-mileage time-capsule cars sold around the world for many hundreds of thousands of dollars, with average prices up 30% this year alone, amidst an otherwise extremely turbulent 2020.
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The latest big-ticket sale came recently on the American auction site Bring-A-Trailer, where a 1999 Acura-badged NSX Zanardi Edition sold for a whopping US$277,000 – or about AU$385,000 converted.
The Zanardi Edition Acura NSX was a US-only special edition limited to 51 units. Built to commemorate back-to-back CART Championships in 1997 and 1998, the Zanardi Editions gained a fixed-tin roof instead of the removable targa tops, while power steering was deleted and a single-pane rear window, lightweight battery and unique BBS wheels were added ultimately adding up to a 67kg weight savings over the standard NSX.
This is #51 of 51 Zanardi US Special Editions ever made, and was given to AMA Superbike Champion Miguel Duhamel in 1999. Duhamel has owned the NSX ever since, having covered just 12,000 miles in its life. Corroborating its incredibly low-mileage, the car presents virtually as new throughout with nary any signs of use at all.
This latest sale is just shy of the standing auction record for a first-generation NSX, with a Championship White 2005 Honda NSX-R with only 348 miles sold in a Japanese auction last year to the tune of JP¥48,400,000.
Are you sitting down? That’s AU$640,000.
While once upon a time, the notion of a collectible Japanese car would have seemed somewhat farfetched, the table has well and truly turned as more contemporary vehicles become the subject of so much desire.
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