1991 Honda NSX

What a pleasure to be able to offer this truly breath-taking car for sale. Before I’m in trouble with the purists, the car is available with its original suspension and wheels, should that be desired! But doesn’t it just look so striking on its brand-new coil overs, wheels and tyres?!

 

A phenomenal car, in the ultimate colour combo, with the correct gearbox, it’s even the Japanese short ratio box to give the car some extra pace in a straight line. Add to that full service history and you have a car that looks, runs and drives as if it had just rolled off of the factory floor. Fully original and in absolutely pristine condition, with only one small blemish on the entire body, it is quite remarkable. 

 

The car is in even better mechanical health than even its drop-dead gorgeous looks would suggest. With a top end refresh in 2018 and the leather seats re-upholstered, the car presents as though it had only recently left the factory and drives like it too.

 

With wonderful paintwork, panel gaps and a near perfect interior, there isn't a single area of this car that lets it down. It is as clean underneath as it is on top, thanks to how well the car has been cared for during the years, which for a car of 31 years old is really impressive to say the least.

 

On the road it drives superbly, all of the fabled handling comments and details of how tractable the car can be are all completely true. With supple but supportive suspension, a lovely gear shift action and plenty of power from the sonorous V6, it punches well above its weight when you're looking at it against its contemporaries and will still hold its own when pushed against a lot of more modern material. It's hard to find fault with it, absolutely everything performs and operates exactly as you'd hope for it to. It's no expense spared lifestyle clearly shows! You wouldn't beleive it to look at the car, but there is history of a marker on the car in Japan, consisting of a small repair on the front suspension components, thus the car has been reduced to suit. We are happy to do video calls on the underside of the car, as there is no evidence of this work, as they have only used genuine Honda parts for the work.

 

So, this example is as good to drive as it is to look at. There’s no better time to pick up a rare, right-hand drive, manual in perfect condition. With values flying right now, it will prove to be a sound and enjoyable investment for the new owner. With some of these cars having hit 300k miles now, you needn’t be scared to use it either! We are open to sensible offers as ever, but with hardly any manuals for sale, we don't foresee one this good sticking around long. Get in touch to try some Japanese magic.

The Honda NSX was the first mass produced car with an aluminium monocoque saving 40% against steel and also titanium conrods, reducing weight by 30% and upping the redline from a theoretical 7,300 RPM to a full 8,000 RPM. Perhaps one of the most interesting facts about the NSX's provenance is that it wasn't supposed to feature Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control (VTEC). According to Acura, the NS-X prototype shown to the media at the Drake Hotel in Chicago in 1989 had a dual-overhead-cam V6 engine — no VTEC. In fact, VTEC applications for V6 engines didn't even exist at the time.

 

The new Variable Volume Induction System, or VVIS, opens a second intake plenum chamber at 4,800 RPM to aid induction volume into each cylinder.

 

The story goes that when the prototype's engine was fired up and revved during the media introduction, Honda president Tadashi Kume took a listen and wondered why the NSX didn't feature VTEC, which was brand-spanking-new engine tech. The development team told Kume that VTEC had only been developed for the brand's four-cylinder engines, and therefore not available for the new V6 in the NSX. Kume wasn't pleased, so he pushed for VTEC V6 development and ultimately got his wish, but it came with a few consequences.

 

The new VTEC cylinder head was wider than the head on the prototype's single-overhead-cam (SOHC) engine, which meant that the original body design had to be altered to fit the redesigned block. The wider engine forced designers to come up with a slightly longer wheelbase with increased front and rear overhang for the production NSX. But in the end, it was one man's demand that ultimately delivered the NSX as we know it. But the development team’s greatest hurdle was the need to build a dedicated plant simply to produce the car’s aluminium body.

 

Since no company at the time manufactured a spot-welding machine that could accommodate an aluminium component the size of a car body, a separate project was run at Honda Engineering to develop an original machine, and this was perfected along with the body’s development.

 

F1 driver Satoru Nakajima would lap the Green Hell and then highlight areas of chassis flex, allowing the engineers to weld in aluminium strengthening plates before the next lap. The resulting data was crunched by a Cray Supercomputer.

 

The designer of the McLaren F1, Gordon Murray, loved the NSX so much he bought one, putting 75,000 kilometres on his over the course of six or seven years and using the car as inspiration for the McLaren F1.

 

“The moment I drove the ‘little’ NSX, all the benchmark cars – Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini – I had been using as references in the development of my car vanished from my mind,” said Murray. “Of course, the car we would create, the McLaren F1, needed to be faster than the NSX, but the NSX’s ride quality and handling would become our new design target.”

 

In particular, Murray loved the suspension of the NSX, which allowed the vehicle to be totally driveable on a daily basis, but still provide excellent handling when put on a track. Murray said the suspension was mostly overlooked by the media and that the NSX’s all-aluminium suspension was so good it inspired the suspension for the McLaren F1.

 

Murray loved Honda's supercar so much, he even prodded the company to build a V10 or V12 engine to go into the incredible McLaren F1, but Honda declined and Murray would be forced to use a BMW powerplant. “To this day, the NSX is still a car that is near and dear to my heart.”

 

400 patents were filed for the technology used on the NSX. The engineers were careful to position the fuel tank and seats so that the weight distribution remained almost identical with or without passengers, and with or without a full load of fuel.

 

The mid-engine also allowed for a low cowl-height up front, where 15-inch wheels were used as opposed to the 16-inchers in the rear to further lower the bonnet-line and avoid impeding into the passenger compartment's foot and leg room. Honda engineers felt that one of the biggest ergonomic issues with the competitors was their disregard for taller drivers and often annoyingly offset pedal boxes, something the NSX avoided nicely due to a steadfast focus on packaging.

 

While the .32 coefficient of drag was respectable for its day, ensuring the car had zero lift was considered a necessity. The shape, low in the front and rising gradually to the back, aided in high-speed stability.

 

You’ll find this one a bit hard to beat! With such low mileage and the ideal spec – it’ll be hard to beat in every respect, as an investment, drivers tool, or a show car – it wins on all scores!

 

TOTAL NUMBER OF PREVIOUS OWNERS: 3

TRANSMISSION: 5 speed manual

No. OF FORMER KEEPERS: 3

ENGINE CAPACITY: 2,977cc

ENGINE SPECIFICATION:

0 – 60 in 5.2 Seconds

Maximum speed  168 mph

Power 269 bhp @ 7300 rpm.

Torque 284 Nm or 209 lb.ft @ 5400 rpm

PRICE: £77,995.00 - ONO