Twohoos on his car turning 11
I’d like to draw your attention to our member twoohoos, that has posted the following tribute to his car that turned 11 years old.
“Last year I missed posting on my 10th anniversary of buying my car. It only seems appropriate that I do a little online celebrating on its 11th anniversary.
In December ’98 I’d read Road & Track’s cover story on the S2000 (“Honda’s Surprise!” by the late, great Paul Frere) and decided immediately that I was going to buy one. In January I moved to L.A. to start a new job; literally the first thing I did after my flight landed and I checked into my hotel was look up a few local Honda dealers and drive around to get on their wait lists. Most hadn’t even heard of the car (“S2000? You sure that’s a Honda?”)
By the time August/September rolled around, it was clear the car was going to be hot. One dealer called me in early September and told me they’d take me off the list unless I agreed to a $15,000 mark-up.
The big day came — a week earlier than I’d expected. On Sept. 17, a Friday afternoon, the dealer I’d chosen called me at work: “Your car’s here!” I went straight there and found a gleaming NFR with lip, spoiler and side strakes on the showroom floor. “Hmm, you got one without all that stuff?” I asked. They did.
I was the second person to pick up an S2000 from that dealer that day. The first guy, I later learned, had paid the full $10,000 mark-up they’d asked for. I’d paid half that, and I know they were willing to let me walk if I went any lower.
For the next year or so, it was common for dealers to allow only their most senior techs/mechanics to drive S2000s when they came in for service, and owners were well-catered to (as they should be, after paying well over MSRP!).
My car has just under 50,000 miles now, about 10% of those on-track. After 1.5 transmissions, two diffs, three exhausts, four suspensions, and more tires than I can count (not to mention two moves and two kids!) I still tell my wife “You can sell my car when you pry the keys from my cold, dead fingers.” – twohoos”
NOTE: S2KI welcomes the opinions of its members on the S2000 and on all topics related to the S. Should you feel the creative urge to pen a few words then by all means do so and PM Energetic, Aashish2 or Onehots2k OR send us links to what you would like us to write about and we will feature you (or your community) on the S2KI Home Page.