true, they were supposed to cut it off long ago

 

Cars are never a "good investment". Especially new ones.

 

Say that to someone who bought a muscle car 15 years ago. You could by a mint Chevelle for less than $10k now it is work $85+

 

Just the way the sun is hitting it and the digital pic isn't reproducing colors correctly. Probably some sort of black level compensator that brings up the blacks so they're not crushed in a sea of dark muck.

 

Actually, come to think about it, the seats were grey and not black like MY00. Good catch.

 

I suppose when the original buyer purchased the S2000, he bought it because it was supposed to be Honda's 50th birthday present for customers. The OB must've assumed that Honda would have ended production soon.
I believe the reason the car was still rarely driven due to it already having low miles, so maybe the OB just decided to leave it alone to see if its value would go up.
Then when he realized that the car's value was lowering quite a bit, he probably sold it to the current owner, who now no longer wants it and is deciding to buy his brother's Porsche instead.
/Opinionated suggestion for possible reason of low mileage




Or maybe the original buyer just wanted to store it for fun.

 

Ah, you beat me to the explanation.

 

Honda (corporate) never, ever said it was going to be a one-year car. They did initially say they estimated about 5000 cars/year *for the U.S.*, but that statement in itself implies a multi-year run.

Now, unscrupulous dealers would claim every single year that "this is the last year they're making it", "only 1000 are made each year", etc. But a savvy buyer should have known to look for official published statements on Honda's production plans (e.g. Road & Track quoted Honda as saying that Tochigi could produce as many as 25,000 cars/year). The buyer could just as well have looked to the example Honda set with its ~40th anniverary car -- the NSX -- which was still in production and still getting special editions, tweaks, facelifts, etc.

That said, in 1999 it truly was an astonishing car for the price; production and availability really was fairly limited; and the extremely low VIN does add to the appeal. Given the buyer's huge stable of classic muscle cars, I doubt he misses the few thousand bucks he lost on it.

 

You would have thought that by 2003, the first owner realized that this was NOT going to be a limited production car and should have either enjoyed driving it then or sold it if he didn't plan to drive it. In 2003 it probably would have still sold for $28,000 especially with almost zero miles.

 

18500 and reserve not met yet. This is getting interesting.