I am curious as to what defines "Hand Made."
I know the S2000 is made with 100% Japanese parts in the same Takanezawa Tochigi plant the NSX is made.
To what extent is it handmade? Is this an advantage over automation? What are the differences in quality and specs from the USA and Japanese models?
Somthing funny... The sales manager at the dealer told me the cars body was all aluminum... I had to correct him on that

 

Actually "Hand Assembled" would be more acurate. Limited production cars like the S2000 are probably assembled more cost effectively this way. No giant assembly line has to be set up.

 

Hey Beavis, I didn't realize that you were in Chiacago...there is an active contingent of owners in the city. I live on LSD. We are having a shindig on Tuesday before we leave for Japan...let me know if you can make it and I'll send you the details.

As to the handbuilt issue. I think that a lot of the S2000 IS handbuilt and while that sounds like a cool thing and to some degree it is, it allows for a fairly high degree of variation of things from car to car. We are touring the Takanazawa plant in Tochigi on Friday of next week. We will report back on all the questions asked on that thread in Car Talk, including Bieg's and your question about the depth of the S2000 being handbuilt. We are meeting with lots of the top S2000 engineers, so it's going to come from the horse's mouth...

Stay tuned...!

 

Thanks Greg
I'll be out of town for the next week. The sun has not come out for more than an hour since I picked the car up... What a gloomy June so far! Thanks for the invite to the shin-dig anyhow.
Man, it would be fun to go to the factory in Japan.
Ask them how long it takes to build one. A day? which day is the best? (Old Detroit myth)