Have You Discovered the Secret Yet?
We all have it, but some of us don’t know of its existence. It hides in plain sight camouflaged by all that surrounds it. It is associated with mystery and intrigue, although we are pretty sure that, nine times out of ten, it is discovered serendipitously and without subjecting one’s mind and body to the rigors of intrigue. We speak of that which is described as the “Upper Console Compartment” in that often-unread work of literature, the Honda S2000 Owner’s Manual. If you find yourself scratching your head wondering what the VTAK we are talking about, click through to find out.
It doesn’t help that the description for the object of which we speak is thrown into a large section titled “Instruments and Controls” in the Owner’s Manual with a rather misleading description that says “Instrument panel indicator and gauge, and how to use dashboard and steering column controls.” Upon reading that, one would not be amiss to think that what you see is what you get with regards to storage spaces in the S2000 and that there is no more storage beyond what is visible at a casual glance. However, if you belong among those who believe in reading the entire manual or if you were gifted with a natural inquisitiveness for exploration, you would have easily located what is called the “Upper Console Compartment” or what is more popularly referred to as THE SECRET COMPARTMENT on these here shores.
Page 79 of the 2007 Honda S2000 Owner’s Manual contains a brief description of the Console Compartments under the Interior Convenience Items sub-heading. Why this sub-heading did not form a separate chapter header for ease of location is debatable. Perhaps the technical writers hired by Honda to write the manual were clueless like your news editors (or maybe they are one and the same) OR perhaps it was Honda’s intent to foster some mystery and intrigue about the car and give its owner a renewed feeling of joy upon discovering that their car came custom built with another storage compartment. Whatever the reason may be, the secret compartment has established itself firmly amidst the folklore about the S2000.
Several dealers are clueless about its existence as well. Often times the radio code card is placed in the secret compartment and gets lost there when the car changes hands to a new owner who, when the time comes, will search all over and under and possibly bang his or her head on the roll hoops in frustration. It is also one of those locations where people place things only to forget. If you haven’t checked the contents of your secret compartment in a while, perhaps now would be a good time to do it. A random inventory audit of the secret compartment performed by one of our News Team members researching this post revealed sunscreen, hat, hair comb (for the ladies), one reusable shopping bag (slightly soiled) and a “pocket” umbrella with room for more.
Time and again, we see owners posting up their discovery on S2000 Talk and it makes for some good-natured ribbing. This begs the question, how long until you discovered this secret and how did you find it? Was there a surprise waiting for you inside? May we also request a show of hands from all those who found the secret compartment after reading this article?
Images courtesy of ruexp67 and Honda
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