drivetofive

Odometer:  506,706

I was pulling out of my neighborhood this week on my way to work one morning and stopped dead in my tracks when I spied a car ahead in a parking lot that I hadn’t seen for a couple of years:  this 1988 Acura Legend convertible.  Back in March 2010, I test-drove this converted ride out in Eloy, Arizona at a private seller’s home.  It had 87,000 miles and was for sale for $1,900.

These next two pictures were taken this past Wednesday, February 1, 2012.  Actually – the car looks even better than it did two years ago, which is a relief.  At least it’s now wearing seat covers to obscure those ratty leathers.

This definitely isn’t the first time a Legend’s been chop-topped.  It’s been done on several occasions with the second generation (1991-1995) model, too.  This particular 1992 coupe is painted in a 1995-only color, called Garnet Red Metallic.

On the topic of oddball conversions, try this one on for size.  As any die-hard Acura Legend fan knows, the 2 door and 4 door Legends share no exterior body panels in common.  There’s an ongoing Legends in Junkyards thread on the acuralegend.org forums.  One of our members spotted this interesting creation.

Coupe with sedan front end!

This has been done before, and even on a model in Desert Mist Metallic like mine.

Weird seeing the different front end on the car!

This morning I decided it was time to give the old high-miler a little TLC so I’ll walk you through my easy process.  I’m often asked how I keep an old car looking shiny.  In reality, it doesn’t take a ton of time!  Start to finish, I only spent about an hour on this.  I’ve had a slow leak on the left front tire so I topped off the PSI before doing anything else.

This old car is definitely not without its squeaks and groans.  Over the last few months, the driver’s door hinge has been getting really loud.  I finally took a minute to spray some WD in there and it’s completely silent again.

I pulled out the vacuum and did the whole interior.  The floor mat you see there is my “daily” mat, complete with a hole worn through from the heel of my shoe!  I keep a “show” set of mats separately in the house – they’re fresh in the box for special occasions only.

Thankfully while most of the country battles bitter winter weather, the worst we typically deal with here in the Phoenix area is a little bit of dust.  The car didn’t need a whole scrub-down, just a quick rinse.

I use only micro fiber towels.  I’ll usually go over the bulk of the water first with a chamois, then come back for the streaks with these towels.  Water is still beading up pretty well since the last wax several months ago.

Don’t forget to take care of all the jambs – including doors, engine, trunk, and even the fuel filler door.

This is also a good time to wipe down the dust on the motor.

Nicely cleaned up interior!  You may notice something here.  Protective dealer plastic on the carpet of the door sills – yes!  I bought a roll of this stuff on Ebay many years ago.

I did a quick polish on the chrome exhaust tips.  They get a little oxidized from time to time.  I just used a one-step Meguiar’s wax called Gold Class.

You’ll notice that I use Meguiar’s products for mostly everything.  I love the Endurance tire shine.  Smells like grape!

Take a damp towel and wipe down the wheel wells a little while you’re in there.

Meguiar’s Natural Shine is a nice product for exterior rubber, vinyl, and plastic – like my front grille and fog light surrounds.

The finished product.  Battered and scarred front end with nearly 507k, but it still looks decent from afar.

All original paint back here!

In current Acura Legend club news:  Every year since 2005, I’ve attended the National Acura Legend Meet (NALM).  Each year the location changes to a new “host” city based on bids that are submitted by local chapters that would like to bring NALM to their hometown.  Bidding was closed a few days ago for the 2012 event.

Stay tuned because in a couple of days the NALM Committee will make the announcement regarding the location of the 2012 event!

Tomorrow the high-miler goes into Acura of Tempe for a few items of maintenance to keep it mechanically in tip top shape.  Among the list of “to-do” items are an oil change (just because I might as well) EGR system cleaning (EGR system last serviced at 434,000 miles), front upper control arms (still original to the car), alignment (because the new front suspension work will require it), and manual transmission fluid (last changed at 467,000 miles).  Any other recommendations, fellow Acura owners & drivers?

Happy Superbowl Sunday!  Hope everyone’s enjoying the big game.  Here’s Acura’s contribution to the long-awaited game day commercial lineup, featuring the next generation supercar Acura NSX concept vehicle.

This entry was posted on February 6, 2012 at 12:48 am and is filed under Detailing, Legend. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.