drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  533,300

Odometer (ILX):  124,015

It made my day yesterday to get this instant message from a coworker.  He’d seen that instead of the ILX, my Legend was parked in my “regular” spot at the office.

Let’s talk today about other people who take just as much pride in their cars as I do.  I swear, my friend Josh’s TSX is immortal.  His tried and true road warrior has endured many years of Idaho blizzards, varying road conditions, and now:  Not one, but two “total loss” accidents.  And it’s still running strong at around 450,000 miles on the original engine and transmission.  Well, sort of.  We’ll get to that in a minute.

I first posted a feature on Josh’s then-375,000-mile 2005 TSX back in September 2013.  Josh and I have since gotten together for tandem Acura road trips a couple of times including Shoshone Falls and Lowman, both in his home state of Idaho.

Last July, the car was involved in an accident and sustained damage to the front end.  Over the course of the next several weeks, Josh posted 5-part series of updates called “Rise of the Phoenix” that took his readers through the rebuild process from start to finish.  As a grand finale, the car spent some time inside the dealership showroom of Boise’s “Lyle Pearson Acura.”

All was well until just a couple of weeks ago when the TSX was again met with an unfortunate fate.  Josh ran across a some fallen rock debris – and a deer – on a back road between Salmon and Boise, Idaho.  The result was a tweaked suspension and an obliterated 17″ wheel – among a few other things.  That story was featured here.

At this time, the verdict is still out on whether Josh will continue his quest for 500,000 miles or let the TSX go.  Pop on over to TSXTravels.com and give him a little encouragement if you get time.

I wanted also also follow up and mention my good Legend-friend Mirel.  I introduced him to you in August 2013 when we talked about his near-mint condition 1993 Legend LS coupe 6-speed that he restored.  Since then, he’s done it again…. and again.  Mirel has a knack for finding “used up” Legends on craigslist and putting them back on the road where they belong.  Here’s a thread on the Legend forums where he detailed the progress on his two most recent project cars.

First off, his Cayman White 1995 Legend, before and after.  It had sustained collision damage to the front left corner and required some suspension work, which Mirel performed himself.  His wife is still driving this car on a daily basis.

Getting some help from son & wife.  Acura love is a family deal around his house!

After.  For do-it-yourself body work (and until he has a real shop take care of it), it looks great!

Mirel’s next project car was a Sherwood Green 1995 Legend that needed a new transmission.  Mirel found a 6-speed transmission at the junkyard and swapped it into this car.

Backyard rebuild underway.

After.  It’s amazing what a detail job will do.

He later sold this car, but not before taking a few pictures of his Legend collection at the house — and a black Acura RL (n0t seen) in the garage, too.

Finally, we have a new feature on the blog, and it’s my friend Hy.  He’s been driving Honda cars since the late 1980s when he bought his first 1989 Honda Accord SE-i.  He later went on to buy a brand new 1993 Accord SE which he still has today.  His wife drives a 2000 Accord V6 sedan, and Hy’s daily driver is a 2004 Acura TSX.  Each of the cars is in absolute showroom condition.  I visited his home last night and got a special preview.

This Accord has been lovingly maintained since new, and it shows.  It really looks and drives like a brand new car.

The current odometer reading is a little over 127,000 miles which comes out to only about 5,800 miles per year over the last 22 years.  It’s lived in the Phoenix area its whole life.  Hy told me that when he took delivery, it had just over 100 miles on the odometer.

The interior is as nice as the rest of the car, with triple-stacked floor mats keeping the carpets immaculate.

Even the engine bay looks clean enough to eat off of.

The other car – and Hy’s first Honda stick-shift product – is this 2004 Acura TSX in White Diamond Pearl.  Hy liked the TSX when it first came out and he had a bit of a wait until the car was available.  This example was built in June 2003.

The interior is exceptional, as expected.  This one has 60,012 miles on the odometer.

Hy gave me the chance to drive both cars.  The Accord sails along effortlessly.  The TSX – I only made it about 6 feet before grazing the corner of a brick border around his planter and popping the right rear tire.  Knucklehead of the year?  That’s me.  We installed the donut for now and Hy is getting a new Michelin installed.  Doubt he’ll ever give me the keys again, but if he does, I want to go back over for a longer test drive for sure.  Thanks, Hy, for the showroom tour!

And thanks to all my readers who have shared their Honda and Acura love with me!

This entry was posted on May 1, 2015 at 8:23 am and is filed under Blog, Reader's Ride. 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.