Legend Coupe 15-Year Ownership Anniversary Video, News from NYIAS
Odometer (Legend): 559,218
Looky here. Someone’s creeping up on a 560,000-mile milestone, and it will happen this weekend on an upcoming trip to Utah for the Easter holiday weekend.
This past Monday 3/26/2018 was the 15th anniversary of the day I flew from Las Vegas, Nevada to San Jose, California to buy the Legend coupe. I was 21 years old, studying for my Associates Degree at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah and working part time at SkyWest Airlines. Those were simpler times. It’s hard to believe a decade and a half have passed.
Here’s an 8-minute video I put together, celebrating in the only way I could on a Monday morning: driving the car to work. After the workday to-and-fro commute, I sorted through a few pieces of old paperwork to reminisce a little. Enjoy!
The red Integra is on day 2 at the mechanic and the jury is still out on what kind of maintenance it will be getting. Meanwhile, I tried placing an order for some remanufactured alloy wheels to replace the current hubcaps & steelies, only to have the vendor cancel my transaction because “They’re on back order.” Just like everything else with these 20+ year old cars, everything is out of stock or discontinued. It’s a long road ahead.
I missed out on “most” of this week’s New York International Auto Show festivities, but I was able to tune in on Wednesday morning for a live feed from the Acura press conference. Article on CNET here. And, it looks like my friends were having fun without me. HondaPro Jason and my friend Conor sent me this pic from the show floor.
Senior Vice President Henio Arcangeli took the stage to announce the debut of the MDX “A-Spec” model, as well as the all-new-for-2019 RDX (which itself will be available with an A-Spec variant). Adding to the aggressive nature are a pair of nice chrome-finished exhaust outlets at the rear. The panoramic sunroof looks like a nice touch too.
The MDX and RDX are two very important vehicles for the brand from a sales perspective, and it appears these updates will keep them at the front of the pack in their respective segments. Just to give context to the volume of people who are buying these SUVs: In February 2018, the MDX sold 3,337 units and the RDX sold 3,766. Do you know how many the RLX sedan sold? 151. It’s no wonder there is so much focus on the SUV lineup.
I’ll forever hope for another sports coupe (at least something sub-NSX-pricing) in the lineup, but for now I am glad to see the direction to a more performance-minded culture with all this A-Spec talk. It takes us back to the Precision Crafted Performance days of yesteryear, where the brand got its start over 30 years ago.
Have a great holiday weekend.
drivetofive 
March 29, 2018 at 7:39 pm
Great trip down memory lane. I have always liked the second generation Acura Legend. Specially the coupe. Also, looking at the original paperwork from when car was new, I have many, if not all, of those documents from when I got my 2005 Acura TSX in March 2005. I have window sticker, original sales/lease contract and the predelivery inspection report. The paperwork from 1994 and 2005 looks identical. .
March 30, 2018 at 7:01 am
It would be a cool thing to see some of that original paperwork that you have on your TSX. Do you have a YouTube channel? I bet Josh Clymer would enjoy it too. He is also the original owner of his 2005 TSX.
March 29, 2018 at 9:09 pm
Great post, love seeing some of those original photos from back when the car was brand new. Nice looking molten orange Fiesta ST sitting about three spots from your spot at work! Hope that you’re enjoying the Easter weekend with your family. Here’s to another 15 years with the Coupe!
March 30, 2018 at 7:02 am
Haha, thanks Adam! I didn’t even think of the fact that there was a Molten Orange ST in my work parking garage until you said it, haha. The spots there aren’t assigned (basically I can park in any space on Level “B1”) but usually the same handful of cars park around me. Actually, the car that usually parks right next to me is my friend Jack’s silver 2006 RSX which is in one of the photos in this post. Thanks for the congrats on the anniversary and I hope you have a great weekend!
March 30, 2018 at 5:23 am
Looks like more proud ownership milestones… as you pointed out to me recently this year will be 15 years for my 04 TSX & 25 years for the 93SE. Time is literally flying…. make it stop – PLEASE! 😉
BTW your quantity & quality of vids are both improving. Based on the lack of a watermark for your latest productions I assume you’ve settled on one to buy?
Also I (and hopefully your other loyal followers) will keep our eyes open for those wheels for the “RedTeg” or any other suitable OEM parts you might need.
Happy Easter and safe travels…
March 30, 2018 at 7:06 am
Thanks for the anniversary congrats – wow, 15 and 25 for you! We will be celebrating those, no doubt about it.
For video software I’m using Windows Live Movie Maker which is a free download. The only reason I used that trial version of “Filmora” for two Integra videos was because I wanted to do a “picture-in-picture” effect and WLMM won’t let me do it. I’m still undecided on which program I’ll go with but based on the level of YouTube response (already nearly 200 views on the anniversary video, which was just posted 11 hours ago) I think the momentum is good and I will try to keep the channel active and interesting.
By the way, I did end up finding the Teg wheels from another supplier but I haven’t paid for them yet. He wants over $200 apiece. I’m trying to decide whether I’d be better off finding a ‘used’ set for cheap, then having them refinished myself at wherever the nearest AWRS location is (I think PHX may have closed). As I recall I paid about $125/wheel to have the Vigor ones redone but that may have been a repeat customer special. Have a great holiday weekend!
March 30, 2018 at 7:08 am
Here are the part numbers:
Right side: 42700SK8A32
Left side: 42710SK8A32
Gotta love those directional wheels. I’ll need two of each.
March 30, 2018 at 7:08 am
Tyson, first, congratulations on the 15 years of ownership! When most people would have long since traded a vehicle in, you’ve kept it rolling (and rolling and rolling), creating new adventures and then sharing those with your audience. Very, very cool. Does the Legend need any major work currently, or is everything status quo?
As for the red Integra… I know I might get things thrown at me from some other readers, but I really like the original steel wheels and wheel covers. It makes the car scream “early nineties!” which isn’t a bad thing at all. If you lived in the snow belt, I’d say at least keep them as the wheels for your winter tires (which would be a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 tires… 😉).
As an aside, I can’t believe this May will be three years since I got my Accord. Time flies!!
March 30, 2018 at 7:12 am
Time does fly! The Legend is roadworthy – I’ll be putting 400 miles on it tonight, if all goes to plan. I’m also planning on taking it up Pikes Peak this summer at the 2018 National Acura Legend Meet (NALM). I do need to address a leaky power steering rack but other than that I think things mechanically are pretty good.
You’re right, there is something endearing about the hubcaps. I will be saving them either way in case I go back to them. But I checked the dealer brochure for the 1992 Integra and the specs page shows that alloys were optional on the LS, standard on the GS. So since my LS already has some other options (the accessory wing spoiler is one of them) I think I’ll add to that a little bit and get the alloy wheels for it.
This of course should be a lower priority than the maintenance work I’m currently having done, but I can’t help but start thinking of what comes next.
Wow, 3 years already soon with the Accord! I’ll be looking forward to that blog post! Have a great weekend Tim.
April 1, 2018 at 8:14 am
Hi Tyson, you have been driving your Legend coupe for 15 years, wow that’s really amazing! I did watch the video with closing captions, that was really awesome video! I can’t believe that you keep your pictures and other stuff in the past when you bought your first Legend Coupe. I’m glad that you keep your Legend coupe forever, it is really good car. I like to keep my Prius forever too. 🙂 I hope you are doing well! Happy Easter!
April 1, 2018 at 6:28 pm
Thank you Josh! I’m glad there are people out there who can appreciate what it takes to keep an old car on the road for a very long time. I hope you had a great holiday weekend, my friend.
April 1, 2018 at 8:14 pm
Congrats on 15 yrs with the coupe! I think you should have a Sweet 16 party for it next year. Guests will bring gifts of power steering fluid, 5w30, and Simple Green cleaner.
If I had the space, i would’ve kept the ’98 Teggy 15 yrs also!
April 1, 2018 at 8:27 pm
Omg. I think you’re on to something. Crepe paper and streamers. You’re the party planner. Let’s make it happen for reals.
April 6, 2018 at 9:09 am
Love love love posts like this looking back in time. The coupe looks the same, remarkably! Looking forward to seeing it again today. Only a few more hours of work here. 😀
April 6, 2018 at 9:25 am
Woot woot! Looking forward to your visit!