So I'm at a crossroad with my S2000

I found a really clean example last year and picked it up for a killer deal. I've been slowly restoring it to look showroom quality new. It's a 12 year old car with 120k on the clock and the previous 1 owner used the car for it seemed like everything. I've been replacing worn out bits and pieces, trim that's gone sour, new carpet, etc.

I get to the point where I start to work on the paint blemishes and body imperfections when I find a hint of an accident at some point. I start digging deeper and find that the passenger fender, the front bumper, and the fender liner, are not OEM. The passenger side headlight is not the original to the car, and it appears the rad support had some minor damage. This was a huge buzz kill to my restoration process because it was such a clean car and finding unmodified ones is a pretty rare thing these days.

So here I am, do I keep restoring it and letting it be a garage queen that I occasionally take to a PDX or autox. Or do I take the funds I've been saving up for a second race car (was thinking about building a ITA Miata or 02-05 Civic Si hatch or K swapping my chump car) and turn this thing into a race car since it's not the virgin I thought it was? The bad or good thing? I guess is that it doesn't show up on carfax. I'm thinking the owner ran into a stationary object and had it replaced without a call to the insurance overlords.

I'd stick with what will make you the most happy. No, it's not 100% original, but it sounds like the job was done well enough that it wasn't obvious without doing some deep digging. It also sounds like this was less of an "investment" purchase and more of a "because I really like it" purchase, so replacement parts shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Totally understand, though, finding damage to it this late in the game and being frustrated.

Now, if you really want to track the car, then that's the way to go. But it doesn't sound like, to me, that the damage is bad enough to force you to go that route.

Another option (just to throw some out there) is to keep restoring it, but do some upgrades. Not a full track car, but a much more potent "fun" car with all the cool upgrades you can do to them. More fun at a PDX or autox (in theory) but still fun to drive to work on a nice day or just enjoy on a weekend.

-Rob

Sell it. You'll never be truely satisfied "knowing."

Take the money you get, hypothesisize how much additional it would take to restore the car you just sold and take that total sum and spend it on a better example.

In my experience, virgin stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway.

It's meant to be driven and used. Do whatever makes you drive it more.

STM317 wrote: In my experience, virgin stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway. It's meant to be driven and used. Do whatever makes you drive it more.

QFT. I recently sold a really nice e36 m3 because it was so clean, it kept me from enjoying it.

If it was repaired well and correctly, who cares, it is 12 years old with 120k afterall

I have a friend who works at the port here in jacksonville. You would be surprised how many cars are sold new with paint work...

Lof8 wrote:

STM317 wrote: In my experience, virgin stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway. It's meant to be driven and used. Do whatever makes you drive it more.

QFT. I recently sold a really nice e36 m3 because it was so clean, it kept me from enjoying it.

This.

Lof8 wrote:

STM317 wrote: In my experience, virgin stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway. It's meant to be driven and used. Do whatever makes you drive it more.

QFT. I recently sold a really nice e36 m3 because it was so clean, it kept me from enjoying it.

Same. Finding out that my first year Miata wasn't all-original or clean was very relieving. Now that I knew the front clip had been grafted on from a different car and the transmission and paint wasn't original, I had no second thoughts about going to town on modifications and engine swaps and thrashing on it at autocrosses and piling on the miles on long roadtrips. Meanwhile, my friend also has an early build '90 Miata with 30K original miles that looks like it came off the showroom yesterday and he's afraid to drive it or race it or modify it because it's so clean and original.

You've had the car for a year, and you're just now finding the evidence of an accident? That means that you're either very bad at spotting things (unlikely), or that it was a very well done repair.

As long as the frame is fine I wouldn't give a flying fart.

I think rob_lewis makes a good point - if it's not an "investment" purchase and the repair has been done well, I would be tempted to keep it. Why? You know the car by now - if you buy another one, you might end up with a similar post quite soon...

If however it was an investment purchase then yes, I would sell it and buy the lowest mileage most original S2k I could find. I wouldn't take that to a PDX or Auto-X either, though.

"QFT. I recently sold a really nice e36 m3 because it was so clean, it kept me from enjoying it."

Same here with my TR6.

Seems like you might be best off just continuing on with there restoration with an eye towards enjoying the car when done. Was it mean to be a flawless car/restoration investment or were you gonna drive it? Sell it if the prior, finish it and enjoy the Hell out of it otherwise ! !

I worried about damaging that TR6 during the entire month between when it was out of the restoration shop until I sold it. Too much to worry about in life to include a couple of thousand pounds of metal as well.

I guess I don't get the investment angle on this car. S2K's definitely hold their value well, but it just has too much mileage to attract that kind of buyer. The car may be absolutely cherry when you're done with it, but folks still cling to those 100K milestones imho.

I'd just drive the snot out of it knowing I had a beautiful ride that I could also thrash. Best of both worlds!

There is only one reason to "restore" a late model car with over 100k miles, and that is because you would enjoy it more that way. You will not get your money back when you go to sell it, so you might as well enjoy it.

I used to worry about keeping my car nice for the next owner, now I just try to enjoy the car while I own it enough more that getting a little less at sale time is no biggie. If you have to drive something else to keep your nice car nice, how do the costs of the second car compare to the depreciation of the nice one, and how much more fun would you have for all those miles driving something nice?

Matt B wrote: I guess I don't get the investment angle on this car. S2K's definitely hold their value well, but it just has too much mileage to attract that kind of buyer. The car may be absolutely cherry when you're done with it, but folks still cling to those 100K milestones imho. I'd just drive the snot out of it knowing I had a beautiful ride that I could also thrash. Best of both worlds!

I don't think DirtyBird bought it as an investment, per se. But, I can totally see buying a halo car like this that you'll enjoy for 10/20/30 years which will probably go up in value. No harm in getting something you like and trying to keep it nice enough in case it does increase in value.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis:

First of all - agreed. Second, my comment wasn't so much pointed at Dirty as the other comments in the thread. Rereading my post though I can see why it looked that way. Clear use of pronouns FTW!

It is just a Honda.

The only time I would make a big deal is when I was buying it (to beat the seller up on price). Now that you know about it, it would be kinda shady to not mention it, and a lie if asked outright if it had ever been in a accident. What did the carfax say when you bought it?

A) what was you're original intention of use when you bought the car?

B) what was your plan as an end point for any modifications to the car?

C) what was your anticipated duration of ownership? (Eventual sale, totaled out, used until not worth the maintenance)

I think if you answer those honestly you'll have a solution. It sounds like you found something nicer than expected, started making it super clean and the percieved diminished value has ruined expectations on future sale.

(My vote, sounds as if you like it. If you have the storage space and it isn't costing you too much to own put as many miles as you can on it and enjoy the perma-smile. Who cares about saving it for the next owner to abuse)

In reply to DirtyBird222:

If I were at a crossroads in your S2000, I'd take the twistiest route with minimal traffic. Just saying.

mtn wrote: You've had the car for a year, and you're just now finding the evidence of an accident? That means that you're either very bad at spotting things (unlikely), or that it was a very well done repair. As long as the frame is fine I wouldn't give a flying fart.

I bought it as a date night/weekend/autox/pdx car. It's been used as that but between work, kids, chumpcar, and reserve duty it's usually the bottom priority. It's been a blast to perform all those functions so far. And it was repaired really well and if I had to guess it was early in the life of the car.

It was never an investment. The restoration was mainly to make it a pristine car that's still used. Just an OCD part of me. Its kind of a relief in that I won't feel so bad added CR parts, or a power adder, or a J series or LS swap. It opens the books. Maybe a cage, some suspension bits, and general maintenance and keep it a low cost car that can still do everything I bought it for.

If the damage was repaired well enough that it's not obvious to a trained eye, then it doesn't really matter. On the other hand, the fact that my 911 had had a new bumper cover and one headlight was obviously much newer than the other probably helped me out by at least several thousand dollars, or maybe by so much that it would have been snapped up well before i got around to buying it if it didn't obviously have some kind of cosmetic damage history. I am very thankful for that ugly headlight, even if i plan to replace it.

Knowing what i know now about your semi-ruined s2k, i offer $6000. But I really encourage you to just keep it and enjoy it.

Sometimes i wonder if people take this approach to pristine histories out on cars because they knew if they did it to their significant others they'd live out their lives in pristine solitude. Who knows.

I did just install a cai. Hearing all the VTAKS is cool too. The stock intake elbow had a huge tear in it

So I decided to call the only previous owner of this car. I asked about the damage. "So I was leaving the dealer after just buying the car. It was slightly wet, as was I. I goosed the car a bit, i lost control, right side of the car hit a stop sign. I had the dealer do all the repairs and it drove fine until I sold the car to you. Sorry I didn't disclose that info."

He was slightly wet? Is that code for two beers?

I say who cares. My dad had an E39 540i 6-speed that was in great shape. He never drove it, and all the satisfaction he got was from looking at it in his garage. He was enjoying the IDEA of the car, rather than the car itself. Seemed like such a waste to me. He sold it after it started needing a lot of maintenance items, it never went up in value because he didn't drive it.

I like that my cars aren't garage queens, it helps me enjoy driving them more.

He was wet as in moist in the pants from excitement.

I would DD this thing if I didn't have parasites to tote around town

pimpm3 wrote: If it was repaired well and correctly, who cares, it is 12 years old with 120k afterall I have a friend who works at the port here in jacksonville. You would be surprised how many cars are sold new with paint work...

Can confirm, I work with cars that have come from Port but prior to being distributed to dealers, things happen in transit that the buyer would never be aware of.