I bought this one in 2001. 1984 crx 1500s w 211K from the original owner. Was inspired by the guy w the red Straman crx modified w B16 power plant in Florida. Back then, no one really seemed to know anything about these. This guy in Florida was the cutting edge pre 2000. I believe to this day, he's still the only one who's done a major motor upgrade?? Appears his car is still showing up in car shows in Florida. Happy to see that. I bought it on a whim once I saw the add, wasn't searching to buy.
I hadn't pulled the cover off the '84 in years. Was back in that corner of the barn last week to take a peek. Got me searching Straman CRX's again to see what's been going on. Came across this post on GRM and thought I'd add my 2 cents.
Glad to see Wolfcrx (redpepperracing) still active (Silver w black CF hood). When I started on RPR back in 2008, I had mentioned I had a Straman. A few of the guys who owned them perked up. Told Them I had #10. At that time, it wasn't known Richard Straman serialized each one. Wolfcrx did incredible work developing a "CRX Straman Registry" on RPR . I know there were a few other guys who dug up info as well to help Wolf. I'll attach the link here shortly. This particular registry ended at car #121. His list tabulated just under 40 cars. Was only focusd on 1g's. There are 5-6 he was able to locate w/o numbers with DOM 1987. I suspect Straman made up to 130 of these for the 1st gen CRX. Richard claimed to have made 310 in a magazine article (maybe the 310 included 2g's) - appears to be over stated as part of marketing campaign?? I'd guess maybe 80-90 are still floating around?? This is what I know back from 2013 time frame. I'm sure there's more updated information out there as I've not kept up w Stramans in over a decade.
Wolfcrx's registry:
http://www.redpepperracing.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42018&page=1
Read a set of really great articles from a guy in Michigan who bought a yellow 1987 from Arizona and drove it back. I'm sure hes got the only yellow 1G Straman so searching for him will be easy. (just realized someone loaded the link earlier)
Some incite from the original owner of the 84, #10.... The day he received the Road & Track article back in 1984 on the first prototype conversion, he had to have it. He lived in Riverside right by Stramans shop. Placed 10 deposits w dealerships around the area. This conversion was advertised by Honda, but ordered through the dealerships. The PO lived near by and bypassed the dearship. Within a week, he bought the 84. Took it immediately to Straman's shop. Said conversion cost him $5K and took 4 weeks. Said there were always about 5 crx's in the shop in various stages of conversion. He visited the shop several times a week and chatted w Straman several times. This guy loved the car and drove it all over the greater Los Angeles area clocking 211K.
I had bought mine sight unseen. He was advertising it in the LA area. Was getting lots of interested buyers. He wasn't going to sell it to someone just to drive it as their kids DD and let it get trashed. He placed an add in the "CRX Resource" website in 2001. Lots of interest but no serious buyers. I called him. We chatted. He told me of his car collection. I told him of my growing CRX collection. He was satisfied and sold it to me. I sent him a deposit and copy of my airline ticket to prove I was serious. Bought it sight unseen, flew out (he picked me up from the airport). Came to his house, showed me his car collection, made the transaction, installed a fresh battery to ease his concern and drove her back to Dallas. I kept in contact w the PO a few times over the years to see if he remembered more information and to let him know his cars been tucked away in long term storage waiting for a refit from carb to SI 1.5 power train.
A side notes:
On the drive back, I was surprised how light and nimble the car felt compared to my 87 si's. At some point I'd like to put it on a scale and see how much it weights.
I've only put 200 miles on it since arriving in Texas. Haven't driven it since 2005. Been sitting supported off the ground on a vapor barrier since 2001. I have no stories to share at this time.
I know of 2 Straman owners who own 5 of these cars between them. Its definately a cult thing. Personally, I think they're ugly w the top up. But love 'em w the top down.
The body work on the conversion is amazing. Appears Straman had a great staff of craftsman. He was known prior for converting Mercedes, BMW's at the time when convertibles didn't really exist in the 1980's ... etc.
A fellow owner hunted down the lead guy at the straman shop at the time who worked on the conversions a few years ago. Interesting details. I'll have to chat w him again and data dump later.
It would be interesting to consolodate the stories from 1g straman owners. To hear to lengths some have gone to acquire these, the miles driven cross country bringing these home. I've heard some doosies.
Hope some of this history will help someone out in the future. I don't hear a lot of stories from the original owners of these back in the day. I feel those people w the cash to convert these back in the 80's are up there in age now. And very few watched them being modified in Stramans shop.
Far left in pix is butt end of the straman. Next time I'm out, I post a pix of the underbody mod and trunk. Its top knotch craftsmanship. Another thing I didn't like is the antenna.
Love 'em or hate 'em. They are odd ducks!
