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(Video Show Version) This Is the CLEANEST Honda CRX You’ve Never Seen!
(Video Show Version) This Is the CLEANEST Honda CRX You’ve Never Seen!
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About this episode
Mike shares his passion for his pristine 1991 Honda CRX SI, a top-trim, fuel-injected hot hatch from Honda's golden era. He discusses the challenges of finding a completely stock example, the car's reliability, and its nostalgic appeal without modern aids like power steering or airbags. The conversation covers maintenance, insurance, and attending classic car shows, highlighting the CRX's unique charm and community. The episode captures the joy of preserving automotive history and the special connection enthusiasts have with these iconic, unmodified vehicles.
Topics:
1991 honda crx si
classic honda cars
stock condition vehicles
car maintenance
car insurance for classics
car shows and events
manual transmission
fuel injection
car restoration
car enthusiast stories
Cars:
Chevrolet Silverado
Ford Ranger
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Honda CRX
Honda Prelude
Mazda MX-3
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen Rabbit
Could this be the cleanest Honda CRX still alive?We take a deep dive into one of the most pristine 1991 Honda CRXs in existence — from flawless paint to a bone-stock engine bay, this is a build you don’t see every day.If you’re into beautifully preserved classics, detailed car culture, or just love a clean Honda, this episode is for you. Join us for a full walk around, under-the-hood breakdown, driving impressions, and the story behind this legendary CRX.🛎️ Subscribe for more clean builds, collector cars, and real enthusiast stories every week!
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Car
Honda Civic
"... considered to be a hot hatch, like a GTI, even a Civic hatchback, very similar to this car. Mazda MX-3, ..."
Car
Volkswagen Gti
"... what people considered to be a hot hatch, like a GTI, even a Civic hatchback, very similar to this car..."
Car
Mazda Mx3
"So this would have been what people considered to be a hot hatch, like a GTI, even a Civic hatchback, very similar to this car. Mazda MX-3, which you could actually get a small V6 in. This was really what many considered to be the golden era of Hondas."
Car
Honda Prelude
"...s. I have this 91 CRX and I've got also two Honda preludes and 89 prelude SI and also a 1993 prelude SI. So ..."
Car
Chevrolet Silverado
"...lutely be welcome at Truck week. I took my lifted Silverado to Truck week. Oh, nice."
Car
Volkswagen Rabbit
"... car was, well my first car was a 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit fuel injected. I was proud to have fuel injection..."
Car
Honda Accord
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. My second car was a 79 Honda Accord LX hatchback. And that was really when Honda was ..."
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Wow, speed limit here is 55, we're doing about 50.
It feels great though, the car feels like it's got some zoom to it.
It doesn't feel like slug, at least from this side of the car.
Yeah, I know, it's not a slow car, it's not a fast car, but it's not what you call a slow car.
Okay, welcome to another edition of Cool Cars with Chris, and before we get started,
hit that subscribe button or follow button right now.
Hey, I'm watching you, hit it, you know where it's at.
He'll know if you don't do it.
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All right, here we go.
Welcome to another edition where we're with Mike, and Mike's got a really cool car,
a throwback, a classic.
What do you got here, Mike?
Thanks so much for having me, Chris.
This is my 1991 Honda CRX SI.
Wow.
Now, the SI, does it think we know what that actually means?
Sport injected, I guess is what I've always been led to believe, but I guess all you need to really know is it was the top of the food chain back in 1991 for the CRX.
Wow.
There were three trim levels, and this was the top trim level.
If you can believe that, as basic as this car is, it was kind of the thing back then.
Well, when you say thing back then, what were the competing cars like this back then in the 90s?
Well, I guess early 80s, early 90s, late 80s.
Yeah, good question.
So this would have been what people considered to be a hot hatch, like a GTI, even a Civic hatchback, very similar to this car.
Mazda MX-3, which you could actually get a small V6 in.
This was really what many considered to be the golden era of Hondas.
Back in the late 80s and early 90s, unfortunately, they'll never make them like this anymore.
This is a very basic car.
We're talking no airbags, no ABS, no nannies like that.
And it just gives an experience that you just cannot replace.
So obviously, you grew up with this car, probably, going to school.
And I'm not going to say how old you are.
I don't know.
Age is just the number here.
But why the CRX for you?
What made this car, your car, that you really liked back then and still like today?
Yeah, that is a very on point question, Chris.
So back in the late 80s and early 90s, back in the high school and college days for me, this was an aspirational car.
And it was something that you could...
Well, not me as a student, but this is something that a lot of people could afford.
You know, these were not super expensive cars and they were a lot of fun and Honda reliability.
I mean, who can beat that?
So I've always been into Hondas.
I have this 91 CRX and I've got also two Honda preludes and 89 prelude SI and also a 1993 prelude SI.
So I really enjoy this era.
That's great.
That's great.
I know that most people when they get a car like this, any Honda, really even today's Hondas,
it seems like thanks to movies like Fast and the Furious,
thanks to things like that, that it's very, very rare to find one that has not been tweaked with,
modified, tuned, intake, exhaust, wheels, ribs, neon glow.
How did you keep this thing mint stock condition this whole time?
Well, you know, I've only owned this car for about four years,
but let me tell you, it was a very difficult to find one that was completely stock.
And in doing so, I had a hard time.
I actually had to put a question on one of the Facebook groups.
I'd finally, I'd had it, you know, I just looked everywhere.
I wanted one that was not, you know, quote unquote, riced out.
Riced out?
Yeah, that's a term.
That is so hard to find.
But when you find one that's completely stock like this, it's really cherished.
And I love it.
I mean, I also love modified cars.
Don't get me wrong.
I love modified cars and lifted trucks and Jeeps and I love everything.
But to me, a car like this just needs to be stock.
It's where it's most appreciated.
And, you know, the amount of looks this thing gets every time I'm on the freeway
or at the gas station, everybody strikes up a conversation.
People usually want to buy this car.
You know, it's not for sale.
Well, what is the biggest offer you ever got for this thing so far?
Drop numbers?
No, I it's, you know, just, oh, would you be willing to sell that?
And I said, sorry, it's not for sale.
So we've never talked numbers and I'm not interested at this point.
You know, I looked for a car like this for a long time and I like it.
It's small.
It doesn't take up any space in my garage and I'll keep it as long as I can.
That's fantastic.
How many miles around this thing?
Believe it or not, this has 167,000 miles on it.
That's fairly low.
Now, are these, on these cars, do the odometers roll over every hundred?
Or does it have that one mark, that one, that 100,000 spot on the odometer?
Well, this is a Honda, Chris.
I mean, come on.
They're built to go hundreds of thousands of miles.
I know, but some cars have the, like that old Ford Ranger I had.
Yeah.
It like clicked over at 100,000, it would reset back to zero.
Yeah.
This is not the case.
This has a one in front of it.
Okay, good.
And my preludes both have twos in front of them.
So look at that.
They are meant to last.
That is great.
That is great.
Without what engine does this thing have?
So this is a four cylinder.
This has a 1.6 liter single overhead cam 16 valve engine and it makes a scorching
106 horsepower.
Wow.
This is certainly not a car that you're going to go fast in.
I mean, make no mistake.
It has no problem doing freeway speeds, but you know, much above say 80, not that I would
ever speed like that, of course, but much above 80, you know, it's not really a car you
want to be in.
It's loud, it's small, people run up on you.
And you know, that's the other thing.
This because of the design of this, the hatchback, people get very, very, very, very close to the
back of your car.
You look in your rear mirror in the window and there's people like three feet away from
you and you're just like back off, you know, don't rear end me.
I can't replace this car.
Yeah.
Well, our parts are defined for this thing.
If you were to like something, say somebody did run into you and they did go into
like the back quarter panel or something like that.
How would you, where would you find parts?
Well, there are mechanical parts available for this because, you know, the parts were shared
pretty much across the Civic lineup.
But as far as body parts, bumper covers, tail lights, you're going to have a harder time
trying to find stuff like that.
So let's just hope that it doesn't happen.
Yeah, definitely.
Now, because of that, is it harder to ensure or the same for a regular car?
No, I have this on a collector car policy and, you know, because it's not a daily
driver and I have multiple other cars that are on the same policy and it's
actually very, very inexpensive to ensure a car for a stated value.
You know, you pick the value you want.
Right, yeah.
And you pay your premium based on that.
Your risk is lower.
And I'm in the insurance business, by the way, so this is kind of like.
Oh, so it's your wheelhouse, really?
It's my wheelhouse, yeah.
So to answer your question, no, it is not more difficult to ensure.
I would not put this on an actual cash value or a daily driver policy by any
means.
You just, you know, you're playing with fire if you have a loss.
Do you remember the moment when you finally picked it up and what was running
through your mind when you saw this car and you're like, yes, that's the one?
So, and the guy that I bought it from, I'm sure you'll be watching this.
He seems to watch all of my videos.
He follows along.
So I found this car semi locally in like the Temecula Marietta area.
And I'll never forget.
I put the post out there.
I'm looking to buy a car and I got several replies, you know, and he stood out.
He's like, well, I have this car.
It's not really for sale, but it could be for sale for the right price.
You know, here's my price.
Kind of take it or leave it type of thing.
Is it okay?
Well, that's probably a little bit more than I wanted to spend, but I
definitely want to see the car.
So I drove up there.
We met at the mall in Temecula, the parking lot.
And I still have to this day the photos of him driving away.
We went to look at the car.
We made the agreement.
Okay, you know, we'll do the smog and I'll pick it up on Tuesday.
But him driving away, I'm like, okay, there it is.
There's the car right there.
I'm buying that one.
Really?
Just like that?
Just like that.
Wow.
That's great, man.
Well, how many miles do you have on it when you first bought it, by the way?
You had 160 now.
What do you want?
167 now.
I have not put more than maybe a few thousand miles at the very most on
it just because it's, you know, it's a cars and coffee car for me.
It's not, you know, I wouldn't take it to Walmart.
I wouldn't take it grocery shopping.
You know, it's just not that kind of car.
You know, you could certainly do that.
You know, it's a hatchback, but you don't want to leave this
unattended in the Home Depot parking lot.
Right.
You're right, right.
Now the color looks great on the paint job.
Is this new or is this original?
No, so this, I had this painted a couple years ago.
Okay.
These, when they came from the factory, were a single-stage red.
And when I got this car, the top surfaces, the paint was just very, very thin, just
from being, you know, in the sun since 1991.
So it just made sense rather than to get, you know, the roof and maybe the hood painted.
I had the whole car painted, but other than that, the rest of the car is original.
So the paint, the paint job.
Yes.
Did you have to look up the color code and all that stuff to match?
So this is the same color the car came in?
This is, yeah.
This is Rio red.
And it was very important to me that the car be painted Rio red.
Not a different shade, you know.
And if you open the door jams, they, you know, they flawlessly match.
Oh, nice.
Under the hood, everything, you know, that was not repainted.
So that, yes, factory specifications, very important to me.
Yeah.
I mean, keep it identical.
So it did come this color from the factory, off the line, it came exactly like this.
And it looks great.
This is like, literally, like even the badge looks so like pristine.
I love it, you know, because somebody's had these badges ripped off.
Who knows what?
This is like, gotta be the most mint condition, 90 or I guess early 90s Honda I've ever seen in my life.
Well, I appreciate that.
And I do work hard.
It's not a perfect car by any means.
I know every flaw this car has.
What are those flaws then?
Oh, no, we won't point those out.
Oh, come on.
Is there anything in the car that you're like, wish that, I mean, it's a classic and it's
kind of like, it is what it is because it's a time capsule in time, the way they made cars back then.
No airbags, like you say.
Right.
No GPS, no Siri, that stuff.
Right.
But other than those kind of things, anything you're like, I wish I kind of did that back then.
Well, I will say this.
And most, many people that are into these kind of cars may disagree with me, but I honestly
wish this car had power steering.
It has power brakes, but no power steering.
Interesting.
And no, you don't need it.
But it just seems like when you go to crank that wheel, it just kind of makes the car
feel a little cheap.
Parallel parking is cheap.
It just makes the car feel cheap.
You know, like, you know, would it have killed them?
You know, they did have like the Civic sedan did have power steering and some
people can retrofit that to this car, but you know, I'm keeping it stock.
So if you drive this car for the first time, it kind of smacks you in the face like,
wow, there's no power steering.
This must have been a really cheap car back in the day.
Well, did it have a wheel lock?
Like some cars, when you turn the wheel, they'll lock if you don't get the key
or something.
Right.
Oh, it does.
Yeah, yeah.
First security feature.
I think most cars do that.
You know, and it's mechanical, whereas new cars, they're now all electronic
and they fail.
Nice.
So you said you haven't put a little miles in this car.
Have you taken it anywhere far?
Like what's the furthest place you've taken this car to?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I actually take this every year to JCCS in Long Beach, Japanese classic car
show that is coming up in about three weeks from the date of this filming.
So that is in Long Beach and that's an all day affair.
I also go to Radwood.
I've gone to Radwood every year except for the first year,
only because I didn't know about it.
This car has made the journey with me for the last several years.
And I mean, it's probably out of my three Golden Era Hondas
is probably what I consider the nicest, you know,
so it's the most show ready car.
So to quickly answer your question, Los Angeles, you know, we're in San Diego here.
Yeah.
That's about as far as this car is gone with me.
I'm sure it ran just fine all the way up there.
Oh yeah, no problems.
Speaking of running, what kind of oil do you put in?
What kind of gas do you put in?
So the oil is just regular like 10W30.
And, you know, full synthetic is fine.
I'm not against putting full synthetic in older cars like this.
It hasn't been an issue.
And this car, by the way, does not leak any oil.
That's great.
It's just old cars.
Well, does it burn oil though?
Because that older Hondas do burn oil.
Yeah.
Not that I'm aware of.
I think, you know, simply because it's an old car at this point,
it probably does burn a little bit.
But, you know, I check the oil frequently the level.
And I haven't had to add oil in this for a very long time.
Gas is just regular 87 octane.
That's it.
And no premium?
No premium in this.
No.
Nothing.
No.
And is the required it to?
Of course.
I remember that.
So when you take this car out to cars and coffee or to LA or wherever you take this thing out,
what are people's reaction when they see this car?
Well, it's usually, well, not so much JCCS Japanese classic car show,
because there's 400 other cars.
Just like this?
Just like this.
All Japanese manufacturers.
Right.
And you have to kind of audition to be in that show.
You have to send them photos.
Really?
They have to approve your photos.
They want to see the engine.
They want to see the, you know, the interior.
They ask for the VIN number?
They don't ask for the VIN number, no.
But, I mean, this car has never had a problem making the cut.
They don't want, you know, Bondo Buggies or Primered Rides at the show,
which I understand.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Where did you get the window sticker for this thing?
How did you find it?
So the guy that made that for me, unfortunately, is no longer doing those.
So, but he had made window stickers for all my cars in the past.
Cars that I no longer own, including all the ones that I still own.
But it is up to me to kind of provide all of the information where this car came from,
the dealership it was originally sold from originally the options.
And with this car, it's so simple.
I mean, everything was dealer installed.
Fortunately, this came with dealer installed air conditioning,
floor mats, mud flaps, believe it or not.
And people do, when they do see this car, do they ask to go for a ride
or they just take pictures with it or anything like that?
Yeah.
No one's ever asked to go for a ride in it.
Well, I'm asking you for a ride.
Well, yeah.
But I mean, you know, people at a gas station, no,
I wouldn't let just strangers in my car.
Of course not.
I mean, yeah, you know, the keys or whatever.
But, you know, I like mentioned before, I have a few other cars of this era
and I kind of rotate through them.
And I am at Escondido Cars and Coffee every Sunday.
For those of you that are local to the San Diego area,
Dennis, along with the help of myself, we run the Cars and Coffee
and it's been going on.
God, we are, we're going on, I think, six years at this point.
What time on Sunday is it at?
It's at Kid Carson Park.
It's every Sunday, Rain or Shine and we start at 8 a.m.
And we have theme weeks.
So Japanese week, we just had.
You know, we have Euro week.
We have Truck week.
We have Van week.
We have week, you know, pretty much any.
Would my truck be welcome at Truck week over there?
Your truck would absolutely be welcome at Truck week.
I took my lifted Silverado to Truck week.
Oh, nice.
You can bring anything you want.
Lifted, lowered, work in progress.
We don't care.
We have no rule.
Is there a fee to bring your car?
No, there's no fee.
No, of course not.
It is at Kid Carson Park.
There's no fee for the entry to the park,
but it's kind of right behind the mall in Escondido
off of Bear Valley Parkway,
33 33 Bear Valley Parkway, actually.
And there's no fee to participate.
And on any given Sunday we have anywhere from like
maybe a hundred cars to sometimes several hundred cars
if it's the theme week.
Nice.
Yeah, Japanese week is probably our biggest one.
But this has been great.
This car looks amazing.
And it is a stick shift.
Five speed or four speed?
It's a five speed.
Really?
Yes.
Now, at what point did they make five speeds?
Because I thought they were four speeds back in the day.
Well, so back in this era, this 1988 through 1991,
all of the CRXs were five speeds,
or you could get the automatic transmission
in the middle line, which was the DX model.
And those are four speeds?
No, no, no.
They didn't offer a four speed manual in this car.
No, automatic.
Five speed or automatic.
The only version that got the automatic was the DX model,
the kind of like everyday driver looking thing.
The CRX HF, the high fuel economy one,
was five speed only, as is the CRX SI,
the top level trim, five speed only.
So, yeah, four speeds were gone by this point.
And this is a super cool car, man.
I dig it.
I appreciate this kind of era of Hondas that are super clean.
In fact, there's fuel injection.
I think it's a super cool car.
And I cannot wait to go for a ride.
You want to go for a ride?
Let's do it.
All right, let's do this.
Great.
Oh, yeah, she has an attack on the thing too.
That's super cool.
Oh, yeah.
Some of the base models have like nothing.
The model had the attack and it had the course of fuel injection and all that.
Yeah, this model had every available option for the United States.
Now, Japan and even Canada, you could get power windows and power locks.
That just simply wasn't offered to the United States buyers.
So, we have to live with this sort of plebian transportation.
But, you know, Chris, if you notice how thin the A-pillars are.
I mean, the visibility is just amazing.
So, wow.
Wow.
And if maybe you want to show your viewers the view you get from the back with the split kind of window.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Look at that.
Does it actually has like a rear defroster on the windshield?
Yes.
I see the lines on there.
Yeah, it does.
Well, that's super cool.
I'm assuming it works.
I don't, we don't have a frost here where we live.
Yeah, well, sometimes in the early, early mornings you get that kind of stuff.
You know, we're doing 60 miles an hour right now.
And it feels like we're probably doing like a lot faster just because it's loud and it's bumpy.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
I love it.
This is great.
I think this is a great car.
It takes me back.
I know people who had Hondas like this or even the earlier Hondas like the late 70s model Honda Civics.
You know, so I actually had a couple of those myself.
A second car was, well my first car was a 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit fuel injected.
I was proud to have fuel injection back in high school.
We talked about that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My second car was a 79 Honda Accord LX hatchback.
And that was really when Honda was just getting its foothold in the United States.
I mean, they were selling cars here before that, but those are the first kind of cars
that people may start to remember.
And then after that, I had a 1982 Honda Prelude.
So I've owned every generation of Prelude so far except for the fifth generation.
And of course, the sixth generation, which is about to come out.
So I do want to own a fifth gen Prelude one of these days just so I can say that I've
had them all.
So a little story about this is all original except for this Honda CD player.
I was going to ask you about that.
And I'll tell you about that.
So this car originally came with a cassette player, which I still have.
I have it home.
I'll never get rid of that.
But I knew they made a single CD player and it plugs right in.
But impossible to find.
Impossible to find one that works.
Well, you know, I was on eBay and I had my, you know, search set for this particular
thing and one popped up.
And the guy listed it as he did a terrible job listing it.
You know, it was in an old yellow, yellow plastic package.
And I could tell it was in the box was beat up.
But, you know, he's like, you know, Honda CD player works great new.
Something like that.
So I messaged him and I said, have you tested it?
Does it work?
He goes, no, you understand.
It's brand new in the package.
So what do you mean it's brand new in the package?
He goes, new old stock.
It's brand new.
It's never been installed.
You couldn't buy that thing fast enough and it was not a lot of money.
You know, so here I have today a brand new Honda CD player.
Obviously we won't turn it on now, but CDs play in there.
They don't skip.
It sounds great.
That's great.
Yeah.
Wow.
Speed limit here is 55.
We're doing about 50.
It feels great though.
The car feels like it's got some zoom to it.
It doesn't feel like slug at least from this side of the car.
Yeah, I know it's not.
It's not a slow car.
It's not a fast car, but it's not what you call a slow car.
So no, it's super, super clean and it looks like a fun car to drive and it's truly a pleasure to own.
It really is.
I just, you know, you've got the passion to love these kind of cars.
You don't mind putting up with the little idiosyncrasies and maybe trying to find cars and things like that.
Plus, any older car you're going to get to get those things, you know.
It's the nature of it, you know.
Well, this has been super fun and a super thrill and a super cool car, man.
Yeah, thank you for having me, Chris.
I really appreciate the opportunity to have me tell my story and spread the love with these cars
because there's a lot of people out there that love them and I consider myself kind of like an ambassador.
Like an ambassador.
Love it.
Yeah, I love it.
You know, spread the love.
Well, thanks for watching.
This has been a super cool fun time and until next time we'll catch you later.
Hey, don't forget to hit the subscribe button.
Do it.
The subscribe button.
Hit it right now.
I see you.
Hit the subscribe button and I'll see you on the very next episode.
Only if you hit the subscribe button.
Alright, see you later.
Bye, everybody.
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