Is the Honda community responsible for our own demise ?
 

So recently I saw a post on bring a trailer and someone was blaming the demise and destruction of itr s and Hondas in general on our community. In some ways I see this as a valid point especially years ago. However Honda theft is still as prelevent and hasn't slowed down even though these cars are twenty years or more now. I will not buy parts from unreputable sources or stolen parts . Seems like that isn't a problem for some folks judging by the cut vins on a large number of hondas at car shows. I am not talking about jdm motors wich come with no vin but blatant vin tampering and the audacity to show it at a car show. What are your thoughts on this? Are chop shops still after these cars? Enthusiasts? Both? I don't want this to be a discussion about bring a trailer or itr being hype R . Discussion is about the biggest downfall of owning a Honda theft and who is responsible for it . Many have walked away from this hobby when someone took off with their baby.

Years ago at the Pav's, myself and a friend were walking around looking at the cars. We notice a yellow ITR with temp tags and the hood was popped. We started looking at it when the owner came up.

Anyways, my friend and I pointed out the the new owner over half the VIN tag on the fire wall was ground away. He was pissed to find this out but really how could the guy not see the bare metal on the fire wall?

So the other half of the equation is some owners are just idiots that have also contributed to the demise. But really I also have to blame Honda as they have lost "The Power of Dreams" which was their old slogan.

I don't get how you buy a car without checking the vins. and what's the point of grinding the firewall vin? there is still the dash, and all the body panel vins..

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A ebay seller tried to tell me it was illegal to sell the transmission with the vin still intact. The ebay pics did not include the vin location as it was out of frame.

Theft has a lot to do with the demise for the Honda community I got burned by my so called friends back in the day on my integra it was stolen years ago and little by little I started hearing word that some of my friends had to do with my car being stolen, at first I didn’t want to believe it but as time went by the prices fit together....but hey I no longer associate with these guys or anything. Now I really don’t even think about buying another Honda/Acura as far as to modifying it I’ve moved on to other car brands. But before all I would think is that Honda was the only car brand for me. But as time goes by we all get older and wiser and realize that modifying them is more of a kid thing well from my point of view

I recall a lot of rx7tocivic drama on here . One with a stolen mugen steering wheel Also another when Peteex silver ej8 got stolen and another member had the wheels on his car. I believe they were regamasters. Another with someone admitting to help push a boosted si who I believe both were azht members .

stupid tapatalk double posted

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similar with my 94 RS way back in the day. "friends" stole it. started seeing and hearing about where my parts were, not a good feeling.

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Friends let friends buy Mugen... then they steal it! Assholes!

Since we're on indiviaduals let bring shops to the equation. What about the shops? And contributing factors there? Some have gone and one, lol has stayed!

I totally get the kid point of view, but for me it's very much an adult thing because I'm not modding it the way a tasteless teen is Amazoning or eBaying his car.
Ive always stayed away from meets n stuff like that in the AZHT "HEYDAY" past but not because I'm anti social which I'm not but I'm anti getting my car stolen. There are like a handful of people or so that I feel are cool on here, the rest well I don't know.

Although I don't know if it's actually a demise, it's not dead. Just like a trend it moves in different directions from time to time and Hondas have shown that.
1998-2017 (for me)has seen many many changes in Hondas and popularity which is still pretty large.

Hondas are a easy to steal and cheap cars. I just recently got Facebook, and the amount of people on there that are looking for things "on the low" or "I'll smoke you out" when it comes to buying or trading parts is crazy. Not to mention they are happy with all this eBay parts.

I stay away from that crowd. That's why I haven't been to a meet in years.

In the end its the nature of the cars. Cheap $600 car with thousands of dollars worth of parts, not a good match.

You were at the last AZHT meet... last year, lol that's not years Hombre!

Honda f1 is killing the game ...jk, it’s killing Honda

If you look at this site and even HT you would think things are dead. I got Facebook about 8 months ago and there are tons of Honda pages and things goin on. Look at WCF this year the top 32 Honda’s were faster than 8.5, I thought my car was quick I wouldn’t even have been close.

Obviously Honda’s are not what they used to be bet the ones left who don’t really use these as daily’s are still going and getting faster. Going to IFO and waiting in a 2 hour line to get in still shows me Imports are still going pretty strong. The biggest things that killed it were theft, dumb kids who make the cars look stupid and absolutely junk shops that are as bad as they thieves.

I don't think the scene is dead by any means. Rather tainted with shady folks. Shoddy shops ,and I guess we can drag the scammers into this as well .

This is how it works people. ALL car scenes do this. Import, Domestic, Euro, etc.

Cool cars a new, and loved. They get cheap and used and people mod them. They get cheaper, more used and crappy people get them and "kill" the scene. The generation that lusted after them, when they can afford them - recollect and restore/rehash/refurb and they get expensive.

Seen the prices of clean ITRs lately? It has already begun. It always starts with the most desirable, then the second most, and so on/so forth. Datsun 240s have skyrocketed so now 260s and 280s are climbing. First gen clean Miatas have tripled / quadrupled.

Happens with any "cool" car.

Shit. That's right. Lol.

But that's different. Going to random meets is not my thing. I don't see the point in it. I actually wanted to go to ifo, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I would of love to participate. I remember going to firebird and speedworld and waiting in line for a while. Fuck waiting two hours. Ain't nobody got time for dat

The comment that started this discussion was on a itr auction on bringatrailer so yes I have seen the prices of itrs. I have have checked daily for the last ten years. I bought one when I saw the prices going up thinking buy now before I can't afford one . I got a high miler and couldn't be happier. She is a blast to drive and I smile anytime I see her. Since last year I have not seen one under 10k except one that was a 99 Canadian R . It was a basket case on bringatrailer. Had some serious problems and repairs needed. I wouldn't have considered that R it had more ajor damage to the underside and shoddy repair work. When I had my 66 bug I don't recall the same type of threat with assholes in the community stealing from each other. You actually threw the peace sign to each other.

I think you nailed it Paul. The r pricing has shocked me lately, and actually rekindled my interest in restoring my R. It starts from the top down, just like it did with Shelbys, Mach 1s, boss' (to use mustangs for example)

I applaud you for getting your R out on the road! And I would say that there is definitely something different in the bug world. I was at Bugorama a few years back and the vibe at that show was very laid back. That's the type of car scene I would love to be a part of, and hope "classic" hondas somehow transition to

^ I was wondering what happened to your Honda tech build .

Any updates on your R?

I dig Hondas (at least those made between 1988 and 2000), so I buy them, sell them, fix them, and occasionally modify them.


What does that have to do with a community?

Cars are cars. If things are going south in your "community" or "scene", sorry to hear that. Perhaps don't apply such silly labels in the future.....

Honestly social media changed the game. Think of the barrier to entry of sharing content here vs Facebook and IG. Easier to share on there and easier to aggregate replies. The scene was affected by the way we consume and share. All scenes felt this change.