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frozenrice
06-15-2009, 07:31 PM
Searched and came up with nothing......wish there were more pictures.
Honda's Secret Museum (http://nwp4life.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=32520&page=1)

Lucky97
06-15-2009, 07:42 PM
wow those cars are soo mint. i can only wish

EK 2.0
06-15-2009, 07:43 PM
soooooooooooooo cool...

minty cars, minty motors...:drool:

badatusrnames
06-15-2009, 07:43 PM
Cool! Just like the pics of the Nissan facility that popped up a year or two ago.

It's so neat seeing now tired looking models you see on the street in factory new condition.

Nissan_Fanboy
06-15-2009, 07:45 PM
Holy sheiitttt,
All those cars are insanely mint,
:O

:banghead: wish i could afford all those cars

Mr_ET
06-15-2009, 07:45 PM
god's chariot in it's purest form :thumbsup:

Deetz
06-15-2009, 07:48 PM
It looks like a public museum from Honda America. Some very old school rides there, i have owned a few cars like those myself, a long time ago, ha ha

Joe-G
06-15-2009, 07:56 PM
Wow sooo many mint cars...
I have a friend whos dad would definitely enjoy a visit there.
He has an 01 Integra GSR with just over 1, 000 kms... :eek: :eek:

It just sits in their garage...

Hash_man
06-15-2009, 07:59 PM
Booooooooooo.... No 3g accord!!

Very cool aside from that though lol. I love how they have cars like the Wings West civic in the museum too... That car was killer in its day, I still have my diecast sitting on my shelf.

That 1g Mugen CRX is insane.. probably my favorite car there :drool:

CivicDXR
06-15-2009, 08:00 PM
wow, just insane... and they even have the Super Street Civic Si in there! I still have that model in my room!

sxtothe240
06-15-2009, 08:05 PM
thats pretty cool.
Type R, super minty :drool:

nykz
06-15-2009, 08:16 PM
Super minty Hondas :drool:

Mibz
06-15-2009, 08:28 PM
I liked the cut-away engines. It'd be nice if every manufacturer had a museum like that. I'd do a tour for sure.

frozenrice
06-15-2009, 08:31 PM
I had a good chuckle at the CB9 Accord Wagon.
Come to think of it, I currently own two cars in that collection. The wagon and the DA Integra LOL.

nismodrifter
06-15-2009, 08:37 PM
That Mugen CRX looks hardc0re yo. Bare bones interior to the max.

Here's the full story on the museum + more pics in the article:
http://www.motortrend.com/auto_news/112_0704_torrance_honda_museum/index.html

Very interesting story, definitely worth the quick read. Some of the cars in the museum are bought randomly after they've been spotted by Honda employees haha. They are still searching for some rare cars to add to the collection.

Ads + other BS take up 3/4 of the page on that link so here's the article:


At first glance, you wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary is lurking inside the nondescript building in Torrance, California. But step through the doors, and a massive warehouse filled with a cornucopia of significant Hondas and Acuras emerges - each vehicle with a story to tell.

Few people have set foot inside. There are approximately 50 vehicles in all, not including 12 currently stored in a warehouse off-site. The collection is not open to the public and there are no plans to change that policy. Even most Honda employees have never been here. It has the feeling of a shrine of sorts; a place where the Honda/Acura cognoscenti would gladly come to worship.

The man responsible for the shrine, make that museum, is former American Honda employee Lou Staller. A lifelong car enthusiast, Staller has always been passionate about collector cars. After 32 years of employment with American Honda, the museum was a chance to take his hobby to the next level, with backing from the automaker.

Clearly, these aren't your ordinary Accords and RLs, as we observed during a recent tour of the facility. Interested in historic production models? There's a pristine 1970 Honda N600, a 1975 Honda Civic and a 1988 Honda CRX Si to reminisce about. Race cars you ask? A lineup of IRL and CART open-wheelers as well as race-winning Acura NSX and Integra models line the back wall. Motorcycles? Yep, there's a bunch of them too. Numerous other significant vehicles round out the collection, including a rare 1997 EV Plus, the first electric vehicle to be marketed in the U.S.

Engines perch on stands along the museum's perimeter, some with cutaway sections that expose polished exhaust valves and camshafts. Old magazine advertisements grace the walls and a trophy case sits in one corner, flanked by two Honda Racing motors. Large "Powered by Honda" lettering is mounted high above the race cars.

The museum, known to many as the American Honda Private Collection, is obviously something of a labor of love for Staller, who tries to pick the cars himself - the standards of others sometimes being not as high as his own. "I've relied on some of our service and sales reps before to look for cars and they say 'Oh, yeah, it's really good!' he recalled. "Well you have to roll down the window of your car as you're driving by the thing before you tell me it's good!"

Staller has various methods for hunting down vehicles he needs. "We post the list of cars we need on the internal Honda web. I also spend time on eBay and Auto Trader and just look for what we need," he said. "That's really the process. We have a list we created and we're just chipping off the list."

Some cars are obviously tougher to find than others -- Staller could go on for hours about cars that were right year, wrong condition, or vice-versa -- but sometimes they just seem to come to him.

"A lot of people call me and say 'Two houses away from me an original Odyssey is sitting in the driveway,' and there's a white one sitting there and all I have to do is knock on his door," said Staller.

It's easy to mistake the cars assembled here as brand new, plucked from the production line machines that were gently placed into a time capsule. But they have all seen road (or track) use, which makes them all the more amazing. So far, none of the cars have required major cosmetic surgery. Staller is particularly proud of an Acura Legend he was tipped off to by a Northern California Acura dealer.

"I bought it from the original owner with 104,000 miles on it and that's the way we took delivery," he said, glancing at the sedan's brilliant grey paintwork and flawless body panels. "We didn't do a thing to it."

There are big plans for the future. A re-creation of the first American Honda corporate headquarters in Los Angeles that was converted from an old carpet shop is planned, along with a second floor mezzanine. Staller also has another project cooking that he's especially excited about.

"After the mezzanine is installed we're going to take a corner that we're going to call the concept corner and we're going to bring some concept cars here," Staller said excitedly. "We've got the RDX concept car which is a really bad looking car, but it was really cool at the same time. We're also going to put the aluminum shell of an NSX that we have in storage back there." Ambitious plans for sure, but preservation of Honda's history is a priority here.

There are 18 left cars on Staller's hit list; 16 Hondas and two Acuras. Taking the list out of his shirt pocket and gently unfolding it, he mentions that the most elusive has been a 1973 Honda Civic - the first year of production. Something about the tone in his voice says he'll find it someday soon.

djayz
06-15-2009, 08:45 PM
Yah they are definately missing a lot of cars haha.
It's a shame they have to lock that up or is it open for public viewings?

Would be awesome if some private collector had a secret garage full of every production Honda :eek:

Ferio_vti
06-15-2009, 09:41 PM
Wow that's a GT4 garage come to life.


ATTN Kevie88:
We're going there for a heist...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3641/3623359478_75c50c2836_o.jpg

:drool:

Darell_n
06-15-2009, 09:58 PM
Looks like the Honda Collection Hall in Japan, only smaller.

Disoblige
06-15-2009, 10:07 PM
Holy crap. Studio E design way better than Element here! And that's such a mint prelude!

97'Scort
06-15-2009, 10:35 PM
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/3622536981_f5f8f18373_o.jpg

What's this? I've never seen one before. I like the styling.

frozenrice
06-15-2009, 10:43 PM
It's a Honda Z (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Z).

v2kai
06-15-2009, 10:44 PM
type R badge number 001!?!? so clean:drool:

n1zm0
06-15-2009, 10:46 PM
Originally posted by 97'Scort
What's this? I've never seen one before. I like the styling.

Z600, would be so great to goto that even a nissan or yota museum

Edit: that first gen (?) racing civic with yellow rims would be a blast to drive I bet!

Redlyne_mr2
06-15-2009, 11:36 PM
Wow awesome I love the race cars.

71car
06-16-2009, 07:25 AM
Nice photos! I still have my 1974 Honda Civic in storage, but do needs some work to bring her back like new. It was one of the first Hondas brought into Canada to T&T Honda dealership (the old location years ago).

America got their first Civic in 1973 - one year before Canada got then. But Toronto did had gotten a few N600 and Z600 models in 1970-71, what I've heard.

legendboy
06-16-2009, 08:48 AM
holy crap

scat19
06-16-2009, 08:53 AM
Originally posted by Ferio_vti
Wow that's a GT4 garage come to life.


ATTN Kevie88:
We're going there for a heist...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3641/3623359478_75c50c2836_o.jpg

:drool:

I was gonna post that up. Gorgeous!

And no rear brakes on the top car? :

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3359/3623357988_c5bbab186a_o.jpg

Neil4Speed
06-16-2009, 08:53 AM
Beautiful Legends G1/G2 Coupes and Sedans in the last couple of pics.

GQBalla
06-16-2009, 09:08 AM
mint.

you could eat off those engines

01RedDX
06-16-2009, 09:35 AM
.

Redlyne_mr2
06-16-2009, 03:10 PM
Originally posted by 71car
Nice photos! I still have my 1974 Honda Civic in storage, but do needs some work to bring her back like new. It was one of the first Hondas brought into Canada to T&T Honda dealership (the old location years ago).

America got their first Civic in 1973 - one year before Canada got then. But Toronto did had gotten a few N600 and Z600 models in 1970-71, what I've heard.
Any pics?

JordanAndrew
06-16-2009, 03:28 PM
They almost look like toys in some of the pictures. Nice find! :D

98type_r
06-16-2009, 03:48 PM
Originally posted by Darell_n
Looks like the Honda Collection Hall in Japan, only smaller.

definitely going to add that to the list of things to see next week when i'm in tokyo

flipstah
06-16-2009, 03:49 PM
1997 Honda GRX

The Honda GRX was designed entirely at Honda R&D Americas as a future Honda sport vehicle. It was followed by the Honda JVX debuted at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show.

These two concepts were styiling insipiration for the production of the Honda Insight hybrid vehicle introduced in 2000.

How did this...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/3622538443_52ede00bd3_o.jpg

Become to...

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/autoreview/400x266/2000-Honda-Insight-00802001990003.jpg

That? :barf:

Great find nonetheless! I can only wish of going to these kinds of museums.... :thumbsup:

Nissan_Fanboy
06-16-2009, 05:42 PM
Originally posted by flipstah


How did this...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/3622538443_52ede00bd3_o.jpg

Become to...

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/autoreview/400x266/2000-Honda-Insight-00802001990003.jpg

That? :barf:

Great find nonetheless! I can only wish of going to these kinds of museums.... :thumbsup:

Maybe it was lighter and more aerodynamic?

badluck
06-16-2009, 06:05 PM
:love: oh my god:love: someone get me a towel, good find!!

Graham_A_M
06-16-2009, 10:36 PM
Originally posted by Nissan_Fanboy


Maybe it was lighter and more aerodynamic?
Thats the outcome of when Beancounters and cynics are allowed to partake in the design process. ;)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/3622539323_f6a6e807ed_o.jpg
^ I haven't the vaguest idea of how that front suspension works... :confused:
I guess I'll have to google that for more pics since that angle doesn't do much.

really cool to see all these cars and bikes from decades gone past. 1973 Civic, yeah that must be ultra-rare.
:eek:

Skyline_Addict
06-16-2009, 10:57 PM
amazing!

NEMiS
06-17-2009, 09:35 AM
not that this thing is overly special or anything. but i found it funny that i own the same bike, and it nearly took my life.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/3622540295_cd638c5062_o.jpg

bigboom
06-17-2009, 02:58 PM
Originally posted by Graham_A_M

Thats the outcome of when Beancounters and cynics are allowed to partake in the design process. ;)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/3622539323_f6a6e807ed_o.jpg
^ I haven't the vaguest idea of how that front suspension works... :confused:
I guess I'll have to google that for more pics since that angle doesn't do much.

really cool to see all these cars and bikes from decades gone past. 1973 Civic, yeah that must be ultra-rare.
:eek:

that suspension looks like a mountain bike suspension that came out in the 90's. look up gervin forks and that the exact setup they used on their forks.

71car
06-20-2009, 10:34 AM
:D Nice vintage Hondas there!

Deckard
06-20-2009, 11:48 AM
Originally posted by Graham_A_M
Thats the outcome of when Beancounters and cynics are allowed to partake in the design process. ;)

In the case of the Insight, it had nothing to do with beancounters. The car was built to achieve maximum efficiency and mileage, so obviously the lighter and more aerodynamic they were able to make it, the better. In fact, if anything it was more likely the outcome of the engineers being given more rope than usual in the design process.

You have to remember, back when that concept first came out, hybrids weren't quite as ubiquitous or popular as they are now; it was a relatively new idea, so obviously a company that was planning to launch a new hybrid vehicle in the then-near-future had to create some excitement and buzz around both the technology and the upcoming vehicle. What better way to do that than an exciting, ridiculous concept car?

That is an AMAZING collection though. Love the RealTime Racing cars.

89s1
06-20-2009, 12:02 PM
I didnt see an 88-91 hatchback civic, just the CRX.

I'm guessing an 88-91 mint si is on his list (not if i find it first though) :poosie:

Rediculars. Those cars are so fresh.

Shogged
06-20-2009, 12:03 PM
2nd gen integra <3

so many memories

Proboscis
06-20-2009, 07:49 PM
59 chevy in one of the pics :thumbsup: