Hello Honda! (again)

I need to do this blogging thing more. It's fun! 

So, yes, I went about 3 years with the BMW and sold it. Shocker, not shocker! My wife says the only thing I can promise is that in 2-3 years I'll want to sell whatever it is I own at the time. LOL sniff sniff...mmm hmm. I can't say anything...that is exactly what has happened. This is my (bug, civic, mustang, civic, wrx, fit, bmw, civic) 8th car! This is the keeper!
Seriously though, this might just be the keeper.
So, what did I buy? I bought a 1999 Honda Civic DX Hatchback in Roma Red with, wait for it...34,498 original Utah miles! I know!!!!! It's like a brand new car!!! It's 20 years old!!! Like "What the Honda!!!!????"
So, here's the story. Utah winter is wrapping up. It's about February, March and I'm starting to itch. My bimmer is running the stock wheels/tires (looks pedestrian), has a ticky noise I can't track down and its been about 3 years. The car has 150k miles and I start to search ksl classifieds. As I mentioned in my bye bye bimmer post, I always start out by looking for a 90's Civic. It's the car I grew up on! I'm hooked to them. They're light, nimble, economical, easy to work on, cheap to mod and on and on. The problem is at this point they are 20-30 years old. They're classic err... Neo Classic cars. They're not a JDM Legend! Which means they're project cars! I don't have time, money, space or tools for a project car!!! The entry price is great! I mean, even I can afford $2000-4000. So, I usually start looking for newer cars. This time I spent much time in the Mustang realm. Especially about 3 weeks ago. My brother told me he was going to be selling his S550 V6 Mustang and would be looking for an S197 (2005-2009) Mustang GT. Those can be had for about $7-12k depending. I was all in to be a Mustang bro again! Utah is not a sports car mecca. With only about 2 million people from Utah County up to Ogden, its like searching for a car in say Irvine/Anaheim but no where else. Not much selection! So, I wasn't finding any good S197 candidates. I started searching for WRXs, Hondas, Acuras and whatever sounded interesting.
I was actually willing to spend more to get a nice B or even K swapped Civic. There's actually one on ksl the past month, a black EG hatch with a K20 swap for $5500. But, its kind of racecar'd out and is not smog legal (it's in Idaho, I don't think smog is required there). I'm just not in a position to buy a project that I can't smog check until I do a bunch of stuff (that I'm not knowledgeable about). That was kind of hard to pass up.
Then I came upon this ksl ad in my 88-2000 civic search.

1999 Honda Civic DX Roma Red-soooooo clean!

 It felt too good to be true!!!

There is photo evidence of the 34k original miles!

 I was just hoping someone who knew how worth $6k this thing was didn't beat me to it!

You can eat off this thing!

Luckily I don't have the money to swap out this thing. It only has 34k miles! What a shame that'd be!

Roll up windows! No Cruise Control! = Add lightness!

A 1999 Honda Civic DX Hatchback, 34k miles, 2 owner, freshly detailed, no mods except a sweet lookin' aluminum Acura 5 speed shift knob for $6000. Huh, that's in my price range! I hadn't even had the serious talk with my wife, which gives me clearance to go hunting for real. So, of course, I texted her a screenshot of the ad and said "can I go see it?". The car has been up for sale for like 1-2 days when I actually text him. I said "Hello, I'm interested in seeing your civic. Would today between 4-5 work for you? Work in Draper, live in Farmington. I could drop by on way home from work. Chris" and then I followed that up 3 hours later with "Hopefully its still for sale. In case you have an offer on the table and you're not fully happy with the offer, please let me know." LOL
I was serious and was willing to go higher if there was another serious buyer. These texts were Wednesday April 24th. He responded that night. He did have other interested people texting him. I was able to go see it Thursday after work.
When I saw it I couldn't believe how like brand new it was. The second owner gave me the whole story. He bought it 4 months prior from the original elderly couple who barely drove it. It sat in a garage for 20 years.
The car is immaculate! It's like a museum piece. There is a part of me that feels bad for driving it. But, its a base model Honda Civic. It's nothing special as it sits. Maybe someday but probably not. There are millions of them still driving around. I just happen to have the cleanest 1999 Honda in the State. haha
I paid $5500 for it. What do you think? The kbb and NADA guides said $3600 and $3800. So, ya, I paid more than the value is estimated at. But, this car is beyond "Excellent Condition". It's also 20 years old, so I probably should have tried to see if a "classic car" guide said something different. I think I got a great deal! 0 problems, basically a new car and the perfect color for a blank Honda canvas!

Holy Cow!!! 34k original miles!!! Insane!!! Yep, I'm a happy Honda car guy right there! 1999 Honda Civic Roma Red Hatchback

This thing shines!!! Kudos to owner #2 for detailing it so well! You sold this car because of your attention to detail1

Me at work taking a selfie with the '99 EK Hatch

Of course, the first thing I had to do when I got to work (nope, didn't do much work that day!) was grab my car guy friends to come take a look!

34,498 original miles at time of purchase on 29APR2019 at about 12:30pm

The 2nd owner was like "I don't think the first owners every looked in here!"

The EK Hatch in its new home!

Of course the first mod was my "JDM Legends" license plate cover. I've had it for like 6 years or more. Just waiting to get something worthy to put it on!

JDM Legends License Plate Cover finally made it on a car of mine! I went with the "red" (DMV lady said, you mean orange?) Utah Ski plate design to "match" the EK hatch

This aluminum Acura shift knob is smooth and light, I love it!!!

I think that's enough for now. It's past my bedtime! Today I was able to get it smogged and registered at the Davis County DMV.
So, this is the blank canvas I've been searching for. I'm excited to own it, to document my ownership as I think this is a unique opportunity to own such a desirable car in the Import/JDM/Tuner community. It's basically a barnfind for Japanese car nuts. It's like finding a 65 Mustang coupe (not a Fastback Shelby, that'd be like if I found a Civic Type-R ) in a garage in like new condition!
I'm currently in research mode. Stage 1 will be wheels/tires and coilovers! Gotta get the ride up to Hechtspeed specifications and some proper wheels and tires. Until then...