When Honda was designing its all-aluminum super car, the NSX, they turned to Ayrton Senna for help in tuning its handling. Today's 1992 Acura may not demand the mad skills of Senna, or his lifetime winnings to buy, but would you be able to handle its salvage title?

Yesterday's Frigidaire Side by Side was so white that you might feel uncomfortable driving it after Labor Day. It was so white, it couldn't dance. So white, it would have Ms. Fat Booty played at its wedding. The only thing it wasn't was white lightning, and that, plus the fact that it was the lamentable MKII, but not the 16V, landed it a 55% Crack Pipe loss. Will the Wolfsburg survive?

Somewhat incongruously there's a professional ice hockey team based in Wolfsburg, Germany that is…

VW and Acura took similar tracks for their sport coupe designs - the Scirocco and following Corrado being similar in concept to the Integra and RSX. VW, however, never built anything like the Integra's big brother, the NSX. The mid-engined Acura, which eschewed V8 power for aluminum lightness, remains to this day a major object of lust for many a Jalop.

This currently calls LIma Ohio home and appears much more tasty than that city's eponymous bean. It's been the recipient of a respray, in red, although emphatically described as NOT the factory Formula Red. That unoriginal hue, and a set of chromed rims are the major exterior modifications the car has received, while inside things look pretty stock. The seller does admit that the leather on the driver's seat is starting to return to its individual cow-ness. All pretty standard stuff for a 19-year old car.

And then it gets weird.

First off and flat out, this NSX has been in a wreck. And due to the cost of repair, it is now tainted (heh, I said taint) with a salvage title. Sort of takes the boner out of that sub-twenty grand price tag, huh? That explains the new paint, and the low price, but it doesn't explain why somebody not only removed the radio aerial - rendering the AM/FM in the dash able to produce little more than staccato static - but why was its hole bondo'd over? Then there's the issue with the alarm going off just for the hell of it and more alarmingly (see what I did there?) the admission by the seller that he drives it with the TCS/ASB fuse yanked because the traction control switch is apparently as effective as the door close button on an elevator.

Okay, it's not all bad here. There's an updated clutch paired with a more recent transmission. Plus Comptech headers, and a Flowmaster exhaust. The ad touts crossed and slot-drilled rotors, so any potential buyer might want to check those out, because they sound way cool. Inside, the cockpit is resplendent with Zanardi floor mats and a carbon fiber shift nob. Yes, nob indeed.

The car has 112K on its clock, and the seller says the timing belt and related might as wells were done at 80K, and the brake and clutch masters after 10K more. That's all good insurance against some extremely expensive repairs occurring not far down the road from purchase, and if we weren't interested in spending as little as possible, we wouldn't be looking at a salvage title car, now would we?

That's the thing here, at a Buy It Now of just $17,500, this is perhaps the cheapest drivable NSX on the market today, and likely that you would find any time soon. Sure, it's got problems, and the Katana wheels imply mirrored sunglasses and five o'clock shadow, but hey, it's an NSX for Civic cash.

In the brilliant movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Jim Carrey's character eventually refuses to give up on Kate Winslet's, despite her being a kind of relationship-killing she-troll, the good so outweighing the bad. That's what we need to determine about this NSX - does the good (it's an NSX ferkrisakes, and it's $17,500), overcome the bad (salvage title, some douchieness), making for a sweet melange of a Nice Price win?

You decide!

or go if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click to send a me a tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.