Automobiles are artifacts of nostalgia, of core memories, and of strong bonds to family members. How many of us can relate to having a specific car remind us of a loved one who is no longer with us?
I had the special opportunity recently to acquire, repair, and showcase a special car for a friend whose mother drove it a decade prior. Here is a 23-minute YouTube video that chronicles the start-to-finish process. It’s hard to convey just how rewarding the project was. Sure, an Acura TSX is hardly what most people would consider a “collector car.” But the story behind it made it worth the effort and then some.
This wasn’t my first TSX restoration. Some readers may recall the Arctic Blue 2006 6-speed which I fixed up last year. While sun bleached on the exterior, the car was mechanically in remarkable shape for its age, and it turned out beautifully. I sold it to a collector in North Carolina in September.
TSX Backstory
My Alabaster Silver project car carried significant provenance. Kathi Baker and her family from Tucson, Arizona, acquired it in 2008 when it was still relatively new. It served them as a daily-driver right up until Kathi’s unfortunate passing in late 2014 from cancer. She was only 59 at the time. About a year later, her husband Tom sold the car, and it left the state to a new home, likely never to be seen again.
… Or so they thought. Over the subsequent years, Kyle had asked me if I knew the whereabouts of the car, which I did. It stayed relatively close to a friend in New Mexico and as the years went on, I started to consider what it would take to get it back and unveil it to Kyle and his family on the 10-year anniversary of his mother’s passing. And that’s exactly what I did. There was just one challenge: the car had been totaled. A September 2023 Carfax entry described rear-end damage that led to the classification.
What started out as a simple acquisition and light restoration ended up involving a transport truck, a parts car, several weeks at a body shop, a four-hour drive for an inspection, and dozens of hours of effort. Isaac Alaniz and his team at Apex Wet Werks in Phoenix completed the body work masterfully.
Reveal Day
On Mother’s Day, May 12, Kyle, his dad, and his two siblings came over to my house around lunch time and witnessed as I pulled a sheet off the TSX in my garage. The car was still far from perfect – it still had some evidence of its 18 years and 178,000 miles of use. But the scars told a story, and some of them even brought up specific memories. And it was a meaningful reunion for everyone involved.
The TSX spent the next four weeks on display in the showroom at Acura of Tempe, Arizona. Coincidentally, that was the same dealership where the car had been originally sold new in July 2006.
The Final Hand-Off
The TSX formally re-entered the Baker family on June 27, 2024 when Zac took the key. He said, “So pumped about having this car back! Really can’t put into words what it means that you did this for our family!”
Parting Thoughts
I am confident the silver TSX has another couple hundred thousand miles left in it and hope it continues to serve the Baker family well. The experience of acquiring and restoring this car was by far the most rewarding automotive endeavor I’ve taken on in recent years.
Have you ever sought out or fixed up a car from your family’s history?
