As far as automotive legends go, there’s not much that can touch the original Honda NSX these days. The seminal Japanese mid-engined sports car may not be such a fast car by today’s standards, but its rarity, its sharp, low-slung design and its engrossing backstory – which involves a certain Mr. Senna – make it incredibly highly sought after, and its rising values reflect that.
For those who can afford to blow even more money on one, Honda’s longtime European racing partner JAS Motorsport has come up with a stunning restomod called the Tensei. Named after the Japanese word for “rebirth”, it’s a modernised version of the fighter jet-esque classic (which this writer is nearly as old as, dammit), taking a page out of the Singer playbook.
To create it, JAS will require buyers to provide an original NA1/NA2 NSX for it to do unspeakable things to. The mere thought of taking a chainsaw to a priceless example would probably send purists into a tailspin, but the end result – as you can see in these images – is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.
The carbon fibre body, designed by none other than Pininfarina (rather serendipitous, given that the design house was involved with the NSX early on in the design process), keeps all the styling cues that mark the car out as a design icon, including the all-black F-16-inspired canopy, the rakish overarching rear spoiler and, most importantly, the NA1’s pop-up headlights.
But look closer and you’ll find some subtle curves where there were once straight lines. The fenders are ever so slightly more muscular, the side air intakes are better integrated into the rest of the design, the door mirrors are sleeker, and the slim front indicators and U-shaped full-width taillights receive slim LED bars to bring them bang up to date.
Other bits have been made more aggressive to suit modern design tastes, such as the front bumper, the vented bonnet and front fenders and the sizeable diffuser with vertical twin tailpipes. The carbon L-shaped bumper corners may be a touch too outlandish, but that’s about all I can find fault about the styling. The whole thing is set off by some snazzy Y-spoke centre-lock alloy wheels.
No images of the interior, but JAS confirmed that the cabin has also been redesigned by Pininfarina – which is just as well, because that’s the one area where the NSX truly shows its age. The Tensei will also bring some old-school driving thrills in this age of widespread turbocharging and electrification, as it will be powered by a 3.0 litre naturally-aspirated V6 – hopefully mated to a good ol’ six-speed manual gearbox.
There’s no word on how much the Tensei will cost, but given that even early NA1s are regularly advertised at over RM500,000, expect to pay millions for the privilege of owning an improved “new” one. Perhaps the money is worth it for the irony that the car that was meant to teach the Italians a lesson was ultimately made better by a firm in Milan.
GALLERY: 1990 Honda NSX in Malaysia
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