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This stunning Formula Red 1991 Acura NSX is listed right now in the Motorious inventory, offered by Ellingson Motorcars in Rogers, Minnesota, at $86,995. It is a first-year, first-generation example wearing the single most iconic color combination the model ever offered, and with 70,838 miles, a clean Carfax and California history behind it, this is exactly the kind of NSX that collectors have spent the past decade chasing.
Honda Built A Supercar Anyone Could Live With
When Honda pulled the covers off the NSX in 1990, it did not simply add another wedge-shaped exotic to the market. It rewrote the rulebook. The goal was audacious: build a Ferrari rival that a normal person could drive every single day without ceremony, without drama and without a mechanic on retainer. Honda leaned on three-time Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, who spent hours at Suzuka dialing in the suspension and telling engineers the chassis needed to be stiffer. They listened, and a good car became a great one.
The result was the first production car in history built around an all-aluminum monocoque chassis, wrapped in a wind-tunnel-shaped body and tipping the scales at roughly 3,010 pounds. The mid-mounted VTEC V6 was assembled by hand at Honda's Takanezawa plant, and the low cowl and fighter-jet visibility gave drivers a level of confidence the Italian competition simply could not match. For a reminder of how stunned the press was at the time, revisit this retro 1991 Acura NSX review.
Formula Red Over Ivory Is The Combination To Have
Acura built just 3,163 NSXs for the 1991 model year, and this one wears the shade everyone pictures when they picture an NSX. Formula Red over an ivory leather interior is the halo combination, and it still looks like nothing else on the road. The lightweight aluminum body carries its factory rear spoiler, and the car rides on staggered forged aluminum five-spoke wheels, 15 inches up front and 16 inches out back, mounted with ZR radials.
Inside, the plush ivory leather buckets are split by a center console, and the matching door panels, ivory carpeting and NSX-embroidered floor mats are all presented in stock configuration and wonderful condition. The black leather-wrapped dash and steering wheel ground the whole cabin. Formula Red has never gone out of style on this car, as the reaction to this low-mile Formula Red 2005 Acura NSX proved.
A Usable, Loaded, Honest Driver
Power comes from the mid-mounted 3.0-liter aluminum-alloy DOHC VTEC V6, fed by sequential port fuel injection and rated at 252 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque when new. The internals read like a race engine, with titanium connecting rods, specially formulated aluminum pistons and cast iron cylinder liners keeping everything honest to the 7,500-rpm redline. A dual exhaust sends out that unmistakable high-rpm Honda wail.
The four-speed automatic is the approachable choice here, and it makes this NSX a car anyone in the household can enjoy on a Sunday morning without a second thought. Traction control and a Torque Control limited-slip rear differential put the power down, four-wheel power discs with ventilated rotors and ABS haul it back down, and rack-and-pinion power steering makes tight parking lots a non-event.
Creature comforts are all here and all working: air conditioning and heat, power windows, power-adjustable seats and mirrors, cruise control and an upgraded AM/FM/Bluetooth head unit for modern road trips. The stock instrument cluster remains in place, complete with its 180-mph speedometer and 9,000-rpm tachometer.
Why This One Deserves A Long Look
First-year North American NSXs in the right colors have been quietly climbing for years, and the market has made it clear that clean, documented, unmolested examples are the ones that hold their value. This car checks the boxes that matter: a desirable first model year, the definitive color combination, 70,838 miles, recent service, California history and a clean Carfax. It is a blue-chip Japanese supercar that you can actually drive, which is more than most exotics of the era can claim, and it is a big part of why enthusiasts keep calling the NSX Japan's greatest supercar creation.
The car is offered at $86,995 by Ellingson Motorcars of Rogers, Minnesota, which can be reached at 763-428-7337. Full photos, specs and details are available in the listing on Motorious.
