1997 Honda Accord

LX Sedan

2.2L 2156CC l4 GAS SOHC Naturally Aspirated

Automatic

1HGCD5636VA010163

Clear

Gasoline

OK...you have all heard of those famous "Car only driven by little old lady" stories only to find that little old lady was Mario Andretti's aunt! Well, here is one of them that is actually TRUE. Really! Taken out of service about 6 months ago by the original owner's daughter, this one owner, non-smoker, 1997 Honda Accord LX 4 door Sedan has only 28,000+ miles on its odometer at the time of this listing! Yep, you read that correctly...just over 28,000 original miles! Purchased on August 1, 1997, here in Clearwater, FL, this car has seen limited, but careful use over the years and averaged about 1700 miles each year. Always professionally maintained by a local auto shop, this fantastic Honda Accord LX has never seen salt, snow, etc. and has lived its life in a garage here in the Clearwater, FL, area. I obtained it from the family at their request to help find it a new home and "get it out of the garage!". Folks, if you are looking for a nearly new vehicle for a lot less than current new prices, this could be it. This vehicle priced out at just under $20,000 new according to the window sticker that I have and that translates to a current price of over $28,000 according to dollartimes.com), . Myself, a driver for almost 50 years, I put it through its paces and came away thinking I should keep it for myself. With 5 cars already, that just is not possible! To say it drove like new, is the say the least! These Honda Accords are legendary for their reliability, drivability and service free lives. I have recently driven this Honda for about 50 miles and it is a HOOT. TONS of get up and go, handling that is extraordinary and solid as a rock. No rattles, leaks of any kind and the car comes off the line straight and true. WOW! Having never seen any kind of weather, snow or salt here is sunny Florida, it is beyond clean. It's undercarriage, door jambs, all exposed mechanicals show as though new. The engine bay is as pristine as they come (I did some detailing the other day and all that was needed was a brief cleaner spray and wipe down. No oil leaks or other engine dirt were found. Yes, folks, you can literally eat off the engine bay! The underside fo the hood shines like new, too. Even the front headlights (you know, often faded and "cloudy" as you see a lot newer cars) shine as new and are crystal clear! Not a mark on them. Same for the windshield and all tinted glass on the doors. All glass was professionally tinted when the car was new and looks beautiful. The interior has to be seen to be believed. All seating areas, carpet, "Accord" monogrammed mats, etc. show virtually NO signs of use of wear. Incredible! When I opened the trunk I started to laugh....NOTHING in it and spotless. OK...just where did Grandma put her groceries? Even the back seating area looks as though no one has ever set foot in it. Are you kidding me? For the sake of honesty (please check my Ebay Feedback for verification of that), when Grandma tried to park in the home's garage a while back, she misjudged the right side and slightly scrapped the right front fender. After I bought the car, I had the fender professionally removed and then a brand new OEM fender installed to showroom new condition. Essentially, 4 bolts and done. The repair facility said they could easily repair the fender since the damage was so slight (basically the top of the wheel lip opening was depressed about an inch is all), but due to the wonderful condition of the car, I asked them to install a brand new, properly primed, painted to the correct color code, clear-coated and then gold pinstriped proper fender and they did. Looks super, too. While I could have kept this out of this listing, I thought it best to just be a good Ebay seller and inform anyone interested in the vehicle. Looking around the vehicle, you can see a very few door touches, of course, but you really need to look. Also, I was made aware that during one service call, a small tool was left in the engine bay as the hood was slowly closed that caused an extremely slight imperfection on the underside of the right side edge of the hood. I might have to actually point it out to anyone, it is that insignificant. Of course, for those who know cars, none of the above in any way detracts from the vehicle's incredible driving and interior condition. This could EASILY be a person's FIRST car or a GREAT second family car for someone starting out that does NOT want somebody else's, well cast offs. You can drive this car ANYWHERE in the US with all the confidence of a new vehicle. At only 28,000+ miles, it is as close to that as one can get. And when you consider the fact that these Hondas typically run for 250,000-350,00 miles and more, there are many, many years of great driving for the lucky winner. The engine performs as new and the legendary 4 speed automatic transmission with Grade Logic Control and Lock-up Torque Converter shifts quickly and perfectly. Quiet, powerful and smooth. Front disc brakes (looks like about 75% of pad life remaining) with gas shocks complete the handling package. We recently had the car completely assessed for safety reasons and it passed with flying colors. (see below) Even the person we contacted to do the fender replacement wanted to buy the car right then and there! That is what you expect with only 28,000+ miles on the car. When you are in the driver's seat, you cannot tell it from new. The quiet power of the engine and the smoothness of the ride on 15 inch tires are all there. Brakes are solid, too and there is no fade when hard braking. Cool. For the real car buff, here is some detailed information:Technical stuff: 1. 2.2 Liter 4 cyl 16 valve engine with programmed fuel injection 2. 4 speed automatic transmisstion with Grade logic control and lock-up torque converter 3. 4 wheel DoubleWishbone suspension (virtually a sports car suspension system) 4. Front stabilizer bar for wonderful handling 5. Vented Disc Brakes 6. Gas shocksSafety Features: 1. Front air bags 2. 3 point front seat belts with height adjustable anchors 3. 3 point rear seat belts. 4. Integrated Security System installed when new with 3 Key fob activatorsInterior Features: 1. Power door locks with Driver Door dual unlocking feature 2. Power windows 3. Cruise control 4. Center Console and cloth armrest 5. Map lights 6. Fold down rear seatback with lock 7. Rear seat center armrest 8. Trunk Pass through with lock 9. AM FM Stereo with full logic cassette and CD control. The sound is excellent with plenty of bass! 10. Air Conditioning: Excellent A/C function (Entire system was serviced on April 28, 2014. Full system evacuation and recharge with new Freon formulation.). Puts out a chilly 50 degrees and no leaks based on dye test. Note: When the car was being recharged, three of the shop's mechanics came by to look at the car and do a "walk-around. One even gave me a big smile and a "Thumbs Up" gesture, he was so taken by the car's condition. 11. Service check was done on the following items (Paperwork available upon request) and ALL showed excellent condition and function: Battery (shows at least 500 CCA), Air Filter, All Belts, All Hoses, Coolant, Transmission Fluid, Power Steering Fluid, Engine Oil, Brake Fluid. Engine diagnostic test was complete and showed NO Trouble Codes. 13. Tires currently have more than much more than 52% tire tread remaining (from service check above) 14. Beautiful cloth tan interior in a herringbone pattern. Absolutely perfect all around! No wear or dirt on any door, seating or carpeted areas. 15. Fuel mileage on this Honda is listed at 30 MPG on the highway but usually get better than that! Finally, I have included a picture of the original window sticker....$19,385.00...in 1997 dollars. I do have a Reserve on it but it is obviously no where near that. Should the vehicle not sell, I most likely WILL keep it....yes, it is so good a vehicle. It will be available locally, so you should know that I do retain the right to end the aution early but NOT on the final day of this auction just to be fair to any bidders. SOME LESS THAN PERFECT ITEMS In hopes of being strictly honest with any buyer, here are some issues that would prevent this vehicle from being a virtual museum piece in spite of its very low mileage. Any time you deal with a rather elderly driver, there are always some blemishes that appear from time to time and escape their eyes: 1. Due to Grandma's gently kissing a few curbs while driving, even though the original, plastic, full wheel covers looked OK, a few scrapes that bothered me had me purchase 4 new (much better than original) ABS wheel covers that are virtually identical in look to the Honda ones. I will include the originals with their chrome lug nuts (notice how clean they are!), but one is cracked because the person who installed the new tires a while back did not know that you had to remove the lug nuts to get off the wheel covers! The new ones look GREAT, too. 2. Since Grandma had to do her own shopping, I purchased the vehicle with some very minor paint abrasions on the bumper under the trunk lid...perhaps from a shopping cart or shopping bags being placed on the bumpers or just Grandma being Grandma. I carefully buffed those that I could and refinished with proper code touch-up paint from Honda. These are very minor issues and again, do not in any way hinder the appearance of the car. My 1996 Camry has far MORE such issues and I take great pride in its care! I could have left them alone but, hey, I am picky! They have not been fully refinished, mind you, just "refreshed" to look as good as possible. 3. There is a very small, but totally stable crack on a plastic piece under the front bumper that is about 1 inch long. It is a very small imperfection that can be ignored since it again does not impact the car's great condition. Might be from perhaps a parking lot bump. You might miss it had I not mentioned it. Well, folks, that is about it. With these cars so very hard to find with such low mileage, I have NOT put a "Buy It Now" feature on the auction. Highest bidder wins it. Kelley Blue Book indicates the value of this vehicle, based on its excellent condition and low mileage, is in the vicinity of $4,500.00 (Private sale...not a dealer trade in). I was told that a friend looking for such a car saw prices well above $6,500 for vehicles with two to three times the mileage and in poorer condition, too! The Kelly Blue Book pricing noted above should give you some indication of where my Reserve Price stands. Shipping is up to the new owner as is typical in these cases. If you can get here to Clearwater, FL. you can simply drive home. Happy to meet anyone at Tampa, FL airport if that helps. I am only about 20 minutes from that airport and even closer to the Clearwater-St. Pete Airport (called PIE). Thanks for watching and bidding! Someone out there is going to be a very happy new driver! Happy bidding. On May-03-14 at 12:58:20 PDT, seller added the following information: NOTE: Since the current high bid price is so very close to the Reserve Price, when that is reached, I will NOT be selling this locally nor ending the listing early. That would not be fair to any bidder nor the current high one. Rest assured the listing will run its course and unless a local bidder submits his bid via Ebay, no other outside bids will be considered. And THANK YOU for the many emails and questions about the vehicle. I hope I answered them all.On May-08-14 at 07:47:02 PDT, seller added the following information: Gilding the Lily: Hello everyone. In response to a few questions I have received and based on the current bid price on the vehicle, I took the initiative to have a few things checked before the final sale. First, I took the vehicle to my own personal mechanic to check on the status of both the timing belt and water pump. We removed the valve cover and spark plugs, of course ,and did a careful visual inspection of the timing belt. It showed virtually no wear, all the "teeth" sat deep into the pulley grooves and there was no evidence of any kind of deterioration or stretching. The water pump was checked for function (Temp gauge reads just below mid-line and steady during operation) and leaks and it checked out without issue. A brand new valve cover gasket plus sealer was installed, plugs were cleaned (they were perfect anyway), plug gaps were checked and then reinstalled. I then took the vehicle to a local shop I have used before on my own cars and had him look over the car for some of those "door touches" I mentioned. He beautifully eased the few back in shape that his careful eye spotted back to "flush", repolished the small door section he worked on and all looks super! Even he was impressed. I figured that with the bidding going so well, it was the right thing to do for the new owner and it is important to me that whoever finally owns the car has a simply POSITIVE experience. To be honest, I did have a few "pangs" of regret in selling the car, but such is life. Thanks.