Minneapolis Street Sighting: Honda CRX Si

Since I am a vintage Japanese car nut, living in Minnesota is hard for me. Okay, not really, but cars older than, say, 1995 or so, are usually in extremely poor shape or at least have substantial rust. Since Japanese cars tend to rust rather quickly, the quantity of pre-1995 Japanese cars in this state is pretty small compared to domestic cars. Having said that, let me clear up a few things. Firt off, I realize the Honda CRX isn't typically considered a "classic car", yet. Number two, yes I am aware that this example isn't quite stock. Hence why I like it. It's modified without being overly garish or ricey.
In 1985, Honda decided to try a new niche; an all-out sports car based on the popular economy car, the Civic. Around this time, Nissan came out with the bigger Sentra/Sunny ZX Coupe based on their popular compact, the Sentra. But, since the Sentra coupe was a bigger car, it didn't really compete with the CRX. It would've competed more with the Civic coupe-- a car that didn't come out till 1992, when the CRX was dropped.
As far as trim levels go, one could choose from the DX-- a bare bones no luxury model, the HF-- a bare bones economy model with steelies and pretty much no luxury, designed for fuel economy, or the much coveted Si model. This model is what you see above. It packed exterior features such as bigger alloy wheels, a slightly lower ride height, and a power moonroof. Equipped with the B16A, this diminutive sports-compact barely nudged the scale at a tad over 2100 pounds. While it wasn't a fast car, per se, the CRX Si is said to be a hoot to drive.
This particular example sported a few JDM pieces. IN place of the stock front fascia are JDM yellow fogs (a popular mod), and a carbon fiber front lip. The JDM-ness continues with a carbon fiber hood, too. No doubt done for aesthetics, the hood probably evens out the already good weight balance. The only thing that worries me is that since this car has dealer plates, it's probably being driven extremely hard. I'm also worried about the fit and finish of the mods, which makes me think it was modded to hide past damage. Oh well, it's still a clean example of a forgotten species in the import performance segment.