The world is going completely gaga for all things 'JDM' these days.
JDM, as you'll probably already know, refers to 'Japanese Domestic Market', and is the general blanket term dumped on top of any highly sought after Japanese car — even somewhat incorrectly on cars built in other markets.
A lot of the increased demand can be traced to America oddly enough. You'd think with an endless supply of big powerful V8 muscle cars old and new that they would be content, but no ... the fact that they've often been left out of the play for Japan's hottest cars, and that there's a 25-year ban for imports, means that the thirst has festered and festered in the shadows.
And this thirst has come to the boil because many of Japan's biggest classics are hitting their 25-year limits and becoming legal; including the R32 and R33 Nissan Skyline GT-Rs, a whole swathe of adorable little performance Kei cars, and soon the original Honda Civic Type R.
The Civic name has also had a kick there lately, with the arrival of the new-generation FK8 Type R — the first sold new in the USA. These things have had an effect on Honda hype across the board, leading to things like this admittedly very clean 2000 Honda Civic Si selling for slightly mental US$22,750 (NZ$31,500).
It sold for this somewhat incredible price last week on the American website Bring a Trailer — a place where all sorts of rare and weird cars go up for auction on a regular basis.
When I say "very clean", I mean that this is probably the most mint Si in the world. It only has 10,439 miles (16,799km) on the odometer. The interior — completed with '90s-relic patterns in the seat fabric, an original stereo, and a five-speed manual.
"What is an Si anyway?" I hear you ask? Well, they're basically the hottest Civics Americans could buy in the absence of anything with an R in the name. While they weren't exactly Ferrari-beaters out of the box, they had huge modifying potential — namely thanks to the lovable 1.6-litre B-Series VTEC (yo) engine under the bonnet. With a little help from The Fast and the Furious, they soon became a tuner car of choice all over the country.
This means that mint, original examples like this are rather rare. Though the idea that they're now worth more than a new Civic (sliding in at almost two grand more than New Zealand's 2018 Civic S) still beggars belief.
It's a crazy world.
