It was only a few weeks ago that a near-new EM1 Honda Civic Si sold for $22,750. As far as we know, that was a record price for the much lauded 1999-2000 Civic Si, but in less than a month it has already been broken.
In the previous kidney post, we weren’t sure what was more surprising — that a 10,439-mile Civic Si sold for just a hair under the price of a brand new Civic Si, or the fact that there was such a thing as an unmolested 10,439-mile Civic Si to begin with.
As it turns out, the lofty price managed to bring other low-mileage Civic Si examples out of the woodwork. This time, it was a 12,190-mile example from Midland, North Carolina, and the final sale price was an even loftier $24,027.
With the previous auction, we poked fun at the car for being the wrong color of Civic Si. Milano Red is nice but, along with Flamenco Black Pearl, it’s a color that was available on lesser, non-Si Civics. The Si was offered in only three colors, the third being the color of this example, Electron Blue Pearl.
Though it was subsequently offered on the fifth-gen Prelude and first-gen CR-V, at the time of introduction Electron Blue Pearl was exclusive to the Si. As a result, it became as much as a trademark for the model as its 160-horsepower VTEC four.
Apparently, a signature paint color is worth more than a common color, despite that this one has 17 percent more mileage. In fact, it’s worth more than a brand new Civic Si as well.
The rest of the car is just as mint as the red one. The original owner reportedly kept the seats and mats covered, and the current second owner has added only 541 miles to it. A Carfax report comes back clean with no accidents listed. It even wears the original Michelin XGT tires.
Once again, the EM1 chassis has proven that it is the rare car that has managed to exceed its as-new selling price before it reaches official 25-year classic status. See more photos and the auction on Bring a Trailer.
Images: Bring a Trailer.
” It even wears the original Michelin XGT tires”
Those things sound to be one drive away from blowing out and causing severe rim damage among other things. Is this a typo, the real deal (via the XXXX date code decoding), or do they still make them?
Probably the actual tires it came with from when it was out the dealers door I’m assuming, but I’m sure the new owner won’t be an idiot and drive around with that used vintage rubber he will prolly get a new set of wheels with some new tires or remove the old ones display it on a wall and put a new set of sticky rubber on.
They’ve not gone quite so insane yet in the UK and ours are almost certainly rustier, but one day I’m going to regret not buying one of these when they were about £1500…
“In fact, it’s worth more than a brand new Civic Si as well.“
There’s a lot of cars WORTH more than the new Civic (any model). The current generation is garbage, but the sticker price is the going rate in the marketplace. If anything, the crappier the Civic gets, the more the vintage stuff will be worth.
On one hand I’m happy that civics are drawing attention from collectors, but on the other hand it’s only matter of time before you see shady Craigslists ads with em1s with worn motors and ruined chassis at the deal of 14k or trade for a bmw m3 or better.