Unfortunately, it was the wrong spot in this case.
This flattened heap of metal is all that’s left of this 2nd-generation Honda CRX after it apparently lost an argument with Mother Nature. Somehow the huge tree in the owner’s ( I’m assuming ) backyard became uprooted and fell, taking out the wooden fence and the CRX along with it. I was at the transmission shop just up the street, picking up a car for one of my bosses, when I saw this sad sight.
In all honesty, I’ve never been a FWD subcompact sort of guy, but if I had to choose one, the second-generation CRX would be one of my top picks, so I was saddened to see this one suffer such an inglorious fate.
The license tag indicates this car hasn’t been registered since 2005. Whether it was someone’s on-hold project, or a forgotten driveway ornament, I have no idea. It’s still a shame for its life to be ended this way.
RIP little CRX. You will be missed.
I don’t know. You’d be surprised. Here are pictures of my 2002 Subaru Forester after a large pine tree fell on it during Hurricane Sandy.
After the tree was removed, we started it up and drove it that same day. Only damage was a few small dents in the roof area.
Story is here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2005-honda-accord-and-2002-subaru-forester-the-game-changers/
Here another picture:
Yikes – I’m pretty sure this falling tree did make a sound.
I saw a monster tree uprooted in my area yesterday. It fell onto a driveway, but so far as I could tell, no cars were hit.
If a CRX had to be destroyed this way, I guess it was better for it to be an unlicensed project-in-waiting instead of someone’s pristine pride and joy.
Now, it will ge someone else’s used auto parts.
I can’t tell where in California this was, but during the several-year drought in much of the State, a lot of people neglected their yards and let them die. Grass, okay. But trees? WRONG! This winter was wet, and a lot of dead trees with rotted roots toppled in the waterlogged soil.
The bumper sticker says “no home depot in sunland-tijunga”, which is on the north side of Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel mountains.
They did manage to keep Home Depot out, the K Mart building where it was to be opened still sits empty on Foothill Blvd. Before K Mart it was a drive in theater. Saw “The Exorcist” when it first came out there.
The Santa Ana winds do blow strongly in this area from time to time.
Ouch. Echoing Jerseyfred’s comments, sometimes the damage isn’t as bad as it looks–after a severe windstorm last summer, an enormous oak branch fell on an early 90’s Civic sedan. Longitudinal hit down the center of the roof, caved in the top of it and shattered all the glass. Thought it was done for but I saw it a month or so later with the sheetmetal beaten back out and new glass installed, still drivable. This one…I doubt will be so lucky. Guarantee you neither door opens for one, paying no mind to the major frame damage on the driver’s side.
Just saw pictures this morning on facebook of a friend’s completed restoration project of an ’86 CRX. This sad sight is quite a contrast to his freshly waxed red machine.
Maybe it was in 2005 that the TREE fell, and that’s why the Honda hasn’t moved since then ….. ? ……
(I had a gen-3 Civic Si, that was terrific)
It’s hard to tell how damaged the roof is but the hatch does look sprung.
Extreme weather is weird. This morning I saw two vans that had been parked beside each other Friday when a minor (suspected) twister came through and hurled the roof from a shed across the lot. The newer van had the front half of the roof caved in and damage down one side. The older one was unscathed. I’ve noticed in such cases it’s the newer one that always seems to get annihilated.
A man I worked with bought an ’86 CRX brand new. I forget how many miles he put on it, but it was even shipped to France when he was working/studying in college in the 90’s.
He finally got rid of it because he wasn’t driving it any more sometime in the 2000s. It was very similar to this one in the article (but not crushed, of course…)…
Tough loss in the car world.
This is always a sad sight, although as much as I love cars it is just a car and fortunately nobody was in it. I live in an old neighborhood with lots of very tall trees and this always feels like a danger. I’ve seen a house crushed by them twice but no cars yet.
I did have a high branch section (not the entire tree) fall on my three week old Mazda 323 that was my first new car, crushing the hood and both front fenders. The saddest car death by falling tree though has to be this Toyota 2000GT that got crushed three years ago. Somehow the driver wasn’t too badly hurt, except emotionally.
I had a ’91 CRX DX. Probably the best car I ever owned. I always wished it had the automatic though. If it had that and cruise control I’d probably still have it today. The Mercedes “CRX” Kompressor that replaced it (C-class Sport Coupe) wasn’t nearly as reliable. It did have cruise and automatic; still tossed it like the turd that it was, however on a spanking new Ford Ranger with the torquey 4.0.
The CRX was a sparkling delight to drive. Unfortunately like most small cars of that era they were death traps.