Somewhere in Sonoma County on my drive down California’s coastal Hwy 1 the other day, it was time to stop and let the dog and I take a stretch and attend to some other necessary bodily functions. I spotted a pull off and we headed out to walk along the headlands near the cliffs. Walking along, the curved yellow outline of a car roof with what looked like a taxi sign on it became just barely visible above the wild shrubs between me and the car. Hmm; a Prius taxi? Out here?
As I came around the bushes to check it out, I saw that it was a Honda CRX. And a young woman was sitting against it in the sun reading a book. I suddenly had a flashback of sitting like that in my Yellow cab at the beach in San Diego waiting out a slow stretch on the radio. But that was a 1970 Bel Air; this was a CRX, and the population here was pretty sparse. And a taxi only capable of taking a single passenger? Not very likely.
I introduced myself to the owner, Natasha, who got up and rather towered over her CRX, and explained my interest. And she affirmed that the taxi sign is just for fun, obviously. She also told me that under the black hood resided the implanted engine from an Acura Integra GSR, meaning a hot 160 hp from the VTEC 1.7 L that spins happily to 8,000 rpm.
I’d be happy to be a paying passenger in that; it’s about the ultimate polar opposite of the tired ’70 Chevy Yellow cab I drove back then, with its wheezy six and Powerglide. But Natasha wasn’t taking passengers and there wouldn’t have been room for the dog even if she was.
Dude. Last week in Mt. Vernon WA the Unicorn
Little Man looks quite content.
A coworker of mine when he was much younger used to say about his CRX, “It’ll go a hundred and twenty.”
I’ll bet with that Acura engine transplant, it surly will!
Road & Track’s 1988 test of the CRX Si listed the top speed as 125 miles per hour, which isn’t bad for a car with 105 horsepower. The combination of a low drag coefficient and a small frontal area paid off.
Reminds me of the stories about the Ring Taxi at the Nürburgring. Perhaps Natasha should reconsider her policy and start offering rides.
That would be a fairly quick Honda plenty of boogie and it weighs nothing then Vtech kicks in yo yeah seen em do that but the 2nd turbo kicks in on my diesel and was much more effective, that Honda was heavier/bigger this thing should nearly fly.
The picture of the driver towering over her CRX reminds me of when my father and I test-drove a similar yellow CRX Si, back when he considering buying one as a commuter car.
Dad was tall, liked to stretch out when driving, and liked to move around a good bit while sitting due to an old injury. Many cars of the 1980s were just too small for him, but he found the CRX to be downright spacious. I remember him saying that the seat could go back much farther than he needed, and he was more comfortable driving that CRX than most other cars. Too bad he didn’t end up buying one – would have been a great car to have.
So awesome!!! It was great to meet you and Little Man! Thanks for taking the time to write this and share the story! Best of wishes to you guys!
Hi Natasha. Our pleasure! It was great to meet you and your taxi.
Such an awesome find and especially with an Integra 160 hp GSR engine shoehorned into it! Yellow suits this little pocket rocket so well. At around 950 pounds lighter than a 24 Civic Si equivalent it would give todays Civic one hell of a run for the money. This CRX is in my top 10 favorite CC finds and I’m very verrry, envious.
Natasha’s choice of taxi shows immense good taste. I’ve always thought these particular CR-X’s to resemble a late ’80’s interpretation of some beautiful and tiny ’50’s etceterini from Italy, perhaps, say, a Moretti special by Zagato, as it might look in 1988 or so. It never hurt this idea that they were also an absolute hoot to drive, and with more engine – and whyever not? – it would deliver anyone who hailed this taxi to their destination with quite some dispatch, I’d imagine.
In other countries, btw, like mine, these came blessed with rear seats – truly, with belts and all – so a taxi licence for one was not entirely out of the question. However, as these seats fitted exactly no-one but those who were torsos, this model CR-X of course became immediately popular with homicidal axe-wielding serial killers fleeing their scenes, but as that is a fairly limited market, the next model made do without.
Nice to see this car still being used and enjoyed .
I badly wanted a 1st. generation Civic Si on blue but they never came anywhere near my price range then the kiddies hooned them to death .
-Nate