Rebirth of A Sound Quality Legend - Part One

Growing up as a kid, I used to read every single issue of Car Stereo Review, Car Audio and Electronics and AutoSound and Security magazines cover-to-cover, as if it were printed on gold leaf paper. I'd read every product review like it was the gospel, and LOVED it when a reviewer would call out a manufacture when they screwed up. But my main fascination was the cars. It always comes down to the cars, and there were tons to drool over month-after-month.

Some of the cars were too over the top to drive, but these trailer queens were the stuff dreams were made of. Dave Riveria’s 1989 "Fishtank Toyota" Corolla and Earl Z’s insane audiophile B&W BMW spring to mind. Some simply seemed too loud to drive (Is this possible? –Ed). The old Rockford Fosgate Demo van falls into that category (Elaborate?). However, no matter how ridiculously above the limits of sanity these cars were, they all served as inspiration to my aspirations. Jason at Mitek’s Ford Mustang, John Beebe’s (of Drop ‘em Wear) Mazda Pickup, Tim West’s Honda Prelude, Richard Clark’s Grand National and Harry Kimura’s Acura Legend are some cars that stick out in my mine as time passes. (And I knew the first three personally.) To me, Kimura's Legend has always the perfect car. It had great looks, was built by one of the preeminent shops of the day, and was vastly understated. As a matter of fact when I started to design the install for my Audi, we based it very heavily on the trunk of Kimura's Acura.

In the spirit of "Where Are They Now", I would often wonder what happened to these industry-changing cars. Where are they now? Through the years I was able to track down what had happened to some of the cars, but some seemed to just disappear. The Legend for me was in the latter category.

Imagine my surprise when I stumbled on this post on the CarSound forum!

"As bad as I hate to do it, I have decided to place the Acura Legend that was built by Speakerworks for Harry Kimura for sale. I purchased the car 5 years ago from Speakerworks and have put less than 5, 000 additional miles on it. The car has been parked for some time in a large shop where it was protected from the elements. It is in need of two new batteries, all new tires, and probably a tune up. I have not started the car in some time, but the last time I did everything worked beautifully. It features two USD audio horns, 10" midbass, and 15" subs in a aperiodic enclosure powered by 4 Crossfire amps. The signal comes from a highly modified Alpine 7909 then to two Rane 30 band eqs. Pictures of the car are here http://usdaudio.com/sw/cars/acura/. Physically the car does not differ any from these photos other than that it really needs a good detailing interior and exterior, and that the stickers on the rocker panels have been removed.
I have no doubt that this car could kick some serious *** in competitions. It really sickens me to have to sell it but I've had a relapse of some medical problems and have a bunch of other projects going on too. So send me some offers."

These were the first three pictures I saw of the Legend.

And then the former owner pull the car out of the garage it has been stored for the past 6 or so years.

I had to have it. I went to bed that night with the long-lost Legend on my mind, but told my wife that the owner would probably be asking way too much money. Well the next day I gave the owner a call, and surprisingly enough, a deal was struck. The Legend would be mine. Three weeks later it was trailered back down to Atlanta to Audio Designs of Atlanta for a  full restore and refresh. Stay tuned for more pictures and progress on the build!