Restoring a car in memory of a loved one

Cars are cultural relics Nostalgia, core memories and strong connections with family. How many of us can relate to the way a particular car reminds us of a loved one who is no longer with us?

I recently had the privilege of purchasing, restoring, and showing a special car for a friend that his mother drove ten years ago. Here’s a 23-minute YouTube video documenting the entire process. It’s hard to describe how rewarding this project was. Granted, the Acura TSX is hardly what most people would consider a “collector car.” But the story behind it made it all worth the effort, and more.

This isn’t my first TSX restoration. Some readers may remember the Arctic Blue 2006 6-speed I restored last year. Although it was sun faded on the outside, the car was in very good mechanical condition for its age and looked beautiful after the restoration. I sold it to a collector in North Carolina in September.

TSX Backstory

My Alabaster Silver project car has significant provenance. Kathy Baker and her family of Tucson, Arizona, purchased it in 2008 when it was relatively new. It served as their daily car until Kathy sadly passed away from cancer in late 2014. She was only 59 years old. About a year later, her husband Tom sold the car and it left the state and moved to a new home, likely never to be seen again.

…or so they thought. In the years that followed, Kyle asked me if I knew the whereabouts of the car, and I did. It had remained with a friend in New Mexico, and as time went on, I began to consider how I could recover it and unveil it to Kyle and his family on the 10th anniversary of his mother’s death. That’s exactly what I did. There was only one challenge: the car was totaled. The Carfax record from September 2023 described the rear end damage that resulted in that classification.

What started out as a simple acquisition and light restoration ended up requiring a transport truck, a parts truck, weeks of body work, a four-hour drive-through inspection, and dozens of hours of effort. Isaac Alaniz and his team at Apex Wet Werks in Phoenix did an excellent job on the body work.

Announcement Day

On Mother’s Day, May 12, Kyle, his father, and his two siblings came over to my house during lunch to witness me remove a sheet from the TSX in my garage. The car was far from perfect—it still had some scars from 18 years and 178,000 miles. But those scars told a story, and some even brought back specific memories. It was a meaningful reunion for everyone involved.

For the next four weeks, the TSX was on display at Acura’s showroom in Tempe, Arizona – coincidentally, the same dealership where the car was first sold in July 2006.

Final Handover

On June 27, 2024, Zach received the car keys and the TSX officially returned to the Baker family. He said: “I am so excited to have this car back! There are really no words to describe what you have done for our family!”

Parting Thoughts

I am sure this silver TSX will have hundreds of thousands of miles left in it, and hopefully it will continue to serve the Baker family well. The experience of purchasing and restoring this car has been the most rewarding automotive endeavor I have undertaken in recent years.

Have you ever searched for or restored a car from your family history?