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Comment by mortenjorck | Hacker News Reader

This may make sense in the context of the enthusiast market, but I somehow doubt the average car thief is that tuned in to gearhead culture.

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You’d be wrong. Car thieves aren’t stealing cars to re-sell them on a lot, they are stealing them for parts for unscrupulous buyers, and street racers are a great market.

I used to own an Acura Integra. The rear spoiler was ripped off several times (carefully, so it could be re-attached to another car), and the car itself was stolen twice - the first time it was recovered in one piece, the second time it was a bare chassis without even wheels.

The Integra motor had a 10,000 rpm redline and had a cult following among Honda enthusiasts. It could be retrofitted into any Civic.

This guy is right. D, B, and to a lesser extent, K-series parts were - and ARE - in very, very high demand due to ease of installation, swapping, and durability. Oh yeah, and the secondary market for racing/show cars don't care much if the parts are stolen at all. They expect it, generally.

Any D-series motor bolts directly into any car with D-series engine mounts, and same is true for B/K series cars. Putting a B-series engine into a D-series chassis is pretty simple too, just requires some drilling and new engine mounts. Not a direct bolt-in but not difficult either.

WRT the bare chasis Integra when the police called you how did they break the news to you?

My del Sol was stripped. The cops just told me they found the remains of the car and I should come see it. It was heartbreaking but they were pretty professional about it.

From my recollection, they didn’t have much to say. The car was abandoned in Hillside, NJ just outside of Newark, at the time at least car theft was rampant there so the police were pretty matter of fact about the whole thing. The car got impounded, and it felt like the impound lot and the police department were conspiring to keep it there (like, to get the car out, you had to get a release from the police department on the other side of town from an office with very limited hours, which was only good for one day, and then make it back across town before the impound lot office closed for the day.

I recall my insurance company ended up paying more than the car was worth (before the theft) in impound fees, before even they could get it out.

What version of Integra had a 10,000 RPM redline? Information available online suggests the Type-R had a redline of 8,400 RPM. The S2000, introduced later was notable for its 9,000 RPM redline.

As far as I know, the top spec Type R DC5 Integra was a K20 (same as the EP3 Civic Type R) which is 8400. The older DC2 Integra Type R was 8700rpm. I forget the engine.

My mistake, the redline seems to have grown in my memory. Redline appears to have been 8,200, with a fuel cutoff somewhere south of 9,000, which was very easy to hit in 1st ...

Those 90s Hondas are very easy to chop up into parts and sell them at a premium.

Other enthusiast models don't suffer from similar theft rates.

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