{"id":2016586,"date":"2026-06-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2016586"},"modified":"2026-06-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:00:00","slug":"welcome-back-nsx-can-japans-greatest-supercar-carry-off-the-restomod-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2016586","title":{"rendered":"Welcome back, NSX: can Japan’s greatest supercar carry off the restomod treatment?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

No need for \u2018Reimagined\u2019 or \u2018Remastered\u2019 here. Honda was perfectly happy for this to have been called a Honda NSX without any trademark-swerving coyness. But the reimaginer, remasterer, remaker, revamper, reinventer, redeveloper or reinvigorator in question wanted to highlight its own name.<\/p>\n

So, JAS Tensei it is. But JAS\u2019s boss Mads Fischer tells TopGear.com: \u201cHonda said customers could put the Honda badge on themselves. One of their people said, \u2018This is what we should be doing but can\u2019t’.\u201d Can\u2019t because modern emissions and driver-assist regulations prevent a manufacturer building a new car like this. Whereas this car needs only meet Euro 1. It\u2019s a restomod, not a new car.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Look at what JAS is and what it\u2019s done and you can see why Honda is relaxed. For five seasons from 2012, JAS Motorsport developed and ran the works Civic for the Honda Castrol WTCC team, and it\u2019s also run second-generation NSXs as GT3 cars, and now runs Civics in the British TCR. It has been an official Honda partner for three decades.<\/p>\n

Obviously JAS wouldn\u2019t want to sour that relationship by bringing out a lazily spiffed up NSX-mod that besmirched the honourable heritage of Japan\u2019s first and \u2013 surely we agree \u2013 greatest mid-engined supercar. It needs to be a committed effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

So Milan-based JAS took proposals from most of the leading Italian design houses, and chose Pininfarina. The engine is the work of Judd. Big names. The result is a car with the vibe of the original NSX, but 420bhp at 8,500rpm, and carbon fibre panels over the original aluminium structure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s got useful modern features including adaptive dampers, nose lift, automatic parking brake and CarPlay. But none of the modern hindrances. And of course pop-up headlights. They\u2019re just brighter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Back in 1991, the original NSX had a startling effect on the supercar world. Honda could do anything in those days, but it always chose its own path. So it wanted to build a rival to the Ferrari V8s of the day, but didn\u2019t see the need for a V8 or a steel body. Too heavy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Instead it designed a little VTEC V6 \u2013 just 3.0-litres at launch \u2013 bolted into the world\u2019s first pressed-aluminium monocoque. The suspension was also ultra-light. The whole thing was 1,370kg, which is why the V6, revving to a then-staggering 8,000, was enough. And that lightness wasn\u2019t about starkness. It had power seats, Bose hi-fi, climate control. Its clutch was as light as a Civic\u2019s, its boot was useful, its ergonomics peerless.<\/p>\n

In a way, that was its problem. It was too accessible for many critics, at a time when supercars were meant to be ornery. It even had traction control; if you turned that off you might have needed Senna-like skills to catch it, because yes, in an era when Honda dominated F1, Senna had driven and approved of the NSX before production started.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gordon Murray owned one, and told me: \u201cFor the McLaren F1, for ride versus handling, we used the NSX as the benchmark. The Ferraris of that period were really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway I drove the NSX when it was new in 1991 and its character, engine aside, did feel oddly reserved for a car of its performance. Yet driving it again at the end of its life in 2005, it was obvious exactly how it had influenced Ferrari. Perhaps that\u2019s why, as with the Lexus LFA, few get modified. It\u2019s not like a Supra or a GT-R. It\u2019s almost a sacred object.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p>\n

As a race team JAS can use all the right software for suspension and aero design. The software needed input: a full digital 3D model of the car. But that isn\u2019t how cars were made back then \u2013 Alfa SZ was perhaps the first, a year later \u2013 so Honda couldn\u2019t help. JAS had to scan an original car\u2019s body. With that in place it could design and engineer the whole car in the digital realm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want a Fast and Furious<\/em> car, didn\u2019t want to destroy the heritage,\u201d says Fischer. So there were a fair few back-and-forth sessions with Pininfarina until JAS was happy with the balance of aggression and elegance, modernity and respect to the original. Non-negotiable, he says, were pop-up headlights, that hoop rear wing and rear lights, and the side inlets. But they\u2019re all more effective now, and the lights will be internationally homologated too.<\/p>\n

\n

We didn\u2019t want a Fast and Furious<\/em> car, didn\u2019t want to destroy the heritage<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That original NSX was, in my memory, timeless. Of course in truth it wasn\u2019t: look now and it has dated. Only, not much. Pininfarina\u2019s design appears drawn from my memory. The sides are more sheer and muscular than the original\u2019s, the wings draping over wider tyres, and creases erased from the doors. The upper body is pretty much unchanged. Except for the rear glass. The original looked a bit unbalanced, too long in the tail. The shallower rear glass angle tweaks that. Front and rear wheels are shifted backward a little, which gives extra cabin room to tall drivers. New seats also create more space.<\/p>\n

After all this time, and perhaps a high mileage, an NSX shell will have softened. To make it rigid again, carbon fibre sheets are bonded in strategic places. The original suspension mounts are used, but to meet them JAS has designed new suspension arms \u2013 front wishbones, rear multi-link \u2013 and uprights for both ends of the car. The originals were only just strong enough, apparently, and this new version has far more power and bigger brakes, meaning roughly double the loads into the suspension. Safety trumps originality. They have racer-type ball joints at the outboard end for precision, bushes inboard for comfort. The steering is electro-hydraulic assisted.<\/p>\n

Springs are progressive-rate, acted on by electrically adjustable dampers by KW. Those dampers are also used under a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, except when delivered in the Tensei they\u2019ll be menu-adjustable in stages, not fully adaptive. The car is fitted with all the accelerometers it needs, so after a bit more development the adaptive program will get downloaded to each car.<\/p>\n

On the far end of that suspension, a choice of wheels and brakes. Wheels are either a bespoke forged OZ with Y spokes, or \u2013 by popular demand \u2013 a set with radial spokes much like the NSX Type-R had. \u201cDoing a restomod, you don\u2019t follow your own opinion, you listen to your customers,\u201d says Fischer. Brakes, by Brembo, are steel or carbon fibre to choice.<\/p>\n

Full CFD simulation on the aero has drawn extra downforce from a subtly resectioned rear wing, and lower diffuser. The side intakes work better because front air curtains draw air from the front quarters, channel it past the wheel and keep it adhered to the door surfaces.<\/p>\n

\n

\"NSX<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The engine begins with Honda\u2019s block, but that\u2019s about it. Judd has done a deep-dive job. It\u2019s now 3.5 litres, not the original 3.0 (later 3.2), and revs to 8,500rpm, by which time it\u2019s making 420bhp \u2013 up 140-odd on the original. The signature VTEC system has gone, sadly. It wouldn\u2019t have been reliable at those frantic crank speeds. New crank, rods, and pistons complete the short block. The intake system has a new plenum and six throttle bodies. The ECU is new. The manual gearbox has six speeds, not the early 3.0 car\u2019s five. It\u2019s all-new actually: casing by JAS, with proprietary internals.<\/p>\n

I ask about weight. Fisher lets out half-laugh half-snort. \u201cI knew you\u2019d ask. The NSX engineers made it ridiculously light by looking at every part.\u201d The Tensei has bigger tyres, brake and wheels, offset by the carbon fibre skin. I suspect it\u2019ll end up just under 1,400kg.<\/p>\n

The original NSX threw supercars into a new era with its interior. You can see why Encor and Eccentrica designed new interiors for their restomodded Esprit and Diablo. Those originals were borderline uninhabitable. So the Tensei keeps almost all the original dash, binnacle and console surfaces, and the door cards with their brilliant integrated air vents. They\u2019re reupholstered, and accented with aluminium collars for the details. The wonderful NSX column-mounted switch pods for lights and wipers stay too.<\/p>\n

Within that binnacle, Pininfarina designed a semi-digital display to accommodate the modern menus for damping and so on. But prospective customers wanted something more old-school, so they can switch to a near-exact rendering of the old, and wonderfully clear, six-dial yellow-needle layout. With menus that pop up when you need them.<\/p>\n

A car like this doesn\u2019t just emerge out of nowhere. What was the Tensei\u2019s origin story? Fischer explains that because the race business has peaks and troughs, around three years ago they looked at doing a road car. But starting from scratch, building a brand and meeting all the current regulations, would have been slow and impossibly expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you make a \u00a31.5m car, customers are limited and there\u2019s no business. We knew there is a big market for restomods, Porsches and others. We wondered what car to do and it was 100 per cent an NSX. It has never been done. But we have a relationship with Honda and doing this could have been positive or negative. We\u2019ve worked 30 years with them and wouldn\u2019t do anything to harm their brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"NSX<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Next job, work out how many to do. \u201cTen, 50, 100? What\u2019s the golden number? We went around the world and met collectors and opinion leaders. People liked it. It had to be exotic but not too expensive. So we decided to do 30. Then someone said it\u2019s the 35th anniversary of the NSX, so we\u2019re doing 35.\u201d Buyers bring a car \u2013 of the 18,000 made \u2013 and pay \u20ac880,000 (\u00a3770,000) plus tax.<\/p>\n

After JAS decided to put its own brand on the car, it needed more. Says Fischer: \u201cThen one of our designers, Alessandro Prada, came up with Tensei. It\u2019s Japanese for reincarnation.\u201d So even if the lawyers didn\u2019t insist on a re-prefix, it kinda got one anyway.<\/p>\n

Price<\/strong>: \u00a3770,000 (+ donor car, + VAT)
Powertrain<\/strong>: 3.5-litre nat-asp V6, 420bhp, n\/a lb ft
Transmission<\/strong>: 6spd man, RWD
Performance<\/strong>: 0\u201362mph in n\/a secs, n\/a mph
Weight<\/strong>: 1,400kg (est)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No need for \u2018Reimagined\u2019 or \u2018Remastered\u2019 here. Honda was perfectly happy for this to have been called a Honda NSX without any trademark-swerving coyness. But the reimaginer, remasterer, remaker, revamper, reinventer, redeveloper or reinvigorator in question wanted to highlight its own name. So, JAS Tensei it is. But JAS\u2019s boss Mads Fischer tells TopGear.com: \u201cHonda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2016586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2016586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2016586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2016586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2016586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}