AutoSnipes Journal / September 28, 2026

Zanardi Edition NSX #22 Just Sold for $628,000 — America’s Only Factory Lightweight NSX Just Got Repriced

One owner, 23k miles, New Formula Red — BaT’s $628k Zanardi Edition #22 reset America’s only factory lightweight NSX. Custody premium, not badge fluff.

Zanardi Edition NSX #22 Just Sold for $628,000 — America’s Only Factory Lightweight NSX Just Got Repriced

*One owner, 23,000 miles, New Formula Red, six-speed — and BaT just paid more than double the last famous Zanardi result for a car Honda built by taking stuff off.*

---

$628k vs. the old comps — what changed?

$628,000. Sixty-eight bids. Five hundred sixteen comments. Hammer down Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

Bring a Trailer’s one-owner 1999 Acura NSX Zanardi Edition #22 (Lot #264,436, chassis JH4NA2122XT000149) didn’t just clear a number. It moved the ceiling for the only US-market factory lightweight NSX Honda ever built.

Prior public Zanardi comps lived in a different solar system — roughly $108k–$277k, with #51’s 2020 BaT result at $277,017 as the famous high watermark for years. Hagerty Insider’s Sep 26 write-up framed this week’s result near $635,500 and called it roughly $200k over their #1 (concours) guide value. Lead with the BaT hammer. Cite Hagerty for the valuation weather report. Don’t invent a reconciliation between the two — buyer’s premium math is their framing; $628,000 is the winning bid on the listing.

What changed isn’t a mystery to anyone who already wanted a Zanardi. The market finally priced subtraction the way Japan always priced Type R / Type S logic — and it did it on a car that never left the person who bought it new.

What Honda removed (and why that mattered more than what they added)

Every NSX person already knew the Zanardi Edition was the US-market Type-S-in-disguise. Acura built 51 for 1999 to commemorate Alex Zanardi’s back-to-back CART titles in Honda-powered cars. New Formula Red only. Exclusive black interior. Firewall plaque with build number and Zanardi’s engraved signature.

The interesting part was never the plaque. It was the delete list:

  • Fixed roof instead of the targa panel that dominated North American NSXs after 1994
  • Unassisted rack-and-pinion steering
  • Firmer springs and dampers, thicker rear bar, lower ride height
  • Lightweight rear spoiler and single-pane glass partition
  • Staggered metallic-gray BBS (16″ front / 17″ rear)

Hagerty notes the edition weighed about 149 pounds less than a standard NSX. Honda didn’t dress this car up. They took the soft stuff off and dared American buyers to notice. For two decades of auction results, a lot of them didn’t — or didn’t pay like they did. This week they did.

#22’s custody file

This is the part AutoSnipes was built to care about.

| Fact | On the BaT listing |
| --- | --- |
| Production | #22 of 51 Zanardi Editions |
| Miles | 23k shown |
| Color / roof | New Formula Red, fixed roof |
| Powertrain | 3.2L C32B V6 · six-speed · LSD · factory 290 hp / 224 lb-ft |
| Cabin | Onyx leather / suede · stamped sill plates with serial |
| Ownership | One owner from new (Arizona) |
| Paper | Owner’s manuals, service records, clean Carfax, clean Arizona title |
| Seller channel | BaT Local Partner offering on behalf of the owner |
| Detail tells | Front PPF; paint-meter photos; scrapes under the front bumper cover (disclosed) |

Not perfect. Documented. Driven enough to be real, preserved enough that originality still compounds. Modern Car Collector’s pre-close thesis — that originality compounds harder in a 51-car population — is the line enthusiasts are already repeating in comment sections. Custody isn’t a vibe word here. It’s the whole ask.

Seller rule: if your NA2 never wore a Zanardi plaque, do not paste “#22 did $628k” into the description. Paste your miles, your title state, your roof type (fixed vs targa), power steering yes/no, and three comps in your band.

Buyer rule: this hammer is a receipt for this VIN’s story — one owner, Arizona paper, #22 of 51. It is not a blanket reprice of every New Formula Red NSX on Facebook Marketplace.

Zanardi the driver — without turning the piece into an obituary

Alex Zanardi’s May 2026 death sits in the background of every comment thread this week. CART titles. The Pass. Lausitzring. Paralympics. The courage after the accident that nearly killed him. Serious buyers are naming that lore — and then pointing back at the factory spec and the custody file, not treating the plaque like a memorial raffle ticket.

Hagerty’s commenters are already pivoting to the next NSX hammer worth watching: Ayrton Senna’s personal 1991 Honda NSX at RM Sotheby’s London on October 31 (estimate £500k–£800k). Zanardi #22 primed the news cycle. Senna keeps it alive through October. Soft watch — not a comps paste into your private-party ask.

Broader NA1 / NA2 heat

Hagerty’s market framing matters even if you never touch a Zanardi: NA2s up ~125% vs 2016 values in their Sep 26 piece, with late NSX-Ts already topping $300k and approaching $400k in recent public results they cite. Rising tide. Lightweight boat. Thin liquidity in a 51-car run means the next clean Zanardi that lists will move the whole band again — up or sideways depending on custody and miles.

That’s why screenshot pricing is poison. One BaT result with 516 comments is weather. Your car’s paperwork is climate.

The AutoSnipes angle: private-party custody premium

Skip the auction-house victory lap. Write this the way car people actually talk about it:

> What would you pay for #23 if it listed free on AutoSnipes tomorrow — same New Formula Red, same fixed roof, same unassisted rack — with a one-owner file and photos that convert?

That’s the marketplace question AutoSnipes owns. Rare JDM / analog mid-engine Honda configs still hide in private-party inboxes and “maybe someday” garage corners. Auction fees and comment-section theater are optional. Documented custody is not.

If you’re sitting on a clean NA2 NSX (or any rare config that isn’t on BaT yet):

  1. Lead with the concrete identifier — plaque, chassis, roof type, miles — before the vibe paragraph
  2. Itemize originality — power steering deleted or not, spoiler, wheels, paint meters
  3. Disclose the imperfect stuff early (bumper scrapes beat surprise PPI fights)
  4. Separate emotion from ask — Zanardi lore belongs in the story; it is not your comps math
  5. List free on AutoSnipes with the file buyers would expect on BaT — digitized

If you actually drive your NSX to Cars & Coffee instead of vaulting it: $89 Street Visibility QR window decals exist so the next person staring at your BBS staggered setup can scan to a real listing instead of leaving a napkin under the wiper. Meet cars convert. Garage-queen myths don’t.

What to do with this hammer

If you’re shopping NSXs: open AutoSnipes /cars, separate Zanardi / NSX-R / Type S / garden-variety NA2 like a grown-up, and decide whether you’re buying custody theater, a driver, or a speculation screenshot. Those are three different listings pretending to be one search result.

If you’re listing a rare Honda / JDM / analog mid-engine piece: steal #22’s file discipline, not its ask. Free listing. Real photos. Title clarity. Comps in your band.

If you’re watching the next hammer: Senna’s personal NSX, RM London, Oct 31. Bookmark it. Don’t reprice your driveway off the estimate.

---

AutoSnipes CTA

BaT just told every NA2 owner what the market thinks Honda’s subtraction math is worth — on a one-owner car with 23k miles and plaque #22 of 51. The useful work is quieter: match your NSX to comps that share its paperwork and life, not its Instagram caption.

Browse on /cars. Selling? /list free with the custody file. Already driving something that stops the right strangers at meets? /street-visibility.

51 built. Subtraction > options. Custody compounds. Price the car you have.

---

Sources

---