Who said the NSX isn’t the perfect camping car just lied to you, or didn’t know Chris Cut. Well, actually, I didn’t know about him and his outstanding projects until later today.
I assume the iconic NSX needs no introduction – a mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, a one-of-a-kind type of car, now conceded an icon of the latest ’90s.
However, a Targa-top roofed car converted into a camping vehicle it’s not something you see on a daily basis, especially not when it comes to an almost-all aluminium Honda car.
But guess what? There are actually TWO – the other one is an S2000 and it’s actually a friend of Chris, but we’ll discuss him on another occasion!
The story is quite interesting – Chris is originally from Connecticut, and dreamed of owning an NSX since he was nine. And because dreams do come true if you wish and work your a*s hard enough for them, one very special day, he was given the key to his own NA1.
But wait, there is more to this story, and this is where things get very exciting – Chris loved travels & road trips, being accompanied by his dog Cassius, a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix. But road trips can be very expensive if you book hotel rooms, and you never know what you will get for the money, so he did it his way: he adapts the camper tent on the NSX, and sees this as an investment for his future adventures.
Things were not simple, as he stated for SuperStreet website, since the NSX’s frame is made from aluminium, and what might have seemed simple on paper turned out to be a bit difficult to apply, in fact. Chris asked a friend with a TIG welder for help, and they managed to come with a solution: instead of drilling the NSX’s quarter panel or risk denting them out, they used telescoping poles that attach to the roof rack and extend down to the ground, having all the weight from the tent transferred directly on the ground. This saved time, money, and lots of emotions that might have appeared in Chris’s heart every time he was sleeping in his tent.
But for the NSX to be able of all the cross-country Chris dreamed of, it needed suspension: D2 air suspension with ride height sensors and Air Lift 3H management; this way, the NSX can be lifted up to 8-inches of ground clearance.
Chris’s next project is a trailer that will complete the NSX – you can see more about this crazy project here:
Before ending this, I wanted to highlight something that absolutely made me smile – Sam Du asked Chris about his motivations behind the travels. His reply made it all worthy:
I want this to turn into a rally where I go cross-country, and people join in for portions of it or even for the entire trip if they want. I keep picturing that scene from Forrest Gump when he ran across the country and people joined in with him. I know it’s a silly idea, but I think it would be awesome if it actually works out!
Chris Cut, for Sam Du, SuperStreet website
The original article was published on the SuperStreet website, on Aug 4, 2020, but due to the GDPR and Europe ban, I only came across this story today and couldn’t keep it all to myself 🙂
Photographer: @redherringphotography
