2000 Acura Integra GS-R DC2, B18C1, United States import

This 2000 Acura Integra GS-R is finished in black over grey cloth and is offered from Edenvale by edenvale_dc2, about this seller, who imported it from the United States in 2020. It carries the B18C1 VTEC four and the five speed manual, and the odometer reads 92,100 miles, which converts to the 148,300km published here.

The point of a GS-R in this market is that it is verifiable and most of what wears the badge is not. Integra bodyshells here routinely carry Type R stickers, GS-R badges and swapped engines, and the only way to separate a real car from a dressed one is the engine number, the chassis plate and the import file read together. All three are photographed and published with this lot. The engine is the B18C1 it was built with.

The mechanical file since import is complete. Suspension bushes, dampers and front brakes in 2022, the sunroof drains cleared in 2023 after water was found in the passenger footwell, and the cam belt, tensioner and water pump done at 148,300km in June ahead of the sale. The aftermarket short shifter and exhaust are disclosed and the original parts are not included.

One question went unanswered. Asked whether the car has ever been stolen and recovered, the seller declined and gave no reason. This model was among the most stolen cars in the United States during its production life, a stolen and recovered car often carries a branded title there, and the seller holds the import paperwork that a bidder does not. Kept publishes the decline as it stands. Bidders should price it accordingly.

The DC2 Integra is the car that taught a generation what a naturally aspirated four could do. The B18C1 in the GS-R makes 170 horsepower from 1.8 litres without a turbocharger, revs to 8,000rpm, and does it through a chassis light enough that the power was never the point. The Type R above it went further with a hand ported head and a stripped shell, and became one of the most collectable Japanese cars of its era.

That collectability is exactly the problem. Type R prices pulled GS-R prices up behind them, and both pulled up a large population of ordinary Integras wearing the right badges. Verification on this model is engine number, chassis plate and title history, and the market has learned to ask for all three because the bodywork proves nothing.

In South Africa these arrive as private imports, mostly from Japan and the United States, and they arrive into a market with no national vehicle history record of its own. What comes with the car is what a buyer gets. That makes the import file the most valuable document in the folder, and it makes an unanswered question about the car's history in its country of origin a very loud silence.