In 1999, when I moved to San Francisco, I found it was very difficult to park my <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/367544491">El Camino</a> or <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/367544434/">third generation Camaro</a> near my apartment on 9th Avenue. I observed there were, however, many spaces available for a car that was approximately half the length of my cars. So one weekend I flew down to Orange County and bought this 1989 Honda CRX (in those tech boom days, everything was less expensive in Orange County than in the Bay Area, even second hand cars sold by private parties).

The second generation CRX shared the body style with the 1988 Civic I owned until 1993. I always thought these were good-looking cars, and the CRX weighed so little it was zoomy as hell, even with a 95 HP motor. I had always wanted one, and now I had a good excuse to get one.

Hondas have always been very good at accomodating my 6'5" frame, but this particular car had a mechanical sun roof that cost about two inches of headroom, so I couldn't sit in it without tilting my neck (I don't know what I was thinking during the test drive, but I do remember experiencing some neck pain for a few days after the 430 mile drive back to San Francisco). So I had to get it fitted with a set of Recaro seats that were lower and provided more headroom. Later I installed the Recaros in my Camaro and they are still in my garage waiting for another project.