Dear Honda

139 reasons not to kill the S2000

On April 16^th, 2011, I had the privilege of eating dinner with 229 other Honda S2000 enthusiasts. In total, 139 of your most fun, amazing, drivable roadsters ever created, met at a remote resort in the North Carolina mountains for the very same reason: to drive on one of the most exciting roads in the Eastern United States, if not the entire country - the Tail of the Dragon.

The parking lot at Fontana Village Resort.

My husband, Taylor, and I started our journey in the early morning hours of April 14^th in Tampa, FL. We met up with our local S2000 group of about 15 other cars and made our way on what would become the best trip we had ever taken in our entire lives.

Our friends, Caleb and Stephanie.

After two days of traveling and driving some incredibly curvy and picturesque roads, we arrived at Fontana Village Resort to celebrate with fellow “S” owners in the annual “Wake the Dragon” event. It’s an event that has happened every year for the past 9 years with no plans of it ever stopping. We will not quit, even if you have.

The afternoon of April 15^th would prove to be an combination of adrenaline rushes, nervous giggling, heavy concentration, and some very strong G forces as my husband and I made our first attempt at taming the Dragon. It was an exhilarating top-down ride through unbelievably tight turns, and rolling hills with incredible acceleration and quick braking at almost all the same time. If you haven’t driven a road like this, it’s hard to explain the rush of emotions you feel. Fear, excitement, nervousness, and joy all rolled into each other.

I leaned back in my seat and looked at the beautiful mountains and trees that stood before us while our “S” laid claim to the pavement, hugged the turns, and tore up the straights. It was a thing of beauty. The perfect synergy of nature and machine. Nature in its chaos and disorder and machine in its preciseness and perfection, created a symphony of sites and sounds as we wound our way through the Dragon.

That following evening, 139 S2000’s; 230 people, convened at a banquet hall and shared pictures and stories of our travels and adventures all with the same underlying theme: the love of a car that you chose to stop making.

I don’t care if it’s for economic or global climate reasons that you chose to stop production. The point is that your assumptions are wrong. There is still a market for this car. There is still a desire for this car. There is still a need for this car! Yes, you need this car just as much as we do.

If you want to claim you’re stopping production on it because you want to focus on more gas-economical cars, again, your supposition is incorrect. The owners that converged on the Fontana resort in North Carolina that weekend were from all over North America. There were at least 30 people from Florida, several from Ohio, Illinois, South Carolina, Georgia and even a group that came all the way down from Ontario, Canada. We are all well-aware of the price of gas these days and we still made the trip and we did it happily because at the end of the day, these cars make us smile.

They are amazing pieces of machinery and I’m sure I’m not the only person that views them as works of art. From an aesthetic perspective, there is NO better looking roadster out there. You cannot convince me otherwise; nothing out there stacks up. Some people might contend the Porsche Boxster is a thing of beauty or that the BMW Z3 or Z4 far surpass the looks of the S2000. I would be quick to tell them they are wrong. I can tell that Honda didn’t take the design of the S lightly at all.

Which is why we are all left pondering: How can you, Honda, walk away from a car that means so much to so many people? How can you so easily theorize that all the world wants are econobox Civics and gas-sipping SUVs? The bottom line is that you can’t throw all of the world’s consumers into a box and expect them to be okay with it. I’ve seen far too many S2000s lovingly doted on by their owners to ever believe that the market for fun, exciting, dare I say it, fast 2-seaters is disappearing. The only things that are quickly disappearing are cars that exhilarate us.

The S is dying and you’re allowing it to happen. It’s only a matter of time before the world is down to a handful of properly working S2000s and eventually, those too will fade away. Without you, this car’s glory days are all but behind it.

I wish I could competently convey to you what it felt like to be sitting in a banquet hall with 229 other people that all love and respect these cars as much as I do. To feel that kinship and celebrate these machines together in such a grand yet intimate setting is something that is forever branded into my heart. It is a memory, an emotion, a feeling that will never leave me for as long as I live.

The morning of April 17th arrived and my husband and I packed up our car and made the grueling 12 hour journey back home. For a long time, I was silent. I quietly reflected back on the days that recently passed and I wanted to continue reliving them. Just for one moment more. I’d give anything to be back there on that mountain, slaying the Dragon and feeling the cold wind nip at my cheeks as we tucked into each turn and roared down the straights. I fought back the tears of a stupidly emotional woman who gets too sentimentally attached to inanimate objects like our beloved S. But I can’t help it. To me, that car has soul. You, dear Honda, breathed the breath of life into it the moment it rolled off the factory floor. And to think that soul may one day pass from this earth hits me right in the pit of my stomach.

Our friends, Jack and Cris, navigating the winding mountain roads.

Your discontinuation of the Honda S2000 leaves all of us enthusiasts with more questions than answers. The only thing we really know is that you have made the decision to stop making a car that has more value and is more highly revered than you may even realize. Please understand that 230 is only a small percentage of the population that owns or has owned an S2000. Do some research, collect data, and get some measurable metrics on the collective population. You would be amazed at the interest this car holds. Visit www.s2ki.com, or check out www.killboy.com which has its own separate section devoted specifically to the S! To turn a blind eye to the incredible amount of people that have a passion for this car would be irresponsible. My only wish is that you will look back on this and understand what a huge mistake you made.

To you, it’s just a car.   To us….it’s something inexplicably greater.

Sincerly,
J. Royal

Owner of "Elvis" a 2007 Laguna Blue Honda S2000

Our treasured S2000.

(The author of this blog is "LittleBlueS2" and her husband is "Evil S2K" on the S2KI forums.)