It must be Tiny Twin-Engine Freak season because this crazy 1984 Honda CRX in Oxford, Florida is almost as insane as the Twin V8 Yugo from December of 2020. Dual Honda Accord engines power the diminutive two-seater: one in the usual place and one behind the seats. Compared to the Yugo, this innocent looking CRX certainly wins the sleeper award, and it originated as the demented brain-child of Car and Driver magazine back in 1985. After being sidelined for eight years, it seeks a new owner on Facebook Marketplace where $20,000 buys the vehicle and the right to return it to roadworthiness. thanks to reader Mitchell G for spotting this eight-cylinder AWD Honda.
If you’re going to jam an Accord 1.8L 1.8L inline four-cylinder in the back of a tiny two-seater, why not cram another one up front? With 1.3 to 1.5L factory engines making 58 to 76 HP, the CRX would have considered ONE Accord 86 HP 1.8 L engine an upgrade. Adding a second one definitely scales up the engineering required exponentially.
As you might expect, automatic transmissions are the only practical way to drive a swap such as this, unless you can imagine the Rube Goldberg arrangement necessary to get two clutches and shifters to operate with one pedal and one lever. The interior has held up well, supporting the 50,000 miles shown on the odometer. Racy Recaro seats date to the original build as well.
The “CR-X²” logo might cause some head-scratching in traffic. The little Honda’s original testing showed a 0-60 time of 6.2 seconds and a top speed of 143 MPH (according to Car & Driver) during a year when the Corvette managed 7.9 and 140, respectively. Having all four wheels pulling presumably makes for a strong launch and confident all-weather traction. Would you dare drop the hammer this crazy eight-cylinder micro-coupe?
I remember reading the article in Car and Driver magazine. Fresh out of high school I drooled over this. So radical and cool for a kid with a 72 Beetle so wanting for more power! Then came the Shogun with the Fiesta SHO rear engine creation. I drooled over that one as well. I hope this car finds a good home and a sympathetic restoration is done to bring it back to its former glory.
I remember the article, too! In fact, I think the headline was “Hubba, Hubba, Honda, Honda.” lol
Should really have used “Honda-lay, Honda-lay, Yeeha” since it’d be appropriate to have Speedy Gonzalez as the spokesperson!?
Dare I ask if anybody can remember why it was built ?
Maybe for the same reason a local Porsche specialist built a awd aircooled 911, into a VW Splitty bus ?
But at least he can take a few friends along for the ride.
I recall a Road & Track article covering a build of a VW Rabbit around a Porsche 928 chassis. You couldn’t easily tell the car from a stock Rabbit, until they showed you a stock one beside it and you realized the “built” one was something like 8″ wider.
It was cool. Done because the builder could “do it”.
And then there was the Twini Mini with 2 Cooper S engines in it. Apparently terrified the test drivers….
Showing my age, but I remember the article. And my reaction to the headline was “I wonder if it was C&D’s version”
I had a Pinto Cruzing Wagon with a 327ci Chevy in it… Power to Weight Baby!!
Pinto Cruzing Wagon with a 327ci Chevy in it? I would love to hear more about that one.
Take it where it belongs. The SCRAPYARD. I pay to see classic cars hence the name barnfinds. This import garbage doesn’t belong here
That is an asinine statement. I bet your favorite car is a ’57 Chevy? Boring, bland and done to death.
I think “Classic American Cars Only” Barnfinds is a different site. Nope, nothing wrong with the content here. Keep it coming BF.
Patrickj is exactly what Barn Finds has turned into as of late. Blue hairs and boomers with no clue as to the reality that surrounds them. Average to high end Imports have seen 1000% boom in the last 10 years while average classic iron has slipped to be not worth even restoring. It is nice that the closed minds and ignorance of so many love to display it so often on BF.
I like both the old American iron and own too many Vettes at present to acknowledge. having said that I remember the article back in the day and always liked the CRX. This is the top dawg version and I would love to have it. So why can’t we have both the imports and American cars. Heck even reading about the Ferrari’s found is fun, then I run as I do not want to pay that much to get one running again.
Keep all the neat stuff coming.
Sounds like someone thinks the red MG TD that just popped up was made in Cleveland. Joel S is my man.
There has been at least one factory-produced double engine/drive train car – the early 60s Citroen 2CV Sahara. I saw one in person a couple of years ago that was driven to a Cars & Coffee in the San Diego area. Normally, the 2CV had one two-cylinder air cooled engine up front driving the front wheels. In the Sahara, they installed a second complete drive train driving the rear wheels. Both transmissions were controlled by one stick and the clutches by one pedal (probably hydraulic). Two starters separately controlled. The car would operate with both engines to create 4WD. Alternatively, I recall the owner told me it could also be driven with only the front engine driving the front wheels with the rear wheels coasting. It was created as a 4-wheel drive car to be used by the French oil industry in the North African desert. Made about 700 of them according to Wikipedia. Not exactly a speed demon even with 2 engines since 2CV engines of that era only produced at best 18 HP. So two engines got you all the way up to 36 HP Beetle territory. It was a real production vehicle that could have been bought by anyone at the time.
I am the Seller. I found the car at a Zephyrhills, Florida auction in 1996. Only thing wrong with it was warped front discs and the shifting of the 2 transmissions needed adjusting a bit. Correction: the engines are stock 101 HP, 1,831, 3 valvers and the car did 147 mph in C & D’s second article. I have seen it there 3 or 4 times in my 26 yrs. and 10,000 miles with it. It can be driven on one engine at a time, but at 2,700#, what’s the point? It has never been abused, always inside – except for a couple of yrs. under a carport, and is THE most fun car I have owned, of over100. That includes Tiger, TR8, Renault R5 Turbo II and built Pantera (23 yrs.). The car is a riot. It is not running because it needs the fuel bladder/cell replaced. Of course, it has lost it’s brakes from sitting and needs tires, and has one odd rim on it. 2 or 3 other minor things. No rust-through anywhere and no crashes. It has Mugen body cladding and KONIs. 7X15 rims and nice Recaro seats. I have more pics. It was running perfectly when the fuel cell forced me to shut it down and I have kept Marvel Mystery oil in all cylinders. Health problems force it’s sale. The car doesn’t need a master mechanic to resurrect it and I know the engines and transmissions are fine. I never had to do much to it because it was dead reliable. Grassroots Motorsport magazine did a “Dyno Day” article and this car was the lead pic in that article.
This will be my first time commenting after having read these for about a year. Let me understand this- some of you enjoy classic collector vehicles because of their rarity, quality of engineering and uniqueness,not to mention their ability to perform. Now here’s a car that meets all of those qualifications and then some, and someone has the audacity to suggest it be scrapped? It certainly must be true that there are snobs in every arena.
Welcome Wilhelm,
Indeed,welcome.
Well said.
Ummmmmmm…have you seen the prices of fox body mustangs lately?
And many rather common older cars bringing surprising money.
I think I’ll just fix it and target market it to specific serious collectors. Raise the price. One drive and everyone is hooked.