Met a local 1st gen. Insight owner today (Update: they're all gone now.)
 

Saw the car leaving Home Depot ahead of me. It caught my attention (aside from being a cool car) because Insights are pretty rare in Canada - fewer than 400 1st gen's were sold here, and there are no other ones in this city of 21,000 people.

Several turns later, he was still ahead of me, so I stuck behind him into a neighbourhood and parked at the curb when he pulled into his driveway.

I wonder if he thought I was stalking him... EcoStalker.com! :p

2000 model year, 5 speed, 150,000 kms, original battery. Dark grey.

I showed him the ForkenSwift (he said he'd thought he'd seen it on the web already).

We exchanged email addresses with the idea we'd meet up on a nicer day to take a closer look at & drive each other's cars. (I've ridden in but never driven an Insight.)

...serendipidity: one one-of-a-kind meets another one-of-a-kind!

that sounds cool try your best to convert him we need all the ev drivers we can get

This is rare, i mean rare in a town of 21K. You should meet. If don't, come down here in the south i'll find you one to drive. It is a must 100 cars to drive. You can even spin tires with it :) or not, if you wish you can hypermile in it :)

Talked to this Insight owner again recently... his pack since died.

I pointed him to RobertSmall's excellent thread about DIY pack refurbishing:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ems-13610.html

So, since I first posted this thread...

1) I stumbled across an Insight and snapped it up for myself, and,

2) yesterday I spotted another local Insight owner - so that makes 3 of us.

I had seen him once before driving in town, but he lives in the country. And now I know where. (Funny the sights you see once the leaves start falling off the trees...)

I'll have to stop by & say hello sometime.

End of an era: all the local Gen 1 Insights are now gone from my area. I have recently seen a new Honda Fit in the driveway where the last one used to live.

I actually once met that owner at the gas station and asked him to let me know whenever he was ready to get rid of his Insight, regardless of condition -- we even exchanged contact info. Oh well.

By the way, his was the only "rusty" Insight I've ever seen. Yes, aluminum will corrode in eastern Ontario. :D

Fixed it for you...

Rust is Iron oxide.

Corroded Aluminum is Aluminum oxide.

Sorry... I just felt like nit picking... :p


I wonder though...

If it had Zinc anodes, like a outboard boat motor.

It may have helped to prevent corrosion of the body.



:snail:


>

I like stories like these. I met a metro owner that had skirts on his rear wheels. We laughed cause I have skirts on my rear wheels too.

found it again!
 

I found the "last local Insight!"

It's in the boneyard behind the Honda dealer, probably traded in there.

My immediate, automatic inner dialogue when I first glimpsed it:

"I don't need a worn out Insight.... but it can't hurt to just go over there and take a look ..."

Too late!

Now it's got fat mags/tires on it, and the hybrid bits & drivetrain are ripped out. My guess is it's in the process of getting a "performance upgrade". One of the young mechanics probably picked it up for peanuts in order to stick a Civic engine/trans in it.