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About the author: Having owned everything from a DeLorean to an E46 M3 to a Toyota Land Cruiser, Jason Bell is a lifelong car enthusiast who loves sharing his passions as a teacher, writer, speaker and social media manager. Contact him at cinnanekbell@gmail.com.

PHOENIX, AZ — Upon entering Tyson Hugie's garage, you are hit with a wave of nostalgia in ways that only the '90s could do. Memories of mood rings, jelly sandals, Power Rangers, Bill Clinton and Princess Diana flood your mind and take you back to a time far removed from social media, smartphones and Zoom meetings.

Acura arrived in the United States car market 34 years ago as Honda's luxury brand and for the next 14 years basked in what is considered to be the "golden age" of Acura and Honda. Knowing this, Tyson—a St. George native and current Phoenix resident — took an affinity to Acura early in his life. His garage now houses nine Acuras, eight of which span model years from 1992 to 2000.

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Tyson's love for cars started at an early age. You could say he was born into the hobby. "Among the photos in our family's photo albums are all of our vehicles. There is a photo of my grandpa standing proudly next to his 1950 Buick Special, and my dad next to his 1968 Chevy Nova. I'm just carrying the tradition forward," Tyson said. "It helped that I grew up in a family of three boys and even though our automotive tastes vary, we are all part of the enthusiast community."

A unique collection

While some might think of car collecting as a hobby suited for someone with exotic, classic or muscle car tastes, Tyson stands out in the automotive community for his carefully curated, unique collection of Acuras.

"Each car has its utility and personality, in a sense," said Tyson. "Whenever I buy a vehicle, it's for a specific niche or purpose. In some cases, the purpose may be as fleeting as just being able to say I've owned one. That's part of being a collector — the cars I enjoy the most, I keep longer. Others I am happy to own, experience and pass along to others in the community."

Tyson doesn't keep his collection as garage queens, as some collectors might. He drives them. A lot.

"All of my cars have miles on them and are drivers. My most recent project is a 1996 Acura 2.5TL with 262,000 miles on it. The car drives so nicely sometimes I forget it has a quarter-million miles on it."

His pride and joy, however, is his 1994 Legend LS Coupe with 574,000 miles on it. "I'd trust the car to the moon and back. The car has paid for itself a dozen times over," he said. Acura was also proud of this achievement, honoring Tyson with a red carpet celebration as he crossed the 500,000-mile mark while at the Acura headquarters in Torrance, California.

Curating Acuras

Like so many car enthusiasts, Tyson experiences an almost insatiable desire for the next car. For Tyson, though, the barrier to entry into his fleet is a high bar. Rare colors, manual transmissions, high trim levels, factory stock configuration, documentation, service records and window stickers are all a must and speak to the granular level of detail required for the collection. This makes finding the right one difficult.

"Every purchase has to be calculated and necessary," says Tyson. "I say 'necessary' with tongue-in-cheek, but you know what I mean. Usually, I start a car hunt (like on KSL Cars) with a specific purpose. Right now, for example, I'm trying to piece together the entire late 1990s Acura fleet. Out of six models sold between 1996 and 1998, the only car that I'm missing is a two-door CL Coupe. So that's next on the list."

Exacerbating the struggle of finding the next collection-worthy car is the recent explosion in popularity for Acuras and Hondas of the '90s. Popular enthusiast auction sites such as Bring a Trailer have seen Acura Integras, NSXs and Honda Civics sell for $50,000, $80,000 or even $200,000 or more — a staggering number for cars that originally cost a fraction of those prices when sold new.

What accounts for the enduring appeal of Acuras and Hondas from this era? Reliability, for one. Japanese cars, especially from the 1980s and 1990s, are notoriously reliable. Many people still use them as commuters today.

Beyond that, Tyson explains that there seems to be a "sense of soul" built into cars from that era. "I think it comes from the way those cars were packaged. There's very little fluff." And he's right. Acuras and Hondas from that era were simple, efficient and well-built. Usually, this meant a high-revving motor, a sport-tuned chassis and a slick-shifting transmission packaged in a nicely styled body, which were all trademark Honda and Acura qualities of the time.

"Honda nailed it with the Integra GS-R, Prelude, S2000, NSX and other models. It's no wonder they've become so collectible," Tyson said.

What's next for Tyson?

Now that Tyson's collection is nearly complete, what's next for the Acura collector? "I'd love to delve into something sporty like a Honda S2000. I'm also looking to buy a 2021 Acura TLX Type-S when the model goes on sale next spring. It will replace my ILX as a daily driver and give me something a little more modern to have some fun with. Lastly, I've never really lost my love for the 1988-1991 Honda Prelude like the one I owned in high school and would love to pick one up sooner or later."

While the automotive landscape is changing, Tyson remains optimistic that "there will always be a community for automotive enthusiasm ... both in preserving the heritage of these older vehicles while embracing the new technology that rolls out."

For Tyson, though, it's not so much the cars he has owned as it is the friends he's met because of his cars, that's made the difference in his life.

"I have a lot of people reach out. Usually, about 28 of the 35 people that text me every day are from some connection to cars. It's embedded in me to be a car fanatic," he said. "This is where my path took me and having friends all over the spectrum helps you stay grounded. Life's not about your car collection, but the relationships that last."

When asked what's next once the collection is complete, Tyson responded: "What's next? I don't know! Maybe I'll get something different, just to grow a bit. Life's too short to miss out on new opportunities. I'll just have to wait until I get there. The question isn't so much what I will attain, but what I will sell — and that's tough."

Tyson has found several of his cars over the years on KSL Cars, and so can you. That next diamond in the rough is out there, you just have to be looking.

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