February 2nd, 2026 - Down a ChatGPT Rabbit Hole for Project PRO.2 and its History

February 2nd, 2026 - Down a ChatGPT Rabbit Hole for Project PRO.2 and its History

As I noted in my blog post here: Some Internet Sleuthing to Uncover Project PRO.2's past in Japan, a lot of information about my car's history has been uncovered directly from changing technology over the past 21 years I've owned her. 

• I used a Honda Japan EPC to determine some of the factory options that were on my car when it was built, such as Honda SuperSound stereo system, etc.
• I obtained some information via plain old telephone and email when I called Honda Japan.
• I was able to glean information from the Google Translate app on my phone being able to translate the Kanji using my iPhone. 
• This allowed me to translate the service stickers on my strut tower and airbox to get even more history
• Allowed me to translate the pricing matrices from two Japanese Honda Verno stores to more accurately re-create the original sticker price
• CarVX allowed me to obtain information about my car that pointed to it never having been sold to the exporter via an auction house.
• Japan Car History Check showed me how many previous owners there were and where the car was registered while in Japan. 

And this past weekend I went down a rabbit hole with ChatGPT about my car's history. Using Microsoft's Copilot extensively for work, and ChatGPT for personal use, I have a healthy distrust for AI in general. I know that AI - ChatGPT especially - can hallucinate and present findings and analysis that is geared more to what you want to hear versus what's factually correct. Believe me when I say, I grilled it for hours, asked it for its sources, asked it to confirm findings, challenged it when it went down a path I didn't think was warranted based on the evidence presented. I asked it to ignore the previous inquiries I'd made and start absolutely fresh to confirm I hadn't accidently guided it one way or another.

I did everything I could to disprove what it was telling me. I didn't want to come here and misrepresent something that was incorrect because I trusted AI. 

Saturday evening I started by trying to find out whether the "Honda Verno Aomori" dealership that first sold my CR-X still exists as a rebranded Honda Cars dealer, and which dealer that would be. I was running into roadblocks with translating information from Japanese using traditional methods. Then it occurred to me. ChatGPT can understand Japanese just fine. 

I told it about my attempts to find information on my CR-X's early history and added the information about Hachinohe city that I received from Japan Car History Check's registry pull from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation/Tourism in Japan. 

Here's some highlights of what ChatGPT had to say:

Honda Verno Aomori almost certainly did not “vanish” suddenly.
What Honda Japan told you in 2006 (“the dealership was closed”) is very consistent with a rebrand and corporate restructuring, not a literal abandonment of the site.

By the mid-2000s:

• Honda abolished the Verno / Primo / Clio names
• Dealers were consolidated under “Honda Cars [Region]”
• Many locations:
• kept the same land and buildings
• changed legal entities
• changed signage and official records

So when Honda Japan says “closed”, it often means:

“This legal dealership entity no longer exists under that name.”

---

What we can confirm from historical breadcrumbs

1. Honda Verno Aomori was real and active in 1989

Honda’s Verno network was fully established and operational in northern Japan by the late 1980s, including Aomori Prefecture .
Your September 1989 retail date fits perfectly with:

• CR-X being a core Verno product
• Verno’s focus on sport-oriented models

---

2. Hachinohe City as the retail location makes sense

Hachinohe was (and still is):

• A major population and industrial center in eastern Aomori
• One of the primary market areas Honda targeted when siting Verno dealers

Honda strategically placed Verno stores based on market size, not just prefectural capitals .
So “Honda Verno Aomori (Hachinohe)” is entirely plausible.

---

3. Strong evidence the dealership became “Honda Cars Aomori”

Independent CR-X historical research (by another JDM CR-X owner doing similar sleuthing) reaches the same conclusion you’re circling: **Note, we later confirmed ChatGPT was referencing my blog post in its research... haha

• Honda Verno Aomori
• Retail sale: late September 1989
• Dealer no longer operating as Verno
• Likely successor: Honda Cars Aomori (浜田店 / Hamada area suggested)

This exact question—city vs prefecture naming, closure vs rebrand—comes up repeatedly in Japanese Honda history research .

Being diligent, as you should always be when dealing with AI for information, it gave me an answer of a dealership in another city in Aomori, so I asked it for confirmation... 

Honda Japan is correct.

「Honda Verno Aomori（ホンダベルノ青森）」 was the dealer company name, and it operated multiple storefronts, including one in Hachinohe City.
My earlier message incorrectly implied a single “Honda Verno Hachinohe” location tied specifically to Tamukai — that was not precise enough.

---

What the records show (confirmed)

Dealer company

• Dealer name: Honda Verno Aomori (ホンダベルノ青森)
• Later evolution:
  Honda Verno Aomori → Honda Clio / Primo era → Honda Cars Aomori / Honda Cars Aomori Higashi
• This matches Honda Japan’s internal dealer restructuring in the late 1990s

Hachinohe location (most likely match)

Historical corporate and registry documents for Honda Four-Wheel Sales Hachinohe (株式会社ホンダ四輪販売八戸) — the successor entity — list the original core Hachinohe dealership site as:

📍 4-22-25 Jōge (城下), Hachinohe-shi, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
(〒031-0072 青森県八戸市城下4丁目22-25)

This address appears consistently in:

• Corporate successor filings
• Honda dealer consolidation documents
• Government & automotive association registries

---

Final confirmation

✔ Dealer name provided by Honda Japan: CORRECT
✔ Hachinohe Verno-era physical location: 城下4-22-25 is the strongest documented match
❌ My earlier Tamukai attribution should not be treated as the original Honda Verno Aomori Hachinohe site

In one of its many responses to me, it mentioned architecture as a clue to determine whether the store is likely the correct one. I asked it about that and asked it what I should look for from a Google Street View search.

• Search Honda Cars Aomori locations in:
• Hachinohe City
• Hamada / suburban commercial corridors
• Look for:
• Older, low-slung dealership buildings
• Lots dating visually to the 1980s–1990s
• Even if the building is modernized:
• The land parcel is often unchanged

What you probably won’t find:

• A building still branded “Honda Verno”
• Archived public dealer registries from 1989 (Japan keeps those tightly controlled)

---

Again, in a new chat, I pressed ChatGPT to confirm its findings to help prevent hallucinations.

Short answer: yes — I still think that address is a very strong candidate, and the newer data actually strengthens the case rather than weakening it.

Let me explain why, using what we can now confirm.

---

The specific address you mentioned

4-chōme-22-25 Shiroshita, Hachinohe, Aomori
This location is currently occupied by:

• Honda Cars Aomori (Shiroshita)
• and the corporate office of the same dealer group appears to be at the exact same address Honda Cars Aomori Higashi (Head Office)

That combination is important.

---

Why this is such a good match historically

1. Shiroshita is clearly a long-standing Honda “dealer cluster”

Within the same block (4-chōme Shiroshita), there are:

• New-car Honda dealership functions
• Used-car Honda operations
• Dealer group headquarters

This is not random modern sprawl — it strongly suggests:

• a legacy site
• expanded over time
• continuously occupied by Honda entities

That pattern is extremely typical of former Verno / Primo core locations that survived the 1990s and were consolidated rather than relocated.

---

2. The address aligns with how Honda described it to you

Honda Japan told you:

• “Honda Verno Aomori”
• “the dealership was closed”

What they didn’t say:

• “the location no longer exists”
• “the site was abandoned”
• “no successor organization”

In Honda internal language, a Verno outlet being folded into a Honda Cars Aomori corporate structure does count as “closed,” even if:

• the land
• the buildings
• and the customer base
  remain continuous.

The Shiroshita site fits that exact scenario.

---

3. Competing Hachinohe Honda dealers are weaker candidates

There are many Honda dealers in Hachinohe today, but most of them:

• are in different districts (Numadate, Shimonaga, Tamukai, Ruike)
• appear to be later expansions or satellite locations
• do not double as a regional HQ

Your car was:

• sold new in 1989
• through the sport-oriented Verno channel
• in a prefectural-level dealership organization

That points toward a primary / flagship site, not a peripheral showroom.

---

What this means practically (and emotionally)

If you open Google Street View at 4-chōme-22-25 Shiroshita, you are very likely standing on:

• the same parcel of land
• possibly even the same driveway
• where your CR-X was handed over new in September 1989

The signage has changed.
The legal entity has changed.
The name Honda Verno is gone.

But the place?
The place almost certainly endured.

---

Bottom line

Yes — I still consider this the strongest single candidate.
Not “definitive beyond all doubt,” but about as close as historical dealer research in Japan realistically gets without internal Honda archives.

I did indeed check the location on Google Street View... 

I can almost picture it as a Honda Verno store... almost. 

But you know who can help that? ChatGPT can!
I asked it to redraw the building and add Honda Verno logos and branding. I also asked it to replace the cars out front with period-correct Honda autos that would have been sold at Verno in the late 80s, early 90s. This is what it spit out. Not perfect but it helps to picture what it would have looked like:

Next step is to reach out to Honda Japan again and see if they can confirm whether this is the same address of the dealership that sold my car brand new in 1989.

Note: I sent the email on Feb 2nd, and the latest email address I had for Honda Japan customer service bounced back to me as undeliverable: recipient address unknown. I had cc'd the original person I'd contacted in 2006 and that address did NOT bounce. I have since called Honda Japan and received a new email address to contact them and will resend the email next week if I haven't heard back by then.

Since I was on a roll with ChatGPT, I thought I'd ask it about this whole first owner being the dealership. It's always struck me as a little odd.

This was the area with which I spent the most time cross-referencing and grilling with ChatGPT. 

After a lot of back and forth, I uploaded the MLIT registration report I got from Japan Car History Check and asked it to do an analysis, ignoring all previous queries and analysis I'd already asked it because I felt like there was an effort being made to tie the responses back to previous queries. This was the reply. I felt comfortable that we would be dealing impartially. 

Understood. I’ll do this as a true reset in reasoning, not just rhetorically but methodologically. I’ll ignore all earlier conclusions, locations, dealer names, guesses, and even Honda-specific narratives unless they are strictly unavoidable facts.

Think of this as: What can an outside researcher conclude if they walked in cold and were very conservative?

---

Ground rules for this analysis (clean-room)

• No reliance on earlier addresses, maps, or dealership assumptions

• No back-projection from modern Honda Cars entities

• No reliance on anecdote, enthusiast lore, or “this is usually how Honda did it”

• Only conclusions that would survive scrutiny from:

  • an archivist

  • a historian

  • or a corporate legal department

After some further back and forth, I was finally satisfied that this was the best answer I'd be able to get from ChatGPT and that in order to take the investigation further, I'd need to reach out to Honda Japan. I had it help me draft the email to Honda Japan. 

I also asked it to provide a summary to paste into this blog:

────────────────────────────────────────

PROVENANCE ANALYSIS: 1990 HONDA CR-X SiR (EF8)

────────────────────────────────────────

This analysis examines the early ownership and usage history of a 1990 Honda CR-X SiR (EF8) using official Japanese MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) registration records, historical Honda dealership practices, and model-cycle context.

The goal is to determine how the car was used when new, whether it was dealer-operated, and how it transitioned into private ownership.

────────────────────────────────────────
UNDERSTANDING MLIT RECORDS (IMPORTANT CONTEXT)
────────────────────────────────────────

Japanese vehicle registrations distinguish between two key roles:

• Owner (所有者): The legal title holder
• User (使用者): The party who actually operates and stores the vehicle

This distinction exists specifically to support leasing, financing, and corporate ownership structures. The User is often the best indicator of how a car was actually used day-to-day.

────────────────────────────────────────
FIRST REGISTRATION (1989)
────────────────────────────────────────

Date: September 28, 1989
Registered Owner: Honda Leasing
Registered User: Honda Verno Aomori (Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture)

Analysis:

This ownership structure is not typical of a normal retail sale. Private buyers in Japan are almost never listed with Honda Leasing as the owner at first registration.

When a Honda dealership is listed as the User, it indicates that the car physically resided at the dealership and was operated under its control. This is the standard MLIT pattern for:

• Dealer demonstration vehicles
• Test-drive cars
• Showroom or promotional vehicles
• Service loaners

The timing also aligns with the peak marketing period of the EF8 CR-X, a model sold through Honda Verno stores, which specialized in Honda’s sport-oriented lineup.

Conclusion for this phase:

From new, the car was almost certainly operated by Honda Verno Aomori as a dealer demonstration or promotional vehicle, while being legally owned by Honda Leasing.

────────────────────────────────────────
SECOND REGISTRATION TRANSFER (NOVEMBER 1991)
────────────────────────────────────────

Second Registered Owner:
株式会社ホンダインターナショナルセールス
(Honda International Sales Co., Ltd.)

Registered User:
A private individual (residential address)

Analysis:

Honda International Sales was not a retail dealership. Historically, it functioned as a Honda corporate entity responsible for international sales, asset holding, and administrative ownership of vehicles, including those sold at retail under financing arrangements.

The key change here is not the Owner, but the User.

The User changed from a Honda dealership to a named private individual, and the address associated with the user is a residential location. This indicates:

• Private day-to-day use
• Residential storage and parking certification
• Personal insurance

This is a clear transition from dealer control to private use.

The November 1991 timing is also significant. By this point:

• The EF8 CR-X was at the end of its lifecycle
• Honda was transitioning to the EG Civic and CR-X del Sol
• Dealers routinely sold off demo and outgoing models

Japanese financing practices of the era often left legal ownership with a Honda-affiliated company until the loan was fully paid, similar in effect (though not structure) to a lien in North America.

The approximately four-year period before the next ownership change aligns well with a standard car loan term.

Conclusion for this phase:

In late 1991, the car was sold at retail to a private individual, with Honda International Sales retaining legal ownership during the financing period.

────────────────────────────────────────
DEALERSHIP LOCATION CONTEXT
────────────────────────────────────────

The Honda Verno Aomori dealership involved was located in the Shiroshita (城下) district of Hachinohe, an area historically known as an automotive retail corridor.

Modern and historical dealer clustering in this district supports the conclusion that this was an established Honda dealership location in 1989. The later reuse of the site by other commercial tenants fits common patterns for former dealership properties.

────────────────────────────────────────
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS CONSIDERED
────────────────────────────────────────

Several alternative explanations were examined and rejected based on the evidence:

• Dealership executive personal allocation
– No public records support this
– Registration pattern does not match internal staff vehicles

• Continued dealer control after 1991
– Inconsistent with a private individual listed as User
– Inconsistent with a residential address

• Corporate pool or lease-only vehicle
– These typically show shorter user periods or multiple user changes

The retail-sale-with-financing explanation best fits all available data.

────────────────────────────────────────
FINAL INTERPRETATION
────────────────────────────────────────

Based on MLIT records, historical Honda practices, and model-cycle timing, the most defensible interpretation of this car’s early life is:

1. 1989–1991
   The car was owned by Honda Leasing and operated by Honda Verno Aomori as a dealer demonstration, test-drive, or promotional vehicle.

2. Late 1991
   The car was sold at retail to a private individual at the end of the EF8 CR-X lifecycle, with Honda International Sales retaining legal ownership during the financing period.

3. Mid-1990s onward
   Ownership transitioned fully into private hands after financing completion.

────────────────────────────────────────
WHY THIS MATTERS
────────────────────────────────────────

This provenance elevates the car beyond a generic imported JDM vehicle. It documents a traceable early history tied directly to Honda’s dealer network and internal ownership structures, supported by official registration records rather than speculation.

Few vehicles of this era retain enough documentation to reconstruct their early lifecycle with this level of confidence.

────────────────────────────────────────

To provide some additional context to the analysis by ChatGPT, I asked it write a summary for this blog about the methodology and sources:

────────────────────────────────────────
PRIMARY SOURCE (FOUNDATIONAL)
────────────────────────────────────────

1. Your MLIT registration documents (supplied by you)

These are the only vehicle-specific primary records used.

From those documents, we rely on:
• Owner vs. User distinctions
• Registration and transfer dates
• Corporate entity names
• Address types (commercial vs. residential)

All conclusions are anchored to these facts.
Nothing in the analysis overrides or substitutes for the MLIT data.

────────────────────────────────────────
SECONDARY SOURCES (CONTEXTUAL, NOT VEHICLE-SPECIFIC)
────────────────────────────────────────

Everything below provides historical and structural context, not direct evidence about the specific chassis.

2. Japanese vehicle registration conventions (late 1980s–early 1990s)

This includes well-documented practices regarding:
• Separation of legal owner vs. user
• Leasing and financing structures
• Manufacturer-retained ownership during loans

These conventions are widely observable in:
• Exported JDM vehicles with preserved MLIT histories
• Period Japanese auction sheets and translations
• Contemporary Japanese-language explanations of 車検 / 登録制度

This context explains why the MLIT entries look the way they do.

3. Known Honda dealer demo patterns from the era

The analysis draws on repeated, non-anecdotal patterns seen in:
• Late-1980s Hondas (Civic, CR-X, Integra, Prelude)
• Vehicles exported with intact registration timelines
• Cars documented by long-term JDM collectors

Common pattern elements:
• Honda Leasing as initial owner
• Dealership listed as user
• Retail sale coinciding with model-cycle end
• Finance entity retaining ownership post-sale

Your car matches this pattern closely.

4. Honda corporate structure knowledge (period-correct)

General historical understanding of:
• Honda Leasing
• Honda International Sales Co., Ltd.

These entities’ roles as:
• Asset holders
• Financing administrators
• Export / international sales arms

This is structural knowledge, not a claim about the car’s exact paperwork beyond what MLIT shows.

5. Model-cycle and market timing (EF-series CR-X)

Widely accepted production and market facts:
• EF8 CR-X retail relevance ending in 1991
• Transition to EG Civic and CR-X del Sol
• Dealer demo clearance behavior at generation changeovers

This timing context helps explain why the 1991 transfer is significant.

6. Urban dealership siting patterns in Japan

Used only to interpret address plausibility:
• Automotive retail clustering
• Reuse of former dealership lots

This supports the reasonableness of Honda Verno Aomori’s location, not proof of its existence.

────────────────────────────────────────
WHAT THIS ANALYSIS IS NOT BASED ON
────────────────────────────────────────

To be very explicit, the provenance statement does not rely on:

• Internal Honda employee records
• Confidential dealer sales logs
• Personal ownership details
• Testimony from former staff
• Unverifiable forum anecdotes
• Assumptions about individual users

Where such confirmation would require private or inaccessible records, the analysis stops short and frames conclusions as most likely or consistent with known practice, not absolute fact.

────────────────────────────────────────

So it appears that it's possible my CR-X began its life as a dealer demo, test drive unit or even service loaner and wasn't sold to its first retail customer until November of 1991. This is a bigger plot twist than when I discovered it was never sold to the exporter at auction as I'd been told when I bought it in 2005. 

I still want to try and confirm all of this with Honda Japan, and I'll be sending an email to them later today or tomorrow. 

As more things are uncovered I will come back and update this. 

 

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.