I thank you for this input- sadly my initial description was done quick and a bit lakcing in details.
I can exclude that because I started the engine this morning three times (bring the kids to school, leave school, leave the bakery parking lot) and each time it was like it was harder to do the initial crank.
As far as I can go with my knowledge of cars, it’s definitely the starter.
WHAT in the starter is broken, is the real question.
I will give all the fuses a good shove to make sure they are seated correctly.
In the past I have always just replaced the whole starter, rather than faffing trying to fix it, I am not even sure you can replace the solenoid on new starters.
Meet Speedkar99, the source of all knowledge about cars.
I watch this guy in the evening instead of sitcoms.
HAH! Nice find! I’ll give it a try!
'91 Honda Del Sol, could get power but wouldn’t start. Turned out the rubber bumper on the clutch that would engage the clutch switch had broken clean off. Unplugged switch, jumped it til I could work up the nerve to pull out the clutch pedal.
And the more modern automatic/push-button-start equivalent:
Check your brakes lights - the brake light switch is usually the interlock for the starter circuit, since you typically have to push the break pedal then push the button to start. So if that goes, you should also have no brake lights, just the running lamps.
Gave it one more try after shoving all the fuses… No luck.
Tomorrow a friend will tow it to my work place and Monday I’ll work on it.