Leaderboard

Well the buyer sent a recovery firm to collect the car on Saturday morning. He sent me a message later in the day to st he had received it and that he was very happy with it. He had already charged the battery and got it running but said it needed a few things doing before putting it on the road.

One drefinition of CLASSIC:- "....judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind" Quite a few classics would not pass this test.

The most beautiful car... define sensible money...

the Rover Coupe I did have to drive at my car sales business and I thought over-rated but a good car nonetheless, The Wolseley 6/110 ( in Rose Taupe ? ) a straight 6 was a beautiful machine and I had the Westminster version for a very short time before it broke down on me and was going to cost rather more than the £150 I paid for it ........... back in the 80's I like your choice, maybe it's an age thing Malc

Looks fantastic, well done! Not a fan of Autoglym's SRP. Are you polishing to remove swirls? Personally I'd use Meg's Ultimate polish and then seal the surface with Carlack'69 before applying a wax, Collinite 915 is my favourite. That all said your car looks very good, so perhaps it's just personal preferences. Except the sealant

I would never buy part worn tyres, but I am also not a tyre snob. There are some very good "cheap" tyres on the market, and some very bad expensive one's. People tend to believe if your paying a high price they must be good. There are some tyres called "Landsail" that were tested against some of the so called top tyre brands by a German tyre test company. The Landsail tyres held up in all respects coming in third place in 20 brands. I am testing some cheap tyres at the moment, and I am currently nearly half way through the test. I can say without doubt the tyres I am testing would exceed most peoples expectations for wet, and dry grip, handling, and although still at limited millage the ware rate appears very good. I would rate them above the Yokhama's that were taken off the car. Yes there are some bad tyres out there I agree, but they are not always the less expensive tyres. A few years ago makes such as Kumho, and Hankook were frowned upon. Now they are there with the other so called best. John

Because young man I am that older one! They used to film Dixon in our area of London, my older brother was paid a shiny silver coin for standing against a road sign to hide it whilst filming took place. I do hasten to add, my Wolsley was very old when I bought it!!

I tried to express myself in as few words as possible, but after reaching over 2500 I realised my post is probably better suited for blog, rather that beeing posted here I appreciate LS400 as an achievement of Japanese engineering which needs no comments, however for many reasons and based on current trends I don't think it is going to be very valuable classic. Secondly, current trends are just rough guide and by no means proves or disproves my prediction. Sadly, if the technology going to move enough all internal combustion cars going to become irrelevant and be parked next to the "steam engines".. even Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport Vitesse SE (sorry Jay). Funny you mentioned that... Trabant and Lada are becoming iconic and valuable classics, as well likes Ford Cortina, Escort, Vauxhall Nova ... I know mad... That is kind of a result of cars being so crap and hitting bottom so quickly, they fall in "bad hands" and simply perishes leaving very few and far apart. I guess Supra and NSX can partially belong to this category, except they are much better quality than the others. Rodius sadly doesn't have any classic car features.. no matter after 30 or 100 years... Audi TT mk1 on the other hand has.. - not the best car ever made, but revolutionary enough. Sleek and original coupe looks, option of powerful AWD Quattro 3.2, cheap enough today to reduce population, to girlish to be appreciated and preserved, fairly easy to work on, fairly common parts. The result - it will be rare and valuable car soon...

my 60's cars, especially BMC Wolseley, Morris etc had starting handles that were often used those cold wintry, frosty mornings ....... to save the almost dead battery which in those days I'm sure didn't have the charge holding capacity of modern times Malc

Correct, my Wolsley 6/110 had a starting handle and it got used regularly! And I never once broke any bones using it. It was black with red leather and made me feel like I was in a Z cars scene....or Dixon of Dock Green for the even older ones!

thanks for you help with this.. after Lexus UK have replaced the brakes 3 times there had my GSF for 3 week it look like that they cant fix the squeaky brakes so dont where we go next will update you all soon as i no

I went with my uncle and bought an LS400 off Baz in 2012, he is a genuine guy, not a trader, I think hes just an enthusiast thats got ants in his pants and needs to change cars often for a bit of exceitement.. Not many people will understand that (I certainly dont, I keep my cars for a LONG time)... Anyway like I say my uncle bought an LS400 from Baz... my uncle has ants in his pants too and a month later sold the LS400 to me as he wanted cash quick to buy something else, I bought it to do a few bits to it and make a profit, 6 months later I sold the LS400 back to Baz hahaha

Its a bumper off job, but that is easy some good vids on utube. 6 x 10 mill bolts underneath the bumper 1 on either side of top wheel arch behind lining. And 2 bolts on top and 4 clips where the grill is. Sounds hard but its easy.

Lets add the IS-F and GS-F to the mix for a comparison:

A little taster.. the relevant bit starts at about 1:40

Ive had the pleasure of listening to both! Three RC-F's, one in Manchester along the A56 in Black, another in Wakefield in Sonic Red and a Silver one on A63 towards Hull. The RC-F is definitely a notch higher. Say the IS-F is 1, the RC-F would be 1.5 and the GS-F is 2 if that helps at all. Worth noting that when they're in traffic, you wouldn't notice much difference, they burble along but its only when floored that they start to growl

update.... the car drives exactly as before, brilliantly smoothly etc ...... that darned expensive balljoint eh ! makes zero difference perceptively to the drive etc Malc

Cant say I have ever heard one.....................

Age thing? Do you more mature guys remember most of the neighbours tinkering with their cars on a weekend - bonnets up for hours? Trying to make sure they started on Monday morning! Don't see many modern cars with their bonnets up ....... if you do you assume they are filling the wash bottle. Oh the days of points and rotor arms and duff batteries - always having to charge them as the "thingy" (before alternators) - dynamos - were not very efficient.

"Never been one for sports cars,always preferred 'luxury barges'" Could not agree more!

Never been one for sports cars,always preferred 'luxury barges'. Here are just 4 on my list of many. The green Mercedes 300te, called Gertie, was the actual one I owned until about 3 years ago. Wish I still had her (as well as the LS of course).

Correct. Due to frankly absurd prices being paid for Supra's at the moment, chancers are advertising poor examples at inflated prices. Even n/a versions are creeping towards double figures, which is crazy considering you could buy them for £2-3k a year or two ago. The problem is demand is outstripping supply. I am sure I heard somewhere that Japan have even started trying to buy these back, as they don't have enough available over there anymore. The States are also Supra crazy (thanks F&F!), so I can't see prices coming down anytime soon sadly. I'm always going to have a soft spot for Supra's though, joined the owners club when I was 13yrs old! I've owned 4 myself, supported three mates who raced them for years in Time Attack and Eurosaloon races, and one of my best mates owns the largest Supra tuner in Europe. If I don't sell up and buy one, I'm sure I'll pick up a project car at some point in the future.

Problem solved : one wheel bearing on the rear..

Good point Mark. I understand that whoever runs this forum has to make money - fair enough, but the adverts shouldn't frustrate to the point of distraction! Silverstone was aweaome. Great crack. Hearing the old F1 (pre V6T) cars was a treat.

Just loving this colour and interior combination ...

For me it only ever was, and ever will be a 69 Corvette Stingray. No other car would do. I once owned a 69 Chevy Malibu in a rare right hand drive, oh how I wish I still had it, especially as it only cost me £150!

This is an original advert for the USA I think.

I use Adblock to keep them at bay..

Thanks Paul! Yes, I still drool! I saw one for sale recently but they wanted £10,000! Panels are not easy to source I understand and the tin worm is a real worry. It might not be too expensive to maintain mechanically - but I am useless with a spanner and need to rely on trusted garages. I believe classic cars are affordable if you are capable of fettling your own car. I am a person who loves cars but knows very little about how they are put together. I am in awe of peeps on here who do their own servicing and repairs. To a certain extent I have my heart in my mouth whenever I drive the Lexus, worried something very expensive will go wrong. To be honest, what is the worst that can happen? The car is scrapped, and I have lost the present value, which is under £3000 probably. We should be more worried if we pay a great deal more for a car (£20,000 +) as if that goes wrong you have little choice but to pay to have it repaired. I understand the logic when people take out the extended Lexus warranty - it is basically an insurance against a potential money pit. I would have to disagree with Linus, I believe they will be a classic, as the LS 400 broke the mould for luxury saloons. They are very much over engineered and that has been shown by how little they age. I went to the local Classic car show - not one Lexus, but there will be a 20 year old LS 400 there next year! (I hope!). A trio or more of ISF's would also be treat!

The first Celica would be my choice for CRAVE = the 2.0 litre ST or 1.6 - not fussy. They rusted well and are now quite rare and expensive for a good one. I agree with MikeyV - it would not be about value but love for the car. The Celica compared with my LS would probably be horrid to travel in .... but it was a car I nearly bought in the 1970's. I would stil love one ... just for its looks and sentimental reasons. My 2nd choice:- LS400 MkIV - wow! I have won the lottery!

Wow what a car ! I'm currently in Japan on holiday and went to the Toyota factory today on a tour then to their museum where they had a LC and a LFA plus various others. Took a few pictures, you could sit in the LC but not the LFA . Awesome car .

Denis I did not realize I was abnormal thanks for the heads up, Your experience in London boroughs is not the norm nationwide so it must be you that is abnormal. There are a lot of LS400 owners nationwide that live in normal environments and having been on this board for most of its life I have noticed most of them have a liking for the LS400 and do indeed regard it as a classic because they have owned them like me for over twenty years. It is not just the owners who regard this car with affection and admiration most of the motoring experts also regard it as an icon,your regard for this catalyst of the modern Luxury car era does not seem to be in alignment perhaps you have not come to love yours yet.

*blows the dust from this book* I'd love to do it, but my dog ate my homework...