Our Crappy Car
Think back, way back, to 1989. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure had just been released. The Berlin Wall falls. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles take over the world. Captain Joseph Hazelwood, after a few too many drinks, decides that a little crude would be good for the local wildlife of Prince William's Sound, and runs the Exxon Valdez onto a reef. Oh, and Alex Macfarlane, who would grow into the collossus of a man, nay, beast, that would one day lead Big In Japan to victory in Joliet, was starting his first tentative year in the US...
Meanwhile, in the Land of the Rising Sun, designers had spent years laboring over what would be the most revolutionary car ever introduced by Toyota. They called their project the LS, and they set their sights high, aiming not for Cadillac, but instead for European marques like BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. What fever dream had gripped this company, before then famous only for making thrifty family cars? Behold!
The Original Design Sketch for the Lexus LS
What a spark of madness! In the swooping lines of the sketch you can see DNA from a BMW 6 series coupe, enormous sporty wheels, and - what's that - maybe even the glimmer of a hood scoop! This car design was so futuristic it didn't even have side mirrors! Or door handles!
Sadly, someone at Toyota saw these sketches and had a fit. After all, they were running a company, not a candy shop, and who were they to make the dreams of crazed boys come true. After many a boardroom meeting, Toyota finally settled on the design for the production Lexus LS 400.
Note the resemblance to an electric shaver.
However, despite the car's, umm, pedestrian looks, the LS 400 managed to get one thing right. Everything. The car had a powerful V8 hooked up to a rear-wheel drivetrain, a smooth ride, quiet cabin, excellent stereo, nearly unparalleled luxury, and was tens of thousands of dollars less than the competition. It even handled well for a luxo barge, provided you were driving one without an air suspension.
Flash forward twenty years. Twilight: Part Deux is making teenage girls (and their mothers) swoon, Tiger Woods is partying like Sean Penn circa 1989, and Billy Mays is dead. Even more surprising than all that you can now pick up a running (ish) 1990-1993 LS 400 for about $500. So we did.
Even more amazing is that after the leather seats, sound dampening, spare tire, window glass, stereo, and sunroof have been stripped out of the LS and sold, you've got a light (ish), nimble, RWD power sedan. That looks like an electric shaver.
