Hi new here, former 1990 Ls 400 owner, future 199? Ls 400 owner

[Stereorob]

Hey peeps wow what a great site for a great car! My name is rob from west palm beach, fl. The Ls 400 in my opionion is the greatest car ever made hands down.
My first experience with a Ls 400 was riding around with my boss back in 2000, my first job at 16, in his shiny new big body lex. His was a 99 Ls400 and I thought it was thought it was the coolest car ever. I came from a BMW/Mercedes family and my folks thought Lexus was "nothing but a expensive Toyota" -I think we've all heard that one a few times right? Well anyway I wanted a Ls 400 like the one my boss had at the time but obviously WAYY out of range for a 16 year old kid so I busted my ass and saved my $$$ for over a year till I could get the closest thing I could afford to a 99, -a 1st gen pearl white 1990 Ls 400 with cracking leather seats and almost 200k miles on the clock. I paid 5 grand for it back in 01 back when they were still somewhat current looking and when I pulled into the driveway with it my folks thought it was stupid and told me I shoulda got a old e class or a 5 series., well I ended up driving that old 90 for almost 8 years, it outlived two generations of my parents cars and outlived 8 other cars I owned over the years. Haha!! In the time I had it I maintained it but I was very hard on it, I raced it constantly, crashed it twice and rebuilt it myself, it was stolen for 6 months but I got it back, it spent about an hour underwater after I accidentally did a power slide into a lake. Oops, but seriously NOTHING could kill that damn 1uz!! And it's still the only car I ever had that had a speedo that went to 160... -that would REALLY GO 160.. mine was a very early 90 too, made 9/89, I still remember the vin by heart! Jt8uf11e00000189! One of the first off the boat! It was crazy stupid fast for a automatic sedan, and could chirp the tires in all 4 gears if I stomped it, man all the crazy stories I could tell about that car. Anyways time and age finally caught up to my old 1990, and in August of 08, with 395,655 miles her tranny went along with her steering rack AND the starter all at once. By that time she had more dings and dents then a demo derby car and a few body panels that were not pearl white anymore. I couldn't afford to put her back on the road and she sat rotting in my driveway for almost a year cause it was so hard for me to let her go. Not to mention all the fights it caused between me and the MRS. I was in a jam for cash and she talked me into junking her. anyways fast forward 4 years, there hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about and missed that car, and now I'm older and more responsible in life and I'm trying to find another one. -not easy

 

[Stereorob]

Anyways, for the last few weeks I've been hunting high and low for my next Ls 400, I haven't seen a single 1990 pop up locally but there's still a bunch of 91s-94s running around and plenty for sale, I've looked at 15 different cars from 91-97 but every one of them was trashed, DESTROYED interiors, slipping transmissions, the lowest mile one I found had 246k miles on it, and it's been one hell of a hunt, i really want another early 1st gen 90-92 model but I guess there so old now it's pretty much impossible to find one under $3500 (my budget) that isn't trashed, but I've found a few 2nd gen Ls 400s that are pretty cheap, think there as good as the original 90-94 models? I'm looking at a 97 tomorrow.

 

[Stereorob]

Figured I'd add a few pics of my lost love

Here was my 1990 the first night I had her

 

[Stereorob]

Crap..

Wrong pic, (I'm on a iPhone so I can only post one pic at a time.) THIS is the one from the first night I had her

 

[Stereorob]

Here's how she looked around 04 (note the crappy pixelated image from a crappy digital camera)

 

[Stereorob]

And this is her near the end. Dinged dented, sad and broken. Oh how much joy and how many thrills and adrenaline rushes went along with those worn fenders, scuffed body panels, and ripped up leather seats!

 

[spf_lexus]

I too shared the LS400 love for a long time. I have had a pearl white 1992, a gray/blue 1990 and a silver 1992. All of them were stout cars with well over 200,000 miles. I bought my 1990 from my girlfriends dad. I guess the grandfather died and the kar was a living memory. It had 110,000 on it an completely immaculate. I put on another 150,00 and drove it supercharged for 2 years. The LS was so reliable I never that I never sweated long road trips and I drove from CA to CO 5x a year as I finished college. Great cars!

If you are looking for a low mile, clean LS I would recommend checking the Club Lexus forum classifieds, Craigslist.com, Autotrader.com, yahoo auto, and even ebay. I recently sold a Canadian Imported white 1992 LS400 with 130,000 for $4,000 since it was immaculate. This car was only driven in the Canadian spring time and sat in a garage the rest of the year. It looked like it came straight out of a time capsule. Well cared for LS400's are out there but it require some digging.