Description
For sale here is a recently recommissioned ‘Barn Find’ of a car that needs little introduction: a Lexus LS400. Featured on The Late Brake Show YouTube channel in July this year, the car sat for ~10 years before being retrieved from the dust and cobwebs. From 1993 to when it was finally laid to rest, the car showed an indicated 11, 971 miles. Sadly, we couldn’t get the car running for Jonny, but the car was quickly put back to running order (briefly shown in the video) with a fuel pump being found to be the only fault preventing ignition. Once running the recommissioning commenced, with a full fluid swap front to back, what little light surface corrosion there was underneath removed and the car compound polished and waxed.
The LS400 was then MOT’ed and driven under it’s own power to Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional 2024. Since the MOT, the car has covered a faultless ~400 miles, which only required fresh tyres and windscreen wipers to pass.
Overall Condition & History:
Presented in the ubiquitous 90s Lexus colour combination of two-tone beige over beige leather interior, this engineering marvel was built to steal Mercedes dominance of the American luxury car market, and is a remarkable example.
Much of the backstory is well covered in Jonny Smith’s video, which unfortunately cannot be linked here, but is the top result on Google for “11k miles LS400 Barn Find”. The car, although only covering extremely small distances at a time, was in frequent use until finally laid-up in an airy Dutch barn, sparing the car from corrosion, seized bearings or haywire electrics.
I would describe the work carried out as a recommission, rather than a restoration, as this car is in breathtaking condition as is. This is especially true of the interior, which - other than some creasing on the driver’s bolster - shows few signs of use, let alone wear.
The Interior:
It’s in truly remarkable condition. As the car had barely been touched in 10 years, only a quick wipe of the steering wheel and gear selector left the interior looking showroom fresh and is perhaps this car’s greatest asset. Indeed, after opening the door for the first time in years, the lack of mould and mildew is a testament to the quality of the door seals. Following a valet, the interior has proven a serene place to do what can only be described as wafting. Having recently stepped out of contemporary Jaguars, Mercedes and BMWs, this car is truly in a league of its own.
• The seats, while entirely unsupportive compared to a more sporting BMW, are sprung like a mattress. The fully electrically adjustable seats (including electric headrests!) and seat heaters (front and rear) all still work as they should, as do the occupancy sensors.
• Electric seat belt adjusters and auto-presenting steering column (a world first at the time) still work perfectly.
• The tilt and slide sunroof also operates smoothly and appears to have never leaked, as the entire headlining is truly mint with no sagging.
• The lack of any marks or debris in the cubbies, ashtray and cup holders would lead me to believe they’ve never been used.
• This is the same for the entire back seat and the boot, which only needed a vacuum to present immaculately. The boot also contains a complete and obviously unused tool kit and recovery attachments.
• This car also boasts the premium Pioneer stereo system with functional telescopic aerial and 6-Disc CD changer. The stereo is surprisingly good, better than many more contemporary car stereos I’ve heard,
• The Air Conditioning instantly blows ice cold or hot through any combination of the vents, and did so with no regassing necessary.
Body condition:
To date, 3 days have been spent on resurrecting the paintwork, which has come to a highly respectable deep lustre and presents well. With that said, the car would benefit from a full paint correction, for which we have acquired some very reasonable quotes. As you will find in the V5C and car history checks, the car has been recorded as a Category C write off, meaning damage was bodywork related and not structural but the cost to repair - particularly at main dealership prices, where this car lived its life - was deemed higher than the value of the car itself. Back in 2008, LS400s were nearing the bottom of their value curve, leading to many of these cars being written off (indeed, How Many Left indicates a total of just 28 ‘93 LS400s still registered!). We have documented evidence of bodywork damage repair to the car, which will be supplied with the car.
As for the dents and dings evident in the photos, these are mostly isolated to the bumpers - where plastic trim pieces have taken the brunt of the impact and require reseating - and the odd stone chip on the leading edge of the bonnet. A full walk around of the vehicle can be sent on request, highlighting areas for work to make the exterior concourse and truly befitting of the mileage. The car has also been treated to a full underside rust removal, treatment, and prevention. What surface browning was present was knocked back and then Bilt Hamber Dynax was used outside and inside the sills, subframes, chassis legs and suspension arms. We were pleased to find underside bungs untouched and revealed like-new inner cavities, confirmed with the borescope. Given the original condition of the car, the philosophy of preservation has been maintained throughout.
As mentioned previously, whatever faults can be found in the exterior, I feel the state of underside and interior more than make up for it. On a car of this age and ilk, restoring interiors, finding niche trim pieces, and fighting rust is far more costly and time consuming.
Mechanical Condition:
Now fully breathed over the 1UZ-FE lives up to the hype and operates silently. The original 5 exhaust silencer and twin catalytic converters, along with the heavily insulated cabin, have twice now made me look down at the rev counter to check if the engine is even on. In fact, the whole car now handles itself in an astonishingly composed and unfussy manner, just as it was designed to be when first released.
• Partial main dealer service history is present, as is the original Lexus leather service wallet, owner’s manual and V5C.
• All fluids have now been replaced to OE specification. This includes engine oil, coolant (flushed twice through), gearbox fluid and differential oil , along with the associated filters. All fluids came out looking remarkably fresh, with the original engine and diff oil looking identical to the fresh fluids which replaced them.
• Tyres are now a matching set of OE rated Falken Ziex Ecoruns, which ride incredibly well and are delightfully quiet.
• The Windscreen Wipers are brand new and modern OEM Denso hybrids.
• OEM Denso Iridium spark plugs.
• The only mechanical item left to address is the cambelt, as it is 25 years old. I have quotes from multiple Lexus Specialists to carry out this work, feeling it appropriate to pay a professional to do the work given the state of the rest of the car. With that said, the current belt was inspected when all the plastic engine cladding was removed and appeared crack free and flexible. As it is a non-interference engine, it seemed fine to use a little while longer before the next stage of recommissioning started.
The fuel sender gauge is intermittent and sometimes reads empty. This is easily located by removing the boot carpet and is something I intend to fix prior to the sale.
• The rest of the engine bay presents well, with no cracking to any of the hoses, pipes or plastics and nothing beyond regular engine patina appropriate for the age of the car. There are some minor rodent nibbles to the rubber strut-top rubbers, which led to a meticulous inspection of the engine bay before first starting again, and this was the only damage found.
Summary:
My friends and I have enjoyed enormously the process of recommissioning this Lexus LS400. It’s been a joy to work on and we’ve been consistently amazed by the build quality of this car. Driving the thing can be described as a calm, peaceful and relaxing experience. If you have any questions at all about the condition of the car, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We now know the thing intimately!
Sadly, with all of us based within the London ULEZ, keeping the car and using it as it should be used is just not an option for any one of us. As such, the car is now SORN until its next owner identifies themselves. I feel, with paint correction and a sympathetic (and limited!) restoration, this car could provide a huge amount of joy - not to mention mileage - to its next keeper.
