Stereorob

as some of you know im a fanatic abot these cars and the early build cars are really special to me. ive helped several friends find Ls400s, and I work in the service department so I see my fair share of them show up for work. so out of curiosity, being that the early 1st gen, 1st year, early build cars and close to 27 years old and staring down the barrel of 30 years old, how many still exist from the first month of production, august 1989.

ive been keeping a record of every one ive seen here at the dealership, other lots, even stopped at gas stations if I see one ill talk to the owner and ask to see the vin sticker.

heres what im doing. im logging 8/89 and 9/89 cars only for now. ive spent a year collecting data.

A. colors
B. options
C. build date
D. last 6 of the VIN if I can get to it.
E. miles
F. cosmetic and mechanical condition if possible.

so far ive logged 52 cars, most are not early 90s. they are 91 and 92, however I see more 93s more than anything else. and although there numbers are dwindling due to how old they are, a very surprising amount of 9/89 cars are still on the road, however 8/89 cars are pretty rare.

as I collect this data its pretty interesting how far these cars have come in life. I hit the VIN with an app I have too and pull the history reports when I can as well.

heres what ive found

avg owners per car, 4.5 on the 8/89 cars, 3.5 on the 9/89 cars
avg miles, 212-248k
originally purchased, MD is the most common state. im in florida so im thinking snow birds
avg age of owner, mid 20s
avg condition on a scale of 0 being the worst, 10 being the best, most are a 4.1/2 cosmetically, 7.5 mechanically, but only 3% electrically I.E. flickering cluster, windows and other accessories out.

* most of the cars are mid optioned. CD player, TRAC.

ive seen 10 maxed out with the NAK stereo, air ride, heated seats, cell phone and trac, memory seats, etc

*ive seen 5 super base cars, all of had cloth seats, 2 blue and three grey, one blue and one grey that were sunroof delete. (both 8/89 cars)

*most have been in accidents, some in multiple over the years, but there were 15 cars that never saw a wreck, and only had two owners.

8 cars had 6+ owners, 12 had been in 3, 4 and even 5 wrecks. one car had been registered 19 different times in 12 states!

ive seen 2 unicorns, both 9/89 cars with original owners, fully loaded, that were still like new

20 still had factory wheels, 8 had factory chromes

only 5 owners reported major problems and catastrophic failures of major components.

38 of the 52 had bad paint, 16 of them had rust, 3 had major cancer


really its pretty interesting to see how far they have come, what they've been thru, and where they are today

hope you enjoyed the read.

so, do you have an early build car? if so, hows it held up?

Stereorob

furthermore, over the year of this study, I asked for consent to pull data from every owner, took as many phone numbers down as I could, and will call them this time next year to see how many of the 52 I logged are still on the road.

Nishy

I had a 10/89 LS that got totaled a month ago when a lady in a Jeep ran a stop sign. I can give you the numbers if you want though

SteezyLS98

@Nishy your LS400 is totaled say it aint so.

dicer

Stereorob, cool stuff, nice to know someone else cares about these cars. Good work.

CELSI0R

This is pretty cool! I wish I had an early 89' production model, so I could participate.

So sorry to hear about that. You just can't trust anyone on the road.

Stereorob

these cars are not getting any newer, and they are beginning to fade away. someone has to keep track of them. so im doing it.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Some info for your database:
My '91 was bought in Dec '90
190k miles now
I bought it from my father in law, who was the original owner
never in an accident, but there was a hit on the rear bumper once
California car always. No rust at all anywhere.
On the last smog check, in Nov, it blew the best numbers it ever has.
Mechanical 9+
Electrical 9+
Cosmetic 5
last six: 058769
Have original window sticker
Had the original chrome 15" directional wheels until a couple of years ago.
Color is something like black jade pearl (in bright sunlight it looks dark green), with the gray lower panels
The lower panels, bumpers and hood have been plasti-dipped black :-0. Hood clearcoat was peeling and this is a solution.
No sunroof. Aftemarket gray leather interior. Original, working, Pioneer stereo. Original, working R-12 AC system.
No TRAC, no air suspension.

Nishy

I guess I'll do mine. You can add it if you want :P

-Colors are black and gray two tone
-Had Nakamichi stereo with 6 disk changer, heated seats, TRAC, power headrests, all power seats, memory seats, all leather interior, heated mirrors, backlit mirror.... IDK how many of these are options
-Build date of 10/89
-010317 last six of VIN (#595 out of the factory )
-I don't know miles. Odo stopped at 175K
-All of my needles were properly lit, everything worked flawlessly except the high pressure power steering hose went out and I never got around to replacing it. Paint was flawless and I polished it to a mirror pretty much every other week. Only flaw was the top of the rear bumper had faded paint.
I bought it with no name 5 spoke wheels. Kinda looked like MKIV wheels, but smaller. I would have loved to have a set of the OE chromes...