For the longest time I haven't had a chance to Zaino it and take pictures so I could post them here on this website. I know I have been procratinating but one day I will make it happen.

 

Me thinks at the 25 year mark:

ES250 will be UBER rare, no one will want one and only a few people will restore it.
ES300 will be around but dilapidated....like how a fairlady Z was in the 80's...
SC300/400 will be the first "classic"
LS400 will have its niche of people........

 

I think the first "classic" if a Lexus ever reaches that benchmark will be the first SC300 5MT. Or the 1997 SC300 5MT with the updated look. Those are very rare and already command a slightly higher price. That or the last few 2000MY SC400 with 290hp. All sweet vehicles which may have large appeal later on. Lexus just better never stop punching those dies, cause once they do, a lot of SCs will fall by the wayside and then prices for parts will really...

 

Sc 300/400 all the way
-Dumps es300-

 

To take a quote from Simon Humphries, Toyota's Chief Global Designer.

From: http://www.intellexual.net/faq.html#00

"The original Lexus SC was quite an iconic design. That was a very advanced product in its own right. It did all sorts of things that we don’t even do now, not just in terms of proportion but also the design of the vehicle. It didn’t have a grille on it and it was a luxury car. And the interior as well—it was an absolutely stunning interior, I think. Even by today’s standards, that interior is unmatched. "

 

No Lexus is a "classic". They haven't designed anything that would be even close to worthy of that status.

 

I'd say the LS 400. That car + the company changed the way people look at luxury cars.

 

SC because I'm biased with the LS close second

 

As of right NOW, the SC manual-transmission models could probably be considered the most desirable " Classic " Lexuses among car enthusiasts. However, eventually, in the future, when automotive historians look back at today, I think the first AWD Lexus cars,( not SUV's ).....the GS300AWD and the IS250 AWD....will be the future classics. AWD is going to become more and more important in the future, and more and more luxury-car buyers are going to demand it, especially in the Northern states, even with its weight and drag impacting on power and gas mileage.

 

sigh.........................sounds like the same people who laughed at Lexus and said Lexus wasn't luxury in 1989, lol

 

Cars that are 'classics' in the sense that I think of are classics because they were really something special in their day - and I mean exciting - lots of teenagers back when forming lots of inseperable memories in the cars, etc.

In other words I think of a 60s Mustang has a 'classic', I don't think of a 60s Cadillac as a 'classic'. Why? The caddy wasn't a bad ride back then, heck, it was sought after. But the Mustang had a flair that still brings back good memories in people's minds today - and it had an edgy look to it that still looks great today despite all of the styling advancements made.

I mean, the Mustang is so classic that the current style Mustang was designed to look quite a bit like the one from 40 years prior.

I really don't see, 40 years from now, Lexus creating a throwback retro design to the 1998 GS400, which has a cult following of people trying to restore it. I just don't see that happening.

That's not to say they aren't great cars in the long term or that they haven't made an incidibly huge impact on the luxury scene in the last 17 years. But when I think of a 1990 LS400 I think "the car that shook up the scene by brining practicality to the market", I think "that wouldn't be a bad used car buy at all! (kinda like the old Mercedes Diesels that ran forever)", but I most certainly don't get the urge to buy one and restore it to like new conditions, nor do I think I'd get excited if 20 years from now they released a retro Lexus model made to look like the rather squarish/bland original LS400.

You see, Lexus historically has not been about excitement. They've been about perfection in quality, service, and comfort. Those are great attributes but they do not, in my mind, make for a likely candidate for "classic" car status.

For that matter I have to say I'm not sure classic cars in general will have such a huge following as they do today because cars that are 40 years old today are generally simple in design, and cheap and easy to work on. The cars that are new today, 40 years from now, I can only imagine will be a nightmare to try to restore and keep running in terms of complicated design and expensive hard to find parts.

 

The first LS400 if I had to choose one. Nothing from anyone nowadays really qualifies as a classic for sometime to come.

 

Someone take this guy out to the wood shed!

 

Chew on this for second: if you remain a car enthusiast your entire life (likely since you're here), you may just one day become one of those retirees at a Barrett Jackson auction, bidding on a Lexus that you loved in your "youth". What would you want to buy? THAT is my definition of what will be a classic car.

In my mind, the design of the SC300/400 has aged the best. A clean, low mileage example will one day become a rarity. I'd bet that a 1997 to 2000 SC300 5-speed in black, white, or RSB (all with black interior of course) would still be a car I'd buy, years from now. (But then I'd mod the hell out of it! )

What if a full JP 2nd gen GS with a JDM Aristo 2JZ-GTE swap was up on stage? I've loved the idea of owning one of those for years. Why won't I always like the car? I can imagine, 20 years from now, I'll be posting pictures of that thing with me standing next to it. Sure I'll be old, but I'll be posing Yakuza style with a black suit and sunglasses.

But if a pristine, unmolested 1st gen LS comes up for auction...sorry, I won't be bidding.

 

^^^
Based on that definition, I'd have to agree with the SC...something about its package, the engine, the interior, the look...