Cross posted on Facebook. Sorry in advance if you see in both places. Currently looking at buying a 1996 LS400 from the Northeast. How bad does this look? Not very experienced with rust. Thanks!!

 

Without being able to poke around at that rust, I would say just from the pictures it is horrible. Every single one of those bolts and nuts on the body, undercarriage, suspension etc. that is rusty will be frozen and a total pain to remove should you need to repair stuff like old suspension parts. I would not touch that car - but that is just me coming from an area (Pacific NW) were that kind of rust is only found in Canadian cars, and rarely if ever found in cars from WA, OR or CA. To my way of thinking, the only way a LS400 makes sense in 2024 is to purchase a rust free example and they do exist even today Rust never gets better, it only gets worse with time.

 

Thank you, Facebook confirmed very quickly I should run away from this car. Such a shame because body and paint are clean and in a rare color (green) that I happen to like. But not worth it.

 

What's curious to me is that the rear looks SO much worse than basically everything else. The exhaust, most of the pinch welds and front control arms and tie rods honestly look totally fine. It's just the rear multilink which is CAKED.

Overall? For a rust belt car? Not great, not terrible. I wouldn't be worried about structural rust, as it sits now. But Tom is right - some of those bolts will be a PITA to work on. But that's par for the course of any rust belt car.

Don't forget the buyer's guide:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10411641

 

Thanks and totally agree. I had a look under the front when I was checking out the engine and thought well I’m probably buying this car today. Then I got to the back and was like WTF!!!

Too bad because she was otherwise pretty in a harder to find color. Seller’s price expectations were off the charts delusional however.

 

Oh you're right about the color, it indeed is rare. Just curious, what are the specs on the sale? Miles\condition\asking?

 

190k, timing belt due, engine bay filthy, body decent, wheels need reconditioning, interior like a 6.5 out of 10, cluster fully working though (who knows for how long obviously), all suspension original / nothing refreshed so have that to look forward to, drove and shifted ok but felt some minor vibrations at speed so definitely some things to be sorted out. Original window asking price $7k, then had listed on eBay with OPENING BID of $6250 . Received zero bids in the auction as expected.

 

Oh and some clear coat failure on trunk too and fading on lower cladding. Not gonna lie though that green paint overall was looking but I know it’s a matter of personal taste. And the rear underside was a house of horrors at least for someone originally from the south like me.

 

Yeah that price is steep for what sounds like a rough type 1 car (depreciated car driven with deferred maintenance as if it's just a normal whatever car). Plus rust belt and mid interior, I'd spot it at "needs a lot of love" for $4-5k max.

ECU probably hasn't been repaired either. Wouldn't surprise me if the tires are about to age out as well. PS pump is probably old enough to have been fixed before, but I'd have questions if it was done properly. Motor\trans mount probably not done. Lower ball joints too. etc etc etc

7k is that car, except with 140k miles and not rusty. Maybe with a slightly fresher timing belt.

11k brings you that car, except with 100k miles, not rusty, some pieces repaired, interior a 8\10.

10-15k brings you that car, except mechanically restored, interior a 8\10. Or a 60k mile car with a 10\10 interior, no rust.

 

For sure in my mind I was already thinking ECU would need to be done eventually along with cluster. Transmission mount was cooked I could feel it. Tires were ok dated 2020 with some meat left. If it didn’t have the significant rust I was going to offer $4250 or $4500 in acknowledgment of the unique color. He said he had receipts for recent valve cover gasket and alternator but engine bay was so filthy I couldn’t tell if the valve covers were done or if they were, no one bothered to clean up with a bit of degreaser I guess. With the rust though I had to walk away. Wasn’t sure if I’d love or hate the color after seeing it in person but personally, I like it. It’s different without being tacky. For my personal tastes, the green gets a thumbs up.

 

 

I'm with you about the color. It is my #1 color for the LS400, the 2nd of which being silver (which I have!). I think green is super in vouge right now. I'm seeing a lot of hot cars come out with really nice dark greens, especially with bronze wheels. Porsche in particular seems to be getting this combo right.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...t3-touring-23/



Sucks about the car. But hey you're an educated buyer. I guess the seller is looking for someone who doesn't know the true value of the car.

Many times I've said cars are worth more than people expected. A lot of people (still) think clean LS400's are $3000 cars still. The problem is a "clean" LS400 isn't clean if it's all original anymore, even with low miles because they STILL need a few thousand bucks in suspension work and other repairs to get them into tip top shape, and this is after you pay the $10-15k for a clean low-mile cosmetic example. If you have a example which is neither low mile nor clean nor restored, that just tanks the value.

 

That makes total sense. Actually one of our family cars is a green Subaru Outback we got in 2019. I am thinking about some bronze wheels for it eventually and maybe a roof rack. Second pic is not mine but bronze seems to go decently well with green. If I had gotten that LS I actually was already thinking about bronze wheels for it.