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I saw this listing on marketplace, for a 1998, apparently it ran very well and has 160k miles until a deer hit the rear right quarterpanel and took the door and wheel with it. Asking price is 2000$ would it be worth having as a project? Or too expensive to be worth fixing
That's one serious repair, not the mechanical so much but body work. At minimum you need to replace the quarter panel, door, repair the rocker panel. And of course any suspension and driveline damage. I'll put it this way if the car was given to me I would part it out far too much time and money to fix.
Given the location of the quarter panel crease the unibody might be bent.
I have a 1999 LS400 with 252K miles and I love it. I hope it runs longer than I do. My experience is when you have to invest money into repairs, the car is pricey just for normal mechanical items. Unless you own a body shop, this is going to be expensive and at the end you are driving a previously damaged / repaired vehicle. I would consider buying it as a donor car if you already have a good clean 400LS. The parts inventory would be worth it if you have a good place to store the donor car "just in case".
pass, if you already had an ls400 it might be worth just to have an extra car
Originally Posted by LeX2K
That's one serious repair, not the mechanical so much but body work. At minimum you need to replace the quarter panel, door, repair the rocker panel. And of course any suspension and driveline damage. I'll put it this way if the car was given to me I would part it out far too much time and money to fix.
Given the location of the quarter panel crease the unibody might be bent.
Originally Posted by RioBravo
I have a 1999 LS400 with 252K miles and I love it. I hope it runs longer than I do. My experience is when you have to invest money into repairs, the car is pricey just for normal mechanical items. Unless you own a body shop, this is going to be expensive and at the end you are driving a previously damaged / repaired vehicle. I would consider buying it as a donor car if you already have a good clean 400LS. The parts inventory would be worth it if you have a good place to store the donor car "just in case".
thank you very much for your responses, they’ve been very helpful, I've decided not to purchase this LS. Ive been wanting one for a pretty long time but maybe that just means i just have to wait for the perfect one to show up👍
quarter panel damage like that i would certainly stay away from esp where the gas cap is (even more work to repair). glad you passed, and stay patient. the right one is out there!
and i don't think a deer can cause that much SIDE damage! the deer must have been going fast, or the LS was drifting sideways upon impact - most probable was that the deer caused a spin out and he hit a tree thereafter!
Buy or avoid? 1998
