When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Word of mouth. its a good thing! -got another one.
with 19 Ls400s under my belt, and owning 3 or even 4 at a time, i am turning into a bit of a spectacle with my cars. alot of people are getting to know who i am and how i feel about these cars, and not just my friends. in the last year ive bought 4 Ls400s and every time i get one, i always drive it to work the next day up into the service tunnel and everyone always comes to look at it. there will always be a crowd of people that all wanna jump in and go for a ride in it. its sort of becoming a tradition. drive the car to work, 4 of the same people jump in, then i drive to the sales building and parade it up there, salespeople come out with "oh man when did you pick this one, up this ones even nicer then the last".
last summer, a nice upper-middle age couple came in and bought a new UL package es350. longtime lexus drivers that had been driving them since day one. one of the salesmen popped his head in my office door and tells me his guest happens to have an old Ls400 and that i should maybe say hi just in case they might ever wanna sell it -im the Ls400 guy, people really do know around here lol. they needed help pairing their phones to the new car and with some custom settings etc so i walked them through stuff, and the wife turns to me and said that her salesmen mentioned that i love the old 400s, and wanted to tell me about their "old betsy" as they called it. Old Betsy was a diamond pearl/cashmere 1999 ucf20 that actually had alot of options, including the somewhat hard to find navigation. they bought Betsy with about 40k as a CPO back in 2001, but still had it all these years later. they really had no interest in selling it as they had it for ages, memories with the kids on family road trips, the kids learned to drive in it, etc etc. Betsy was sentimental and was honestly part of their family. i always enjoy Ls400 stories and they loved talking about Betsy, and they had plenty of heart warming stories about "Old Betsy" only reason they got the new ES350, was to replace the 2010 ES350 they had, that replaced the 2005 LS430 they had before that. (they still have all of these cars and have since passed down to kids) they always kept old Betsy though as a backup.
before they left, i handed them my card and said if they ever thought of letting old Betsy go, to give me a shout. well time passed by, i got other cars and i had honestly forgot about the conversation and old Betsy. it came as a real surprise when im sitting with my girlfriend on her back patio on a friday night, relaxing and having a few drinks when the phone rang. it was almost midnight and i didnt recognize the number and it came via my work line so i just ignored the call. 5 mins later the phone rang again. at this point i figured if someone from my work was calling this late, it was obviously important. i reluctantly set my drink on the table and answered the phone. "this is rob beaumont technology specialist" i say "Hey Rob this is Steve!" "oh hi steve what can i do for you this evening" -had no idea who the guy was and was sort of annoyed, but stayed friendly obviously. he says to me "you probably dont remember us but you helped me and the wife with our ES350 awhile back and we told you about Old Betsy" -it still took a second for it to click the light bulb over my head but it did. 'OOOOH okay yeah hey steve whats up?" "well, me and the wife realized we have too many cars so we are thinking about possibly letting Old Betsy go. we dont really want to do it so i figured if i didn't call you now i probably never would." "gotcha" i said.
well, i always have a couple grand to kick around i keep in savings for cars, home repairs, vacations whatever, but i had just spent that round of change on some house re-wiring. this was the one time i was actually broke! "okay well steve im interested for sure, just couldnt have caught me at a worse time" -i explained what was going on. "oh we dont mind holding on to her for a little longer. i still drive her almost everyday. we know she isnt worth very much with so many miles but we really just want Betsy to have a good home where she will be loved as much as we did and not destroyed by an idiot, so we thought of you before anyone else" asked what he wanted to try to get for her, and it wasnt much really, $1500. seemed fair enough so agreed and told him id call him in two weeks so i could scrounge up the cash.
here was the problem.
1. i owned 4 cars 3 of them Ls400s. i really didnt need a third but since Betsy was a Navi car and i had never had one before, i wanted it.
2. one of them had to go if i wanted Betsy. which one would it be?
3. i was broke as hell. how was i going to make that money so fast. it usually takes me 2 months before i have $1500 of play money
4. it was a car that i heard plenty of stories about but never actually saw. had no idea what i was facing.
i collect old stereo equipment as a hobby, and i have a bunch of it so i listed 20 or so of my better pieces that i know would bring money. looking at my trifecta, i decided to kick my black/black 99 ucf10 off the island. yes it was a rare color combo for florida and it was very unique with strange options, but it was a project car and honestly i knew id never have time for it, so up on marketplace it went. every evening for the next two weeks after work, i was hustling selling old stereo gear to make the cash. unfortunately the bills still had to be paid and still had to eat, so the funds i had made towards the car started dwindling. two weeks came and went, i was still short, and decided sadly that Old Betsy just wasnt going to happen. i sadly called steve and told him it probably wasnt going to happen and he was really bummed out. sucked. however, him and his wife still really wanted the car to go to me, and told me they would hold off awhile longer, and to just call them if anything changed. I put my old black/black 99 up for 950 ended up and had 9,000,000 people ask me a million questions about it but not want to buy it, or come to my place, meet me, drive the car only to offer me $450 for it. i really didn't think i was going to be able to sell it. well another week went by, i dropped the price to 850 and surprisingly, i ended up selling it for what i had it listed for! then a few days later, someone came and bought over $1000 of old electronics of mine. boom! boom! boom! the planets lined up and everything fell into place!, next morning i called steve, told him i had the money, and was ready to "adopt" Old Betsy. i could actually hear the joy in his voice when he said "awesome!" heard his wife in the background say "YAY!" pretty cool feeling. "when do you wanna come get her?" he said. "i can put the cash in your hand the second i get off work if you want" he told me they would actually be in the area (they live almost an hour away in a well known upscale development) and wouldn't mind meeting me close to where i was, saving me the trip. well, i needed a second driver for Betsy cause as much as i wish i could drive multiple Ls400s at once, i cant. i put the alert out on the book of face for my friends about the 2nd driver. i do this pretty routinely and never had a problem, but everyone was really busy and it just wasnt going to happen. only one person could sort of help, my buddy sean but he had to go to work in a few hours so he wouldnt be able to do a chase. i ended up putting him in an uber and he took my other car home. steve and his wife were having dinner at a restaurant about a mile & 1/2 away, so i figured id just walk over to them and pick the car up. it was warm outside but the weather seemed clear, well. it did at 5. by 7? not so much.
i clocked out, left work and started walking. there i was in my full lexus uniform, walking down a major street, with expensive electronics and a good amount of cash on me. it was a bit unsettling. about half way through the walk over, i felt a big gust of wind, and it smelled like rain. -a thunderstorm downdraft. needless to say i picked up the pace a little. soon the downdraft turned into a slight mist and more wind, then thunder started rumbling. man i thought i was screwed. funny enough, they had already finished dinner and steve was parked at a gas station putting some gas in Old Betsy a few blocks from the restaurant. had i not seen him there, i would have been drenched. the second i shook his hand, the sky opened up. Honestly i was a little worried and skeptical about Old Betsy. steve and his wife were not your typical Ls400 owners. they were not 85 year old retirees. they were mid 50s, about my parents age, and this was their old family car they raised 3 kids in, he still drove it to work almost every other day, i was expecting a well maintained, but very well worn Ls400. well, i was absolutley dumbfounded when i saw the car in person. it was BEAUTIFUL! like way way nicer then i ever thought it would be. im still in shock at how clean it is. original paint still glossy with no swirl marks, no road rash at all. no parking lot door dings, no rock chips no love bug damage no nothing! i honestly dont know how anybody can keep a car in central florida, in constant use, in this condition, for 20 years!! the interior was equally as nice! leather still soft and buttery, carpets were clean, no nicks scrapes scratches scuffs nothing! no melted crayons on the floor or drink stains from the kids, nothing! turns out that Steve and his wife are insane when it comes to upkeep on their cars. not only cosmetically, but also mechanically. it is an absolutley perfect Ls400. it drives and handles better than any other one ive ever had. no creaks, pops, clicks, bangs, bogging, vibration, nothing. its dead quiet, smooth as a pin, and launches like a damn rocket ship. with the storm outside, i counted the cash on the dashboard, signed the papers, and shook his hand. wife came over, they took a selfie with "Old Betsy" along with a picture of the odometer, and off they went.
heres the first pic i took of her once i got her to myself.
the Navi works, but its ancient and the screen is going. now in present day orlando where everything is in constant transition, its basically worhless but still fun to use in a throwback way. i love it.
the 414 has been extended 4 times since this map was last updated..
Holiday house? holy throwback batman! that closed when i was a kid! nothing but a dirt lot and weeds now!
this is how they managed to keep the interior so nice so long. they kept the rear headrests and deck covered with a towel the ENTIRE TIME they had the car!
old paperwork. who doesnt like getting old stickers from long ago when they get an old car?! so fun.
wood grain and shifter are like new. not even sun faided with swirl marks
keeping up the tradition. custom sunshade, and keeping the towel in the back. Old Betsy is a real keeper. i plan on keeping her around for a very long time.
i love the two matching white ones side by side, and it makes me happy to hear that they were mindful of who the car ended up going to
it still sort of surprises / annoys me that models being shipped to states with no front license plates still get shipped with the indent for them... it's great for when you need a front plate but just looks like something's incomplete without the plate filling the space
Nice, nice find and great deal. Love the color combo, my absolute favorite. And looks like your driveway is just long enough. Congrats on the upgrade and thanks for sharing your story.
...and looks like you need to update your signature. Hard to keep up isn't it?
Nice, nice find and great deal. Love the color combo, my absolute favorite. And looks like your driveway is just long enough. Congrats on the upgrade and thanks for sharing your story.
...and looks like you need to update your signature. Hard to keep up isn't it?
yeah, i do need to update my signature lol. seems like i do that alot these days. problem is theres not enough spaces for all the cars past and present lol. not my driveway either. its my GFs driveway. no way i could fit all these damn things on it
.
[QUOTE=Stroock639;10458739]i love the two matching white ones side by side, and it makes me happy to hear that they were mindful of who the car ended up going to
thats why they sold it to me so cheap. they really wanted it to go to the right home. they could have got more for it but they knew id love it and take care of it as good as they did. it really is a gem of a car. driven and owned many Ls400s over the years and this is one of the most solid ones ive ever had. they took PERFECT care of it. every time it needed anything they always had it serviced at the dealership. they spent over $27k on it over the years keeping it healthy and clean. i really dont think i will find another one this kind of nice ever again.
03-05-19, 03:52 PM
Word of mouth. its a good thing! -got another one.
