KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Yes, some were. I believe more in earlier production years. It was either a rare option because most cars were ordered with sunroofs by the dealers at time of allocation or because it was a special request customers could make if they wanted to order their cars rather than shop from inventory.

Either way, not many came that way be they SC300's or SC400's. Probably more SC300's with few to no additional options other than an automatic transmission on most 300's.

In the very early years the leather interiors were also optional and the base interior was cloth. Very rare to find now but those were made as well. TRAC was actually optional on automatic cars (but ridiculously common), heated seats were optional and heated side mirrors were optional. I think those are all the major ones other than the Nakamichi stereo and Lexus Phone packages.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Really? I thought that was a standard feature along with front windshield defogger. That would mean not all side mirrors are interchangeable, in case shopping for a replacement.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

You'd think so, because there is no separate specific switch to activate heated mirrors or anything to tell you the option is there one way or the other besides their just heating up when the defoggers are activated.

The reason I mentioned it is that, at least for very early SC's, it must have been an order, package or trim level option. Why? Well, when my passenger side mirror was damaged a couple of years back and I needed a replacement I went onto ebay to look for a good used example to save some cash. I began to notice that some of them were heated and some non-heated.

Because I couldn't find a heated one I liked in my color I went to a dealer Trademotion site and sure enough, heated and non-heated were listed. So I gave a dealer my VIN and sure enough, mine had the heated version but there WAS a non-heated version. Needless to say I wasn't happy about the price but I just got a new one.

Now, how different could the two really be? You know that mirror wire connector that plugs in for the motorized mirror angle adjustment? I wouldn't be surprised if the heated versions have one more wire in that little connector harness than the non-heated versions.

And I'm pretty sure that might suggest you'd only have to swap non-heated for heated mirrors and... that's all a conversion would require if your car never came with them originally. The body connectors they go into should support the function anyway. Kind of like how even SC's that never came with factory spoilers all have this neatly bundled cable stuffed into the trunk just for that purpose.

But in short, I was also surprised to learn this too but there were some USA models that got non-heated mirrors. But for which model years? No idea. My honest guess is that it may have been like the very rare cloth seat base models which you don't see very often. For the most part I agree with you that it's probably far more common to see a USA SC with heated side mirrors from the factory.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Good info, thanks. I have a boxful of spare mirrors but none in the right color. My driver's side mirror has a small chip off the base and I'd like to replace it eventually.

The heated mirrors have a 9-pin connector with all nine wires going to the mirror. If anyone runs across a non-heated mirror, it would be interesting to see if some of those pins are blank.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

^^ Yes, it would be good to compare.

Another way to check would be to go into a Toyota/Lexus Trademotion and look up mirrors year by year. If at a certain point during production it stops listing heated and non-heated then there's part of our answer.