Anywho, as I said before it happened..... I merely put my two cents in like everyone else. I'd encourage the discussion to be about the topic, than my single post later on. I'm genuinely interested in everything on the subject others have to say. That is of course the entire point, to get the opinions on the drifter posers....not the drifters.

 

Wow can we make a book out of this thread

 

im waiting for drift tax to hit our cars so they will be worth hella more LOL

 

Two Grand to make these things manual, $800 for a good LSD and you are saying the drift tax hasn't hit us!?

 

Lol

 

A car with dented panels, a ruined interior and needing a new brake job I agree with. That just represents crappy problems from owner negligence. However, a CLEAN 1JZ-GTE and R154 swapped SC300 that is properly built, that isn't in crap condition (IE cosmetically restored, free of ridiculous non-OEM body kits and with all major maintenance done) IS worth $8,500 to me. It would cost more than that to buy an SC300 and do it myself. And I'd value a clean, carefully restored TAN interior with no cracks or leather rips far more than a shoddily pieced together black interior with cracks or worse, a tan or gray interior converted to black with SEM paint that will just chip away eventually.

As to the main topic question, I feel that the Taka Ueno effect has a benefit in at least making the car more desirable to *someone* regardless of who it is because that at least keeps the platform somewhat supported by the aftermarket. I'm in the "tastefully modify, keep a mostly OEM look and build the car for handling, braking and power" category and I believe that makes me part of the minority. But that is okay.

I agree with whoever said that the SC300/400 is a bit like an 240SX. Indeed, that's the price range it's come into and it appeals to near the same kind of buyer. The difference is that the Lexus is bigger, heavier, more expensive to modify (for performance) and as a result is more of a money pit. It does have more ultimate horsepower potential though. Still, I don't know why more people don't take advantage of the platform as being a fast, solid road car, drag car, road racing car or, if one prefers, a fast turbocharged drift racing car.

The only thing that makes me laugh is how much the cars with desirable swapped OEM equipment are undervalued. No SC is worth a lot but the ones that are converted mechanically into the equivalent of LHD Soarer 5-speeds aren't the same value as your average bombed out NA automatic SC300's with ripped up interiors.

The Ueno effect has created hype that gets people interested in the cars, which is good because that means there is a small aftermarket for parts. I just don't get people who don't modify these cars into semi-fast or really fast performance machines the way one would a 1965-1973 Mustang Coupe or Camaro but that's been my experience and value system of cars.

 

nice post!
i personally concur with the ruining of the cars, but the real problem is not the drifter kids who actually drift their cars, it's with the Stance Nation kids who are too lame and/or too poor to actually drift their cars, but they slam their cars and get mexi-style low offset wheels to make them look like drifters.
so there's zero suspension travel and the motorcycle-esque tires rub, and they call it STANCE BRO.

"sick stance bro. **** is sicker than strep bro"

^ someone actually said this to me when i had my RB26 S13 for a while, and it wasn't even slammed and rubbing!

 

This! Beat up 240's go for crazy $$ compared to clean sc300's, it's nuts what they can still get for their cars.

I REALLY wanted an MKIV supra but at this point in my life could not justify 30k on a clean example of one and then try to mod it, plus I don't have a garage to keep it pristine in yet.

After years of trying to avoid the mod bug I found a clean 5spd sc300 locally with really low miles. I had never been much of a 2jz guy or soarer fan before, I just wanted to build something different with alot of potential to go fast. Started researching how power capable the NA-T platform was even though it has it's downsides and I made the guy an offer! Initially I wasn't a huge fan of the car I'm not going to lie, it was big, bulky feeling, and felt "old man ish".



I loved the way it drove though, it was a solid cruiser and it was very refined feeling compared to the other cars I had owned. I researched a coilover setup and decide on BC Racing per alot of happy customers here.






The car still needed something, well obviously the wheels just weren't going to cut it at this point. I wanted to put some nicer wheels on the car but didn't want to take away from the luxurious look the car had. After searching for what I wanted aftermarket wise, I landed on just sticking with some OEM supra polished TT wheels. I immediately fell in love with this car with only 2 mods and was dying to put some power behind it and crush some domestic dreams.








Now I'm knee deep in the NA-T setup, sourcing the odds and ends to complete my 6spd swap, and hoping to be making 600+ soon with a huge smile on my face .

Just sharing how I got into the sc300 world, I'm personally not into the drift scene but I can certainly respect it and would love to do it sometime with a properly setup car.

 

me personally i drift and used to own a 1989 240sx coupe and someone liked it so much traded me their soarer slips for slips so why not do it plus i honestly love big cars and seeing different looking vehicles on the track plus its not my only vehicle so i do have it gutted and etc. for a purpose and i dont cheap out on parts and cut springs purchase quality parts and now my car will go into paint and body to keep it looking fresh with Uenos car i really liked how it was before the carbon doors and what not but again its done for a purpose other than the racer look weight reduction in drifting weight is very important when it comes to keeping a car fast smooth in transitions at the end of the day eveyone has their cars the only thing i am against are posers if you have a drift look drift the thing if its a show car showcase it etc.

 

Drift tax isnt going to make them more expensive lol... They are already way over priced as it is... Now to the guy that says $8500 is worth it for a good swap. It has to be a good swap im sorry but some high school kid who put the car together in his garage with a budget in mind has no right so say his car is clean and his swap was done professionally. Ive done like 3 swaps so far and Im no where near perfect but I get better each time and learn more. This kid is the definition of what the OP was talking about by drift poser.

He shows up to a meet with a whole bunch of baller cars then parks alone away from everybody then walks up to the Lexus guys. Anyone want to buy a Soarer? We all walk over to go take a look and he goes and talks to some Honda kids and we all pick the car over. One of the guys I know that builds really gangster 240s was giving the car all sorts of credit and I was going at the damn thing. But my friend was interested with 4500$ cash in hand.

We walk over to the kid and ask him to pop the hood and he says he is busy and he wont even entertain the car being sold unless you have cash in hand and he wants $8500... The car was most certainly a POS... Personally there was another CL member with in my opinion the cleanest stock SC and probably the nicest SC I have ever seen that if he sold his bone stock SC id probably buy it for $8500.

 

I love my Sc400... I am 22, poor as heck. I sold 3 cars just to get it. A 2002 Hyundai accent. 1997 Eclipse GST *bad motor* and LOL gosh dang it.... a 1993 Lexus Sc300..... for $300 AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY LORD WHYYYYYYY. No title and was a pile of crap but it ran good.... Didn't think I would buy another lexus.

But anyways. I like these cars, aft mkt is horrible... and disgusting... But I work at this stainless steel place, and I bet they could make TONS of aft mkt turbo and exhaust etc stuff for SC's no problem. Not to mention polishing and cleaning tonsof stuff also. I might throw a recommendation there way.

 

Well said Mr. SC. Really makes me rethink my build process and upcoming mods/upgrades. Lol.

 

In my opinion, the Ueno Effect was a benefit for the SC. Especially for the performance market, which was never great....unless you were in Japan or had the right contacts. I thought it was great to see Ueno's Soarer pop up in various magazines and events. I love seeing the high performance potential of the SC.

I believe that most vehicles will depreciate greatly after 20+ years, the SC is no different. The depreciation allows others(younger and older) to aquire a vehicle that was previously out of reach. The fact that many are over 20 years old and still popular is a plus. Many SC's were neglected and abused older owners before falling into the hands of the next owners. One down side to the low prices and drift effect is that there will eventually be far fewer SC's around after being totaled in a drift gone wrong.

I don't always care for some of the modifications made to some SC's and it really does not matter what I think.....not my car. I am sure that many of the mod's made to my first few projects and my two SC's did'nt appeal to some. When I look back, I'm embarrassed by some of the things that I did. So rather than give negative or unconstructive on someone elses efforts.....I hit the back button and look for another interesting thread.

After owning and modding 1 SC for 20 years and the 2nd for eight years....I think it's great that they are still popular and in demand.

 

20 years speaks alot more, you've seen this platform evolve and change with 2 decades!

 

Everything you've said here I agree with 100%

It's not hard to make a good car into a POS either from lack of maintenance, a poorly conceived drivetrain conversion or a really laughable "restoration". The example kid you painted for me is the epitome of what is bad about inexpensive hotrodding. Based on that story, there is no way in hell I'd pay $8,500 for his car.

But as you say of your other friend, he DID take care of his car and swap it correctly. It's that kind of owner's vehicle I am saying is worth the money. There aren't many like that at least in the SC world. It's something to be reacted to in the same exact way in other model/make circles (poorly maintained Porsche 944 Turbos for example) but at least in the SC300/400 world there seem to be more ratty and poorly modified cars than cared for cars. Sad.

The only thing that bugs me about it is that the perception of SC's is that they will nearly always be in the condition that kid presented to you and therefore can't hope to hold a fair and honest classic car value commensurate with most cars in its category offering a similar used old car cost to performance ratio. In my experience, if you want a semi-fast old car that isn't rare or Barrett Jackson material, you should expect to pay $6,500-$10,000. That's usually what such used RWD/AWD performance cars with 300-350-400hp level at. Again-- this assumes it's ACTUALLY in good condition and isn't falling apart.

O.L.T. and you make a good argument, I have to admit.