Taka Ueno's Soarer brought light onto drifting a big body Soarer instead of a smaller Nissan or Toyota. Previously a chassis without a mission, most SC/Soarer owners did road car rallies if they competed at all. The Aussies are famous for their track cars running road circuits, not drift circuits. Majority however they simply did the old slam, wheels, system, cruise...........

The clientele has changed for Lexus vehicle and parts sales. Younger enthusiasts looking to take it away from it's luxury roots are buying super cheap SC300's for pennies and gutting them for drift LOOK, but most don't actually drift. This modding is prevalent in every area of cars from Mercedes to Volvo to Ford. It used to be "all show, no go" then "all go, no show" and a rare few were both. Now it's neither fixing them up to look nice, nor making them fast. It's tearing them apart to make them look like a raggedy drifter and doing nothing else to them. The negative effect......of negative camber.

I'm glad to see several of our members boosting their ugly cars (). If it's gonna be a POS it better be fast. I'm also glad to see nicer cars being built in the Lexus tradition, and some of them fast too! We are however doomed to the Taka Ueno Effect, especially after the F&F appearance. There will always be a place for a cheap car like the first gen SC and a fad like the Taka drift car to come together unavoidably. It's not the drifter cars that's an issue, it's not the classy old school lexus look that's an issue.... it's the "neither cars" that are here just to drive a raggedy wanna be drift car because it's a Soarer and you can make it LOOK like a drift car by tearing it apart. If I had a nickel for every SC I have seen with flat black stock wheels, cut springs, gutted interior, and an AUTO trans with drift stickers down the rear window I'd be rich.

What do you think of the Taka Ueno effect on our cars? Good, bad, or ugly?

 

I never really looked at takas car to make me want a sc to drift, I started looking into a longer chassis that was still a coupe to move on to as my next chassis. I think it is sad that the fan boys of drifting do what they do to the cars, it can really give everything a bad image as for drift and the car culture in general.

 

Not big on drifting becasue the whole 240 era, but I liked the car becasue it was cheaper to upgrade over my STi.

 

That car looks nice but not my cup of tea. I haven't seen any sc's setup for drifting but I do see the riced-out ones on a daily basis since that's mainly what our community is composed off Oh well

 

What do I think? It's good and bad. Bad for us older owners who appreciate the luxury cruiser roots and know that the value has seriously declined. But it's also good that the SC is now considered another alternative to the younger drift world bringing more popularity back to our forums.

 

somewhat popular chassis in drifting scene, more popular in japan, europe, nz etc than here in US. in a way they are like S14. need to see more boosted SC in FD and D1, tired seeing V8

 

only if US gave us boosted SC stock, i think lot of us would done fast and luxury.

 

I would never gut my interior to get a "drift look". I'm only 21 but I gotta say I've taken slight offense to your post if 21 is considered out of the "older group". I maintain my luxury to the fullest check in at any time and obviously I've been saving for an aem run NA-t setup so hopefully mine will show and go to your standards.

The kind of scs you do refer too I only see online for the record. I guess TX has a loyal luxury root system.

 

I think overall the SC is a very versatile car, it all depends how you build it. I love my SC, I'm a fan of old school drifting but I wouldnt ever gut the whole car out and make it a pure track car just because I love how comfortable it is, however I still like to do my upgrades to make it feel less like a boat and more like a jet ski

 

IMO, it's going to be a different perspective for every owner. Toyota made us a car that is quite flexible if seen in the Taka Ueno regard. Originally built for cruising and to appeal to luxury buyers, the SC has evolved over time to be able to appeal to younger buyers as well (add to the fact that the car is now much cheaper, hence more affordable to younger buyers). Since it is available to a lot more now, the range of ownership preferences and what they expect and what they want to do with the car is more dynamic. You have the old school group who want OEM everything, restore it to its original state, keep it pure, classy, etc..then you have the classy yet tastefully modded group who want to enhance what is already a beautiful car by adding their own touch and make it a sleeper/stealth killer with a gte under the hood, new paint, nice wheels, etc.

Then you have the drifter group - majority are below 30, in high school or college, do not give a s&*t about the car's roots but they saw Taka Ueno drifting it and thought it was cool and want to be cool too. I have nothing against this group of owners, in fact, I really like the ideas they bring to the table in the suspension sub forum and the wheel/tire fitment threads. This is why I love this car, it appeals to such a diverse group of people that it is always interesting to see what I'm going to see on the threads everyday. If it weren't I'd be bored and be moving on.

It's some owners over here that just can't get over the fact that this car is cheap nowadays and you just have to live with the fact that anyone can afford it. Get over it and enjoy your car like how you want it to be and accept other owners' preferences/tastes. Toyota gave us a good, flexible platform of a car, the perfect canvass for each individual to paint their own on it and make it and call it their own. Life's too short to be sweating the little stuff...

 

Why blame the drifters or the young kids who set up the SC's their parents bought them?

Toyota and other Japanese car brands were never really taken seriously before Lexus and its counter parts came out. Lexus was created by Toyota in the early 90's to go against Mercedes Benz and BMW mainly. Being the "new kids on the block", the elderly people who first bought them made them as their daily driven cars, to be able to keep up with that rich people status symbol. And as for their Mercs and Beamers to be their priced garaged cars. Further down the 90's up up to the early 2000's, people started realizing and seeing that these cars were really built to last compared to the earlier Mercs and Beamers. So logically people really used them as daily's until the economy started experiencing hardships that the people who owned them weren't able to maintain them anymore knowing how much maintaining these things cost. So now, we have a lot of Lexus' and Toyota's with super high mileage compared to the babied Mercs and Beamers around right now. Hence, the price are way low now, since its hard to come by a low mileage Lex and a well maintained one, plus the fact that average people don't wanna buy them knowing how high parts prices are and the hassle of maintaining them. So, it's not really these kids' fault, come to think of it, that they can easily trash these classy cars for the simple reason of "keeping up with the joneses". So why complain when you see a low mileage, well maintained and great condition Lexus for sale if you wanna get these cars standards back on top again? I don;t think that the drift or racing community is to blame for the downfall of these cars or the bad rep they have. I mean c'mon, Japanese built these things to really go fast in Japan. Our importing system is just too prejudice to imports that they control what kind of cars go in in our country. It's all about marketing strategy. They'll make theirs first before they let you do you, know what I mean?

 

Well, as Ueno specified in the earlier days of his drifting, he was just fascinated with and love the SC chassis. Of all his drift spec vehicles; the soarer was the most aggressive. if the car is built right, i respect that. from showroom unmolested quality to proper tuner platforms.

 

Im not sure if I get what youre trying to accomplish by this post. I know youre a mod and all but it feels a bit like trolling to me. Forgive me if I am incorrect. I do feel the need to chime in on someone who apparently has been affected by the "Ueno effect." Well for starters I dont know much about how the clientele for SC owners has been changed by the declining price of the model but I will say this older age doesnt particularly mean tasteful modding and In a very narrow market most of the SCs being built are pretty much the same in all aspects.

I feel like I would logically belong to that group according to the OP being 27 years old, buying a cheap SC (Originally intended to be a daily / weekend drift car.) and gutting it and giving it the drifter treatment. I am how ever building a purpose built drift car trying to get the most out of a car I love, Not to look cool although looking cool in my opinion is part of the game. Personally I dont think the OP really knows what he is talking about and it might just be an personal annoyance which is fine we are all entitled to our opinions. But to say that that is the current trend to battle out SCs as well as most cars in the tuner community I have to disagree and I think thats all subject to what the individual tuner scenes have to offer by location. Im spoiled out here in Las Vegas. A good majority of the cars out here are in really good shape and as far as SCs are concerned there are very few nice SCs out here short of the virgin clean SCs that have not been touched by anyone yet.

Unfortunately most of the SCs that I see in general including on the boards here are weak... (I really dont want to come across insulting others cars because I hate to do that. I would rather not say anything at all) I dont believe its a problem of taste although that is definitely the case sometimes but the SC has a weak parts market and the reason why in my opinion is because of the old school SC "purists" like the OP and some of the people who have replied. When the only things you can do are buy Vertex (Ridge or Original), Rep Kits, and some bippu kits it really limits what you can do aesthetically to these cars. Performance parts wise there is a little bit of an upsurge due to the increasing popularity of the car as well as the fact that the car is getting older. I would think most of us owe a thanks to the "Ueno effect" and all the young drifters because the SC was dangerously close to dying out in obscurity because of how popular drifting and really light weight drift cars are (S chassis, FC,FD,Hachi, ect)

I love this car and I dont really see myself drifting anything else except maybe a MKIV Supra one day. Thats why I am building mine, not to be a fan boy or to try to follow some kind of dumb trend. Drifting is fun to me and thats the car I want to use... Its as simple as that.

I have to say I have never seen an SC like this until the one I bought and when I got it the interior was kind of clean and all intact save for the uncompleted black interior swap. Most SCs stay close to stock for lack or parts im pretty sure. I dont see many with stock wheels, you usually see cheaper wheels, cheap coils, and the interior in my experience is almost intact. Now the AUTO thing most of the cars come in auto and it costs an arm and a leg to even do a W58 swap. Let alone the super high cost of a natural 5 speed... The SC scene is basically this way because of the reverence of the car and the fact that it is over valued monetarily. Coming from someone who loves the car. Most stock SCs now and days are POSs upon purchase... They have super high miles and were not maintained well (like 80% of the SCs I would see on any given day in any medium, on the streets, here on the boards, craigslist or at meets.), they are heavy and not a very functional sports coupe, they mostly all have technology problems up the wazoo, really old styling (akin to a car a grandpa would drive... especially when your interior is tan), and everything for the car is expensive and as is the case with most SCs when you buy it... (Funny there is even a thread that details the cost of buying an SC and what you should expect to spend fixing one when you buy it hahaha) The car is a really crappy platform for doing anything other than getting groceries... Thats why you see GTE swaps, crazy builds and what not, The SC is a boring car and its cool to see them in a different light. Im pretty sure Ueno felt the same way and thats the kind of impact he made on me when reading about the car from his opinion. I LOOOOOVVVEEEE!!! Toyotas, Lexus... pretty much anything JZ powered! and go NUTS when I see a clean SC. I love the car but realistically speaking the scene itself is more or less a bunch of pretentious snobby SC owners that hate day in and day out and propagate the things they hate all while glorifying a ****ty car. I hope im not being insulting im guilty of it too sometimes when I see people show up to a meet trying to sell their 95' SC with a 1J swap with dented panels and a tan interior that looks like crap, needs a brake job and tries to sell it for 8500$ and not a penny less because of how much work you did to it. Its sad mostly.... Not trying to start ****** or ruffle any feathers just trying to keep it real and state my opinion.

Sorry for the novel btw but this is a sensitive subject for me and ive been lurking for years so I figured id get it out sometime lol

 

awesome post! Totally agree.

 

Drifting has been popular the last few years, but the MKIV Supra has been god since it came out.

You introduce me to *One person who doesn't lust after this car, or even thinks looks bad.

Since I can never afford an MKIV, I'll take the cheaper, mechanical doppleganger. The SC.

Also, paragraphing helps to read posts easily.