She's here
 

So after lurking around here, test driving, praying, and stalking Autotrader and Cars.com for the better part of two years I've finally taken delivery of my first SC, a '98 SC400 that was living in San Antonio Texas. 102k miles; spent 3 years in NC with its first owner and then 17 years in Texas with the second one. Mostly complete service history but i know the TB was done about 3 years ago.

I've only had the car for about a week (took a while for it to be shipped out from TX) but i can say already I understand the tremendous affection SC owners have for their cars. It's charming; still a stunner and (suprisingly) fast for a car with only 290hp.

It's not perfect: needs a new air filter; I think transmission strainer needs changing, a couple speakers are out and probably new tires at some point, but the paint is in great shape and the leather only has a couple stains and some bolster wear. I was expecting to have to have the seats recovered but now I think they can be patched. And the radio antenna is completely borked; but all these things will be fun to fix and (hopefully) not too expensive.

I drive a lot (about 15k a year just back and forth to work) and was looking for something sportier to help spread the load; and I just couldn't think of anything with the combination of style, speed and comfort of the SC for anything near the price. Plus the UZ is perhaps my favorite V8 ever.

So just wanted to say hey and hope I can help contribute around here; being on the LS3 and LS4 forums has been fun so this will be a new adventure for me as well.

Some pix; I'll post more when I have time this weekend to snap some:

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Here she comes!


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First sunset in LA


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Careful coming off the carrier...


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Wheels down!


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Washing all the road grime off.



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Conferring with her new brothers about this whole California thing after her first wax...

Beautiful ride, I'm deeply happily another member got themselves a 98+ SC400. They are rare and only a few in production so I do want to see those cars up on the road and running well, perhaps a little more biased than other SCs but that's because I own one too. These cars have a very odd price bracket and since you picked it up in Texas I'm surprised that I didn't see this on for sale. How much did you get it for if you don't mind me asking? What are your plans for it?

I looked at a 95 and 98 prior; and the seller of that 98 was a former Lexus mechanic who had owned 3 of them over the years (buy at 100k miles, sell at 200k miles) and said the cars are basically bomb proof and fun to drive; and the 98 refresh brought more power and resolution to some troubling issues that earlier cars might have. Pre '98 models are plentiful her in CA but 98 and later are not; and they usually go for 8k+. I wanted the 98 one specifically because i don't like the 3 spoke wheel in later cars.

This car was up on Autotrader for almost 8 weeks; I was talking with the owner back and forth and it went from 7500 to 6500 then disappeared. I emailed them back and said 'is the car sold' and he came back with 'we still have it but got sick of waiting for someone to buy it.'

I had a friend drive it and then did something I've never done which was buy the car site unseen. But so many people have said the cars are pretty reliable and I figured at 100k there wasn't that much maintenance they could really neglect.

The only two things I really want to do are add bluetooth and an ipod/streaming option to the radio. Honestly torn about replacing the OEM unit since it's still working so we'll see how it goes.

Other than that possibly new rims;
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...31c9e4ebc0.jpg
These are from an '06 IS; i saw them on an SC in Murietta a couple years ago and thought they looked really cool (and kinda OEM).

Other than that not sure. Maybe lurking around here will give me some ideas; but any mod will be mostly discreet and Q ship like.

Congratulations!! Yes, the 98-2000 SC400 VVT-i's are much rarer in CA or at least in SoCal, Los Angeles. Though SC's are somewhat rare to see in general out there I've seen far more SC300's and pre-98 SC400's.

As for the stereo options, if you want to keep your original radio (and especially if it has no "Nakamichi" logo on the front) you can do the tried and true stereo aux-input DIY if you're okay with very, very, very basic electrical/stereo work. Extremely easy modification. You install the common general-purpose 1/8" stereo jack on the right hand side of the stereo just behind where the metal side mounting bracket starts.

Combine that with whatever stereo or RCA cables/adapters you will need (a right angle 1/8" stereo extender elbow for the side of the OEM stereo for instance), and a common in-line ground loop isolator to remove any electrical interference noise.

With the factory stereo aux-in jack DIY having been performed you can have Bluetooth audio and hands-free calling functions with an iSimple TranzIt BLU HF (Model #ISFM2351). The BLU HF has no screen but you won't need it-- the functions are all audio-based and if any special hard reset is needed there is a reset function in the mobile phone app you can download for it... or you can go to a set of dip-switches on its side under a little covering label (but the app to manage resetting or the unique paired phone ID's is the easiest). The whole setup hides behind your dash, ideally tucked on the left hand side of your stereo just behind the main console trim bezel.

I've used that setup reliably with my OEM stereo for years. The one time I had an issue with the BLU HF it came down to using the mobile app to manage the phone BT pairing or initiate a rest and all was good. Very nice, invisible add-on Bluetooth system for all older cars with an aux jack. It comes with a mic you can run over your steering wheel and a little button with a phone symbol that sticks to the front of your OEM head unit and *almost* looks like it came there from the factory.

Anyway, beautiful SC400!! Welcome to the club : )

Looks great, congrats on the purchase :)

Congrats, she's a beauty!

Wow, absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations!

White seems to be the color of the month for newly purchased SC's.;-) Congrats on the fine rides and enjoy!