Barn Find 90s V8 Luxury Car // 1 owner, 11k miles in 30yrs!

Barn Find 90s V8 Luxury Car // 1 owner, 11k miles in 30yrs! Join barnfind carpervert Jonny Smith as he discovers a one owner 1992 big Japanese saloon that's been sat in a Norfolk barn for many years. It has been owned by the same family since new, and was reputed to have had an unlimited development budget when Toyota launched it. As usual Jonny will chat to the owner to discover this classic car's backstory, then he will clean. Question is, will it run?

Thanks for stopping by The Late Brake Show.

Smith & Sniff is the UK's #1 automotive podcast, where Jonny and ex Top Gear and Grand Tour script editor Richard Porter chat absolute rubbish for an hour, periodically mentioning car related topics. Listen now:
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Jonny Smith
Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since '98

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:05 Lexus launch
2:20 The owner's story
5:20 A few parking scratches
7:09 Tyre inflation
7:42 Pushing it outside
7:59 New owner

#barnfind #classiccars #garagefind #thelatebrakeshow #4k

[hughoxford]

I was in the pub recently, and I said that I was looking to buy a Lexus. At which point, someone present said: "Why would you want to buy a Lexus? It's basically a luxury Toyota". Well yeah. That's exactly why I want a Lexus.

[dalemr]

Love my ls400. It was left in a garage for 3 years until last September, gave it a respray, an alternator and it's like new, 227, 000 miles and passed it's mot with no advisories, no squeaks, rattles. Comfy, plenty of power and cheap to run.

[Boysstuff]

Jonny we took one of these on a charity car trip in 2015 from Dover to Calais, through France visiting Battle of Trafalgar, Bruges, Germany, raced it round the Nurburing and ended up in Budapest for a Gala Dinner over 2 days. We then raced back 1200 miles at autobahn speeds to catch the last Eurotunnel train back to UK. It never missed a beat, was absolutely faultless and comfortable. Best bit - we paid £500 it and sold it for a profit when back home, giving the money to charity. I still tell people about the trip nearly 10 years later it left that big an impression on me!! Cheers Steve

[richardmmoulds]

Great video again Jonny.

I've had two LS400s (a '96 and a '97) and they are absolutely superb cars. Very easy to work on (servicing only, nothing breaks) and a pleasure to drive. When you're sat in one with the engine ticking over the noisiest thing is the air coming out of the vents. Not entirely sure why I sold them other than I'm a 55yo child and my head is too easily turned by other shiny things.

What always astonished me was the attention to detail such as the electric aerial that lowers or extends depending on where in the frequency range your chosen radio station is, illuminated seat belt buckles and the addition of nappa leather on the bottom of the interior door pulls so your fingertips touch soft leather as you close the door.

[lukestocks]

100% one of the best cars of all time .
Was released the year I started high school in Australia and heaps of rich mums and dads had them. Brings back memories.

[cwpache]

Growing up, my dad had every high end Jag, Mercedes and BMW. Even a Rolls Royce in the late 80’s. His favorite car was his brand new LS400 he bought on an M plate. He loved that thing.

[deniscurtin]

There is a dignified and reserved quality around these Japanese luxo barges. Ive always preferred them over their Euro competitors. Whilst the Euro car makers charge for every extra and prioritises fleecing the customer as much as possible, the Japanese car makers simply want to make the best possible car for the customer, they actually respect the customer and thats honourable. Look at the Honda Legend or even the Mitsubishi Sigma-sheer quality.

[dflack]

Amazing car and also amazing to see an MAW t-shirt on the current owner.

Masters at work with the 90s represent!

[jh]

My Dad drove an LS400 around Millbrook, just after they were launched.. I remember it being so incredibly smooth and refined!! The dashboard dials looked ahead of the time 😊

[BkSMedia]

As a Lexus owner, hearing the 1UZ fire up at the end is just... *chefs kiss* 👌People really underestimate Lexus as a brand in favour of BMWs/Audis/Mercs, and that's fine by me, I like that they aren't as popular. So many people on the road are so much more politer to me than the typical German car owner.

[murrieteacher]

With only 12000 miles on the clock it would not take a lot of work to get it ready. What a find! I think the Lexus is the most underrated car in the world.

[deanom]

Great work Jonny as always. The LS was produced in a golden age for Japanese cars. Think about this, the Lexus LS, Mazda MX-5 and Nissan R32 GT-R all arrived between April and August of 1989

[fastEdCanuck]

Dammit, now I’m heading to the classifieds looking for one of these. You see the occasional example in a dark colour that looks really good but so many were gold like this one. Also, Alastair’s XJR has me wanting one of those again, I had an X300 version. Great to see the fuel pump replacement was the only fix needed to bring it to life again.

[ArthurDent]

Thanx for this lovely journey, your barn finds are spectacular in a calm way!

[JCJW]

I bought a 1998 LS400 in 2012 for £1500 and sold it for £1400 5 years later and I still miss it to this day. It was soo smooth and comfortable. Great cars!

[jamesfurz]

I worked for a well known automotive consultancy and was told the story of when they were asked to benchmark one of these in the 90s. They couldn't believe the efforts gone into the NHV performance. There's apparently a slab of lead in the roof skin! The engine has a 6 bolt main bearing cap, normally found in engines for power, but in this case it's to stiffen the block for NVH purposes. My old mate bought 1 in about 2004 or so, maybe 10-12years old and 100k miles. The EGR valve ticking was louder than the combustion! 800quid for the whole car and he intended on taking the engine out to put in a Lotus Excel. Don't think he ever got around to it, but what an engine! The NVH additions to the engine made it so strong that you can get up above 600hp on the standard internals without too much effort.

[ChristopherLee-kw]

A neighbour was a professional chauffeur for HSBC he covered 250k in his car . Never once broke down . Supreme elegance.

[edmontontangobar]

I have the 1UZFE in my 2000 GS400, such an incredible engine, runs like new, uses no oil at all with 350, 000KM on the car.

[amHlam]

I'm waiting for the episode where Jonny backs the jet-wash scene with Benny Benassi's Satisfaction. Each week I tell myself: "Patience, son. It's just a matter of time..."

[richardbrooker]

In 1992 I lived nextdoor to a guy who worked for Jaguar in their design department and he told me they bench tested the new Jags against the Merc S class, BMW 7 series and the Lexus and he said after all the testing they did the Lexus was the best engineered car of those four.