Bagged Lexus LC 500 is Living the Low Life in Tokyo

By John Coyle - July 17, 2020

This Lexus LC 500 with air suspension makes the streets of Tokyo look like another world.

For visitors, the sensory overload of Tokyo can make it feel like you’ve or stepped into a video game — or landed on another planet.

Shibuya Crossing makes Time Square look like a desolate country road, and even hole-in-the-wall ramen shops have musical toilets that look like R2D2. Overall, we’d describe the vibe of the Japanese capital as “happy Blade Runner,” and when you add a hyper-custom Lexus LC 500 to the mix? The effect is even more pronounced.

This Infrared example is owned by Toru Naito, who goes by delta.7000 on Instagram. As you’d expect, there are plenty of great stills posted to his account. But we have to say this video, shot by the virtuosos at Hartnett Media, make the car and surrounding metropolis look absolutely unreal.

Now, given how little the design of the LC 500 changed in the evolution from concept car to production vehicle, even stock models sometimes appear to have been superimposed on a scene. With the bag setup, it almost looks the car has taken a step backward — to an artist’s render.

The trick suspension comes courtesy of T-DEMAND, the JDM manufacturer that’s legendary for helping loads of high-end tuner builds make the transition to the low life. When it’s being raised and lowered, it almost makes it look like the car is alive.

While clearly not optimized for performance, the camber on Naito’s car isn’t as extreme as it is on some other rides we’ve seen sporting the brand’s hardware. But there’s still clearly daylight visible on the the outer edges of the tire, and we think you’d have a hard time slipping a credit card between the front clip and the pavement.

It might not be the direction we’d go with our personal car, but the execution here is excellent, and watching it drive down the side streets of Tokyo is borderline hypnotic.

So what’s your opinion on this custom LC 500? Do you think the ultra-low look complements the lines? Or is this treatment too over the top for you?

Head into the forum and let us know. Because something tells us that Toru isn’t going to be bothered by anything random strangers say about his ride. After all, you don’t go this big if you’re going to sweat some folks telling you to go home!