rushgator

As a fellow owner of a black on black SC 400, I gotta say yours is beautiful. Do you have any idea how lucky you are??? It took me a full year of searching to find my 95 black on black with 45,000 miles. That was 2 yrs ago, and waiting to get exactly what I wanted was not a decision I have regreted. I know mine is fairly rare, but yours takes the cake in rarity. Enjoy it and take good care of it, and if you wanna sell it 3 to 5 years from now, let me know!!

lawprof

I agree that the new ground effects makes it look modified, though it is stock. Another advantage of the '99.

I am pleased to hear about the rarity of this model of which I was unaware. Makes the purchase price all the more impressive. I paid $31,400 - $8,000 trade for my '92 during the December to Remember sale. The car was Lexus certified with a 3 year bumper-to-bumper warranty. (They would have sold it to me for $30K without certification.) The dealer had just taken it in trade a couple days before and had yet to even clean it up. It was in great shape even before it was certified, but I love the piece of mind of bumper-to-bumper. Plus they fixed a number of items (like a 2 wheel brake job) to bring it up to certification specs.

Bottom line is that, as excited as I am to have found this car at this price, I am now even more pleased learning of its scarcity. Thanks for the information.

SC400-V8

iTrader: (1)

I believe the production numbers for the 99 SC400 were less than 2,000, about 1,970? They are EXTREMELY difficult to find. The 92s were made in fairly large numbers (if you consider about 12,000 to be a large production run) but are also saught after because it was the firstyear and has considerable collectible value. The reason why the 99s and 00s sold so poorly unfortunately is basically because the design had been around for too long, and the GS offered better performance at a lesser price, the SC was no longer lexus's fastest car, but I would definitely prefer it to the GS.

D2-AUTOSPORT

was 99 and 00 the only years that had 290hp? And what are some performance specs for a 99 SC400, and 99GS4.

(my friend just bought a 99 Cinnabar GS4 )

SC400-V8

iTrader: (1)

The 98-00 SC400 had 290 hp and 300 lbs tq, so its 0-60 was a half second better 0-60 and about a half second better in the 1/4 mile. The 92-97 were 0-60 in 6.9 and 1/4 in 15.2 or 15.3 and the 98-00 were 0-60 in 6.3 and 1/4 in 14.8 or so. If you go to lexuspros.com they will rebuild your engine computer for 1200.00 and this includes engine timing and fuel mixture, it adds 30 hp to the wheels and 50 tq to the wheels, thus making and pre-98 sc equal to the newer ones. I plan on having this done soon... but I can only imagine how sick it will make the 98-00 models if they get the upgrade

The GS400 has been lexus' fastest car for many years now, having a 0-60 acceleration that ranges from 5.4-5.8 seconds, and a quarter mile time in the mid to low 14s. They have all the upgrades available as the SC because they have the same powerplant. This might not sound like too much of a difference between the two, but remember that a second in the quarter mile is an eternity.

D2-AUTOSPORT

I once saw a post on here where the SC guys were saying that Lexus fumbled the SC ball and they are correct! Who would buy a 60,000 dollar SC that has 6-7 yr old styling, when you could have a brand new styled GS thats 10-15K cheaper, faster, and has more feature content (HID, NAV, etc)?? That being said, I still think the SC is a rare car that you almost NEVER see modded correctly!

How many of you guys see these beat up models with $800 chrome 18s, and flaky paint, cloudy headlights, etc?? That makes ones like the cars on this board more distinct, I have the same situation with my 1st Gen GS.

Lex Luthor

I would...

D2-AUTOSPORT

Lex Luthor-dont miss my point, I was not expressing my own opinion, but rather what the general sentiment of the masses probably was in 1998! If you look at the availibility of used SCs in the market, they really ramp down after 98. What I was saying was, most potential SC buyers back then probaly got lured away by a cheaper car with a newer bodystyle and stronger engine! We are a pretty rare group of people, most Lexus owners would not know a lowering spring from a oil filter! So of course we have different reasons for puchasing cars than the general public, i.e. I would NEVER buy a new car, because I can buy a 3-4 yr old car for the same money that has more features, brand equity, etc. In 2001, I talked the dealer down to 21,000 +taxes, fees on my 1996 CPO GS, tell me what brand new car could I have gotten for the same money that even comes close!

I'm sure you are the same way

BTW-are you from Brooklyn?

Lex Luthor

Yeah, from the BK, Sheepshead Bay.
I think alot of the declining SC sales the last couple years also had to do with Lexus giving a very advanced preview on the SC430, and the guys that didn't buy a GS just waited for the new SC to come out. Works out to our benefit though, I like to have something rarer, when we're in the RX3 we see the exact same truck every block, annoying...

D2-AUTOSPORT

Yeah I know what you mean, I was really thinkin about sellin my car for a 99 GS3, but EVERYBODY has one, and its not like they are all stock, I'm from Bed-Stuy and lots of guys put 20s, aero, ICE, etc in these cars. My boy just bought a 99 GS4, and I keep telling him, dont think your gonna put 20s, tint, and a system in this car and kill *****, because I see too many cars on this site that are REALLY turned out!

I prefer rare too!

Lex Luthor

Have a really nice install planned for this one, Alpine 5.1 Dolby Digital. Let me know if you need any audio/alarm/multimedia whatsoever, I work for Movin' On Sounds and Security, i'm sure you know them, just PM or e-mail me, that goes for all you guys, lawprof too, but don't wanna T.O. your thread, GL with the new whip prof...