I was getting into my car leaving the store the other day when I heard a good 5 seconds of tires screeching and then the impact of a car accident. As I left the parking lot, I came upon an SC400 (92-94) that had wrapped itself around a telephone pole. Out of respect for the victim, who was miraculously sitting on the curb next to the car and looked to be unscathed, I didn't snap a photo. Damn was I impressed how well the SC400 withstood the accident, though. The impact was right where the driver side door meets to front fender. The front window and driver door window shattered and there was an almost perfect indentation of the telephone pole in the door, but the cabin looked relatively untouched. Frame was 100% bent, but that's not surprising given how strong the impact sounded to be. Really good testament to how well these older SC's are built - like a tank! Glad the driver looked to be OK and that no others were involved.

 

They are sturdy its just a shame so many sc have been destroyed due to poor moves and unskilled drifting. Here in the bay area sideshows are common and i know alot of people have destroyed their sc due to this. Glad the guy was ok. This is whats making them rarer as time goes by. Moral of the story is drive safe and stay alert, the other half of maintainence is driving well, aside from oil changes and normal routine stuff.

 

I'm glad to hear the driver of the SC400 was okay, if perhaps only shaken and bruised. It is always a good tale when the driver and any passengers make it out unscathed. The car's structure and early active safety systems did their job.

SC's are extremely well built and safe cars. They are sometimes criticized for their weight compared to other sports/muscle/GT cars but for the time they were manufactured their design made for a very safe passenger car... in addition to their sportiness and high performance potential.

It is sad when so many of these cars have been lost due to poor driver decisions on the road. There have never been as many of these things or Z30 Soarers as there have always been Mustangs. Even 1960's Mustangs are still fairly attainable in reasonably high numbers today. It will not be the same case with SC/Soarer Z30's as time goes on and if they aren't taken care of.

 

The SC400 is extremely well built in precision, craftmanship, and safety, and they are very underrated. I see many SC's wrecked and the cabin is almost always untouched. They created the crumple zones with perfection and people in the back seat are almost as safe as people in the front!

 

I saw one where the door and corresponding section of body & frame were pushed in all the way to the center console. I can't imagine what was big and low enough to hit it that hard.

 

wasn’t it confirmed in 2006 that half of all SCs were already destroyed

 

thats the first ive heard of that but sadly i would not be surprised, where is this information coming from? I imagine the only way to really know that would be if one had access to insurance claims from all major insurance companies and compared them to the factory productions charts from lexus. Alot of SCs in the bay area are driven illegally, ie no insurance,out of date registration( its really easy to get away with crap like that around here+the sideshow scene) so even if we did have that insurance info it probably wouldnt tell the full story. I know for a fact many SCs have been towed and impounded here due to lack registration, and a recent task force assigned to impounding vehicles involved in sideshows that spans multiple bay area counties and cities.There was a recent article in the local news about this and shows an SC on a tow truck! If i can dig it up i will post it( if thats allowed, moderators please advise) I doubt anyone would be able to acess the data on SCs that are in impound lots or auctions, although copart could shed some light. My black and silver SC has multiple parts from an sc that was bought from an auction and parted out with out being insured or registered, then the shell sent to the wrecker,so situations like that will make it hard to get exact numbers.

 

It's unlikely that half have been destroyed (totaled) now, let alone 14 years ago. A reference is definitely needed.