Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus has always focused on innovative engineering concepts, although not in a typical way in the service of speed. The company’s pocket protector idiots spend all their time trying to find a way to make cars quieter or softer, but for a short time, from 2010 to 2012, these engineers assembled 500 examples of one of them the most fabulous super sports cars to have ever existed. One of the 38 red copies is built cross the auction block again at Mecum’s Indianapolis auction this month, and if you have the means, consider bidding. There was no sale at the company’s Kissimmee auction in January, so bidding continues.
If you weren’t into the automotive world back then, you’ll never really know what it was like, but this car experienced just over a decade of hype before it was finally made available to the ultra-wealthy public. Only twenty examples were built per month at a price of $375,000 each, but Lexus reportedly lost money on every single one.
There are so many cars on the market these days if you want to go faster. That’s not really the point. The point is the magnificent 4.8 liter V10 engine up front. In a way it’s like a front-engined Porsche Carrera GT, you know? Or maybe that’s it a modern Porsche 959? It makes 552 horsepower and puts out 354 lb-ft of torque through a 6-speed sequential transmission, but the engine’s truly special feature is its 9,000 rpm redline. Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.
The design still looks great years later, and even with the optional polished Boomer-equipped Corvette-style wheels, it remains a true visual masterpiece. There are plenty of options to show off when you absolutely need a supercar, but I think the LFA might be the best of them. Unlike buying a new Ferrari or Lamborghini or something like that, buying an LFA proves that you know your stuff. You are one of the connoisseurs driving around in this V10 monster. It might not have the 0-60 time of a new McLaren, but you’ll definitely get more cool points. And you can’t drive that fast on the road anyway.
Some idiot bought this beautiful piece of technology and only had 73 miles on it the entire time. What the hell did that mean? Lexus has spent so much time and money developing a great engine and you haven’t even gotten past the break-in period? I hope whoever ends up with this next decides to give the car the life it deserves, because low mile supercars are the stupidest thing in the world.
Mecum puts the pre-auction estimate for Clifford The Big Red Lexus at $850,000-$950,000. Good luck, I guess? Personally, I don’t think every driving experience in the world is worth more than $60,000, but maybe you have a lot more money than you know what to do with and you really like red. If you are that type of person wants to spend almost a million dollars on a twelve-year-old Lexus, here is your chance. It crosses the block on May 18th, so head to Indianapolis if you want it.