Gearknob Costs More Than Whole Car...?

Foeux · August 7, 2015

I like my £500 Lexus LS400 a lot. I like that everything
electric just works, I like that it sounds good with the middle resonator on
the exhaust cut out, I like that mis-matched Chinese ditch-finders on the back
make it do skids everywhere (especially in the wet). I like that the stereo is
obnoxiously loud when needed, I like the leather seats, I like a lot about it.

However, one of the main points of contact is the slightly
tired old leather gearknob. I am changing this as we speak…

I have a pal, Mark, who has owned one of the most
prestigious kitchen and furniture companies in the UK, perhaps the world. He is
semi-retired and likes tinkering. I have asked him to make me an ebony gear
knob for the Lexus, he has agreed.

He has taken my knob and replaced it with a temporary
solution, a nickel re-cast of a 1928 bonnet mascot that looks just like him. It
cost ‘many hundreds of pounds’ and he had to borrow the original from Beaulieu
Motor Museum.

I will of course show you the ebony knob when finished but
in the meanwhile, here is the gearknob that costs more than my whole car…