lS400s for sale, nubers falling

[steve2006]

I've noticed more recently that there seems to be fewer LS400s being offered for sale on the likes of eBay and Autotrader and those that are there seem to be commanding higher prices.

I think the time has come where decent examples with reasonable mileage are now drying up.

Perhaps my £850.00 investment in my 134,000 mile 1999 2 previous owner example will pay off once I have replaced the timing belt.

[royoftherovers]

31 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

I've noticed more recently that there seems to be fewer LS400s being offered for sale on the likes of ebay and Autotrader and those that are there seem to be commanding higher prices.

I think the time has come where decent examples with reasonable mileage are now drying up.

Perhaps my £850.00 investment in my 134,000 mile 1999 2 previous owner example will pay off once I have replaced the timing belt.

And paid the remaining outstanding balance on the loan Steve?  :) :) :)

 

Regards

John

[plastic orange]

A lot are going as engine donors. This may be a source of spares for the rest of us.

 

Pete

[Malc]

I too have noticed the paucity of Ls400s for sale recently, there was a time when one could be assured of getting a replacement quite easily if one had a write-off or summat, but these days, well, I think there's going to be a huge gap between what insurers are going to want to pay out and what one can reasonably expect to pay to get a replacement !

And they will still write them off for silly damage, busted headlamp, scratched bumpers and all sorts of minor scrapes.

I hope they don't get to the point where we were with the Peugeot 305 GTi ( was it those ) where insurers had a policy of just getting them off the road and scrapped at any opportunity.

Battles ahead methinks, even more so than normal !

Malc

[Cotswold Pete]

I'll be aiming to keep mine for a while, it is such a lovely motor.  Hope no one prangs it, as it is my every day car, though nearly got taken out by a truck (driver on mobile) back last month.

The only other option is to leave it in a garage for 20 years, let it gently rot, and then get Car SOS in to sort it out (when I am a doddering old toothless g*t)  and they may then see it as the classic it already is, but not recognised as such!!!

The one flaw being I suspect an LS will not rot as much as a Golf GTI would do if put in a garage for 20 years.

[Malc]

............  remembering now, it is the Peugeot 309 GTi above .............  mine, well I'll be using my Ls400 as an everyday car till it reaches at least that million miles mark 

Malc

[Malc]

I've just noticed there's a few on    www.carandclassic.co.uk  ..................  so that really says it all about our now quite clearly " classic " cars

Malc

[mikeyv]

19 hours ago, Cotswold Pete said:

I'll be aiming to keep mine for a while, it is such a lovely motor.  Hope no one prangs it, as it is my every day car, though nearly got taken out by a truck (driver on mobile) back last month.

The only other option is to leave it in a garage for 20 years, let it gently rot, and then get Car SOS in to sort it out (when I am a doddering old toothless g*t)  and they may then see it as the classic it already is, but not recognised as such!!!

The one flaw being I suspect an LS will not rot as much as a Golf GTI would do if put in a garage for 20 years.

I'd rather set fire to mine than let those clowns anywhere near it, particularly the one who sticks on a false beard, which, apparently, is such a good disguise, that the "victim" fails to recognise him, despite being a fan of the show.

I quite enjoyed the early episodes, but every one follows the same formula now.

Car doesn't look too bad, then shock, horror, it's actually a death trap, will be a massive challenge to get done in time.

Parts will be a nightmare to find, but annoying Tim will blag the parts for nowt, due to his ingenious scam story.

It's a miracle, the car is completed with minutes to spare, now we just have to endure the Jeremy Beadle impression.

I know, I'm a cynical old sod, but I can't help it.

Edited to add:- The numbers are dropping, partly because so many seem to be getting scrapped, and the same seems to be happening with the 430, as well.

[The-Acre]

The blue MK4 from the Isle of Man that just sold on eBay looked like a good example of rare genuine one, the photos look superb. It certainly didn't hang around long!

[Cotswold Pete]

58 minutes ago, mikeyv said:

It's a miracle, the car is completed with minutes to spare, now we just have to endure the Jeremy Beadle impression.

I know, I'm a cynical old sod, but I can't help it.

 

Aah, but what you forget is that I will be a toothless doddering old g*t, and I would probably not be bothered even if Jeremy Beadle himself was resurrected to sort out my rusting LS.

Do agree that early Car SOS were okay, and I only leave it on the TV these days when I can't be bothered to change channel, or I suspect the cat sleeping on the sofa just needs some background noise when I leave the room.

[cruisermark]

23 hours ago, The-Acre said:

The blue MK4 from the Isle of Man that just sold on eBay looked like a good example of rare genuine one, the photos look superb. It certainly didn't hang around long!

ooooohhh aaaaahhh that one was therapy for the eyes and heart!

[Chris Skelton]

On 31/10/2016 at 4:54 PM, Cotswold Pete said:

I'll be aiming to keep mine for a while, it is such a lovely motor.  Hope no one prangs it, as it is my every day car, though nearly got taken out by a truck (driver on mobile) back last month.

The only other option is to leave it in a garage for 20 years, let it gently rot, and then get Car SOS in to sort it out (when I am a doddering old toothless g*t)  and they may then see it as the classic it already is, but not recognised as such!!!

The one flaw being I suspect an LS will not rot as much as a Golf GTI would do if put in a garage for 20 years.

No don't! Enjoy it now!

I just 'went back' to Citroen, getting a pristine 3 litre XM, after 8 years away. But am getting to the old git stage, in that my knees and feet, after near 30 years standing up in my cafe, are failing. But hopefully , my 42K mile car will join CXs and DSs as investments!

[steve2006]

3 hours ago, Chris Skelton said:

No don't! Enjoy it now!

I just 'went back' to Citroen, getting a pristine 3 litre XM, after 8 years away. But am getting to the old git stage, in that my knees and feet, after near 30 years standing up in my cafe, are failing. But hopefully , my 42K mile car will join CXs and DSs as investments!

But you can raise the suspension on yours Chris to help with the getting in and out.

Must admit I did also own an XM but the 2 litre, cost me £80.00 and a further £100 for the MOT and 2 spheres. Fully galvanised body so no rust. Ran fine for the 10 months I had it then part chopped it for £400.00 against a Rover 820 which is also becoming a classic.

[The-Acre]

6 hours ago, cruisermark said:

ooooohhh aaaaahhh that one was therapy for the eyes and heart!

Steady on now, it's only a car!!  Mind you, it looks like someone got a real gem.

[Caractacus]

I have two Lexus, a Ls400 (19970 and a Ls430 (2000) both in really nice condition, finding it hard to decide which to store and which to keep in use.  Cannot afford to run both, prob store the Ls400 as it will be a classic earlier.  I already have beard and pension book so its just a waiting game now.

[cruisermark]

I think LS430 values are getting stronger aswell - good looked after examples with sensible mileages dont come up very often especially facelift ones

[The-Acre]

16 hours ago, Caractacus said:

I have two Lexus, a Ls400 (19970 and a Ls430 (2000) both in really nice condition, finding it hard to decide which to store and which to keep in use.  Cannot afford to run both, prob store the Ls400 as it will be a classic earlier.  I already have beard and pension book so its just a waiting game now.

I'd be doing the same as the LS430 would likely suffer more from storage.

[Caractacus]

MOT tomorrow, Monday 7 Nov.  (Ls400)  Car polished and cleaned, check over produced no visible faults at all so expecting a total pass, to to be sure put a bottle of Valve and Exhaust cleaner in tank and been for a couple of good runs.

[royoftherovers]

On the way to the Mot DO NOT USE TOP GEAR , KEEP IT ONE,TWO AND THREE ONLY and it should sail thru on emissions test.

Good luck

Regards

John

[Cotswold Pete]

14 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

On the way to the Mot DO NOT USE TOP GEAR , KEEP IT ONE,TWO AND THREE ONLY and it should sail thru on emissions test.

 

Never heard this before, is it supposed to blow the cobwebs out ahead of MOT, or do you only do this if it is a short run to the garage.

[royoftherovers]

blow the cobwebs out at any time,but especially ahead of the MOT Pete.

It is sometimes called "an italian tune up"

Has always worked for me.

Good luck

Regards

John

[Chris Skelton]

On 02/11/2016 at 4:16 PM, steve2006 said:

But you can raise the suspension on yours Chris to help with the getting in and out.

Must admit I did also own an XM but the 2 litre, cost me £80.00 and a further £100 for the MOT and 2 spheres. Fully galvanised body so no rust. Ran fine for the 10 months I had it then part chopped it for £400.00 against a Rover 820 which is also becoming a classic.

Getting out,maybe; you have to get IN to start the car,remember!

And, beware. Once in a ser 1 Citroen CX, in response to a 'Is this one of those cars that go up and down?", I put it on 'Low'. And it wouldn't come back up!!

AA lift to garage, after red face! Later ones didn't hang the switch under in the rain, etc..!

[Scribe]

I had a red-face moment when test driving my second Xantia.  While checking that the suspension worked, I found that the lever easily got stuck in the 'low' position.  It took about ten minutes to work out how to release it, after which I very rarely lowered the car - at least, not without keeping hold of the lever.

[4x4steve]

On 11/1/2016 at 0:47 PM, The-Acre said:

The blue MK4 from the Isle of Man that just sold on eBay looked like a good example of rare genuine one, the photos look superb. It certainly didn't hang around long!

i can tell you from experience its as nice as it looked, time will tell if i paid to much

[The-Acre]

7 hours ago, 4x4steve said:

i can tell you from experience its as nice as it looked, time will tell if i paid to much

Aha, there you are! Welcome to the LOC and it would be appreciated if you could post some photos for us all to see.  And if you find yourself in West Sussex at any time it would be great to see it in the flesh.  Enjoy!