What a beauty - can it be converted?

[cruisermark]

Used Lexus Ls 400, Barcelona, Spain, 196 kW (267 HP), Green, Sedan, Petrol, Automatic - OOYYO

What would it cost to convert to RHD?

[Alan305]

Why convert. I used my LHD Camaro Z28 for business and did 76,000 over three years with no real issues. Just need to leave a bit more space to see round the car in front. Corvette was the same, quickly get used to it. Toll booths annoying but that’s life. Insurance a little more but not much. Stopped by police after a night out and the officer went straight to the offside to find my inebriated wife and no steering wheel.

[cruisermark]

Not sure i could get used to it Alan but I take your point onboard

[Alan305]

But think how quickly you get used to driving your own car in Europe with all the different road procedures. LHD in the UK I think is easier.

[The-Acre]

33 minutes ago, cruisermark said:

Used Lexus Ls 400, Barcelona, Spain, 196 kW (267 HP), Green, Sedan, Petrol, Automatic - OOYYO

What would it cost to convert to RHD?

A virtually impossible task I would think, unless the name on your bank account is Musk! I agree though, driving a left hand drive is something you don't really consider when you get used to it, I've had a couple in the past.

[BigBoomer]

It will almost certainly cost more than the car by a substantial margin.
If you compare engine bays in LHD vs RHD LSes, you can see that you'd have to switch sides for some of the electronics, as well as the steering column and rack, pedals, brake system, the dash, and probably about half of the cars wiring loom.

[Chris Skelton]

....and you step out onto the pavement!

I drove a LHD car in the 80s daily (Citroen Dyane!) with no trouble.

Foot to the floor, change on the fly.....

(Like the hifi?)

[Malc]

I've rarely driven cars with the steering on the " wrong " side but I never remember it being an problem when I did so .....  now, thinking to go around the roundabout the wrong way, well, that's another issue altogether 

Malc

[Alan305]

15 hours ago, Chris Skelton said:

....I drove a LHD car in the 80s daily (Citroen Dyane!) with no trouble…

 

Brilliant we had one from 74 to 76, just a little body roll! It took four of us to the South of France towing a 4 man trailer tent. Fast on the downhill bits. Loved the horizontal gear change and the musical engine sounds. Air cooled flat two, like half a Porsche.

[VFR]

That picture of the underside, look at the top right where the body sections are bent up (by the look of it) and being forced apart by rust ?

[BigBoomer]

I drive a RHD around mainland Europe pretty regularly (or did before Covid) and have rarely found it to be a major problem.
I struggle when put into LHD cars but can cope after a couple of days of concentration.

In 1997 my motorcycle ate it's gearbox near Lyon, and thanks to RAC cover I ended up with a LHD manual VW Polo rental car.
I had to get out of central Lyon in the evening rush hour with 3 motorcycles following me, and none of their riders spoke any French or knew their way around Lyon (I do). We made it to the Aire de Limas north of Lyon on the A6/E15 at which point I fell out of the car as my legs would no longer work and my hands were shaking.
I must have punched the drivers door over 100 times reaching for the gear lever. 
THAT was stressful!

[Malc]

1 hour ago, VFR said:

and being forced apart by rust ?

I doubt it .  the underseal looks quite original to my mind and doesn't look like you're way of thinking tbh .  to my mind anyway

she looks a beauty but oh my........ . far too expensive methinks

Malc

[Malc]

2 minutes ago, BigBoomer said:

THAT was stressful!

the vagaries of youth 

Malc

[steve2006]

Too expensive in my opinion then you have to get it to the UK where HMRC will likely charge you 20% VAT on top!

The strangest place for driving I have ever seen is St.Thomas USVI where all the cars are LHD but they drive on the left.

Traffic lights in the air over the road always got me with emergency stops driving abroad.

[serbarry]

On 11/27/2021 at 8:14 AM, Malc said:

I've rarely driven cars with the steering on the " wrong " side but I never remember it being an problem when I did so .....  now, thinking to go around the roundabout the wrong way, well, that's another issue altogether 

Malc

Well for the majority of other countries you have the steering wheel on the "wrong" side. I have driven my LHD Honda Civic in Ireland for 3 years before replacing it with a RHD Prius. I got a bit confused the first time I drove the Civic in Ireland as I started moving on the wrong side of the road until I saw a car approaching and I realised I was on the wrong side. I remember the first days I tried to focus on driving "on the same side of my steering wheel". Nowadays I drive in Italy when I go back home and in Slovakia without problems but there I drive LHD cars so it is easier. The thing I still find a bit weird is changing the gear with the left hand in my wife's RHD car.    

[Malc]

then automatic all the way methinks !

Malc

[serbarry]

Oh yes for me hybrid forever.