Throwback Thursday: The 1998 Lexus Street Rod Concept

[mmcartalk]

Since this is primarily a Lexus forum (and some of you younger persons here might not remember or be aware of this project-car), I thought I'd mention, and post about, one of the most bizarre and interesting Lexus products of all time....the 1997 Street Rod. Chrysler's Plymouth Division (which has since folded), at the time, was attracting attention in the auto press with the outrageous Prowler street-rod......an interesting but slow-selling, modernized version of the classic street rods of the 1940s and 50s. The Prowler was a trip to look at (and had a small matching body-color trailer if you actually wanted to carry some luggage LOL). But it suffered from some design/marketing errors, such as a 3.5 V6 (214 or 253 HP) instead of a classic V8, and a 4-speed side-shift automatic instead of a true manual transmission (at least it had a proper RWD). Despite extremely low sales (which would normally bring prices down), it still carried outrageous dealer mark-ups......I can remember seeing some at 70-80% over list. Lexus considered (and developed) a possible competitor........considerably more well-built, as Chrysler products of that era were of poor quality. To my knowledge, though, only one Lexus rod was ever done........in a classic 1950s-style Candy Apple Red, which is pretty close to the gorgeous Matador Red on Lexus production cars. It was never actually put into production (perhaps because of the Prowler's poor showing in the market), but made some auto-show circuits, though I don't remember seeing it at the D.C. Auto Show. In contrast to the Prowler's gimmicky shark-nose looks and relatively wimpy drivetrain, the Lexus had the much more authentic look of a classic 1932 (Deuce) Ford roadster and a proper V8...a modified GS400 engine with more than 400 HP. Like the Prowler, it was RWD and used a sport-shift automatic, but with an extra 5th gear for more flexibility. Chrysler claimed that the shape of the Prowler's body/cabin restricted space in the footwells for a true 3-pedal manual transmission, but the Lexus didn't seem to have that problem, so I don't know why they chose not to use a conventional manual either...as virtually all of the classic street rods did.

Anyhow, here are the two cars for comparison:

Prowler:

Lexus:

 

[Joe]

Ooops, didn't know about that! Funny
Not much of a fan myself of these 'fake' hot rods...
Has it been an official Lexus one-off prototype or was it some local custom built initiative?

 

[mmcartalk]

Ooops, didn't know about that! Funny
Not much of a fan myself of these 'fake' hot rods...
Has it been an official Lexus one-off prototype or was it some local custom built initiative?

I obviously wasn't an insider when it was designed, but, from what I know about it, Lexus officially stated that it was to be a one-time project, not intended for mass-production, and something that money and resources were given to the designers for to come up with a special display to promote the company.

Also, from what I know, it was actually a joint project of Lexus, TRD, Millen Works, and California Street Rods....with California Street Rods doing much of the body/interior work (note the accurate imitiation of the '32 Ford gauges in the center of the dash). It used the GS400's power-steering system, though, with the pump relocated for clearance. (most real street rods used unassisted manual steering). The 4.0L Lexus V8 was a good choice because it made good power (especially in that tuned version) but took up little space underhood by V8 standards. Flip-up (and removable) hood panels exposed the gleaming engine-work.

From a marketing standpoint (and potentially competing Prowler), at first I was not totally convinced by Lexus's explanation that it was not intended for production. But, on the other hand, there were indeed a lot of definite signs that that non-production was indeed the case, and that the explanation was true. Unlike the Prowler, which was intended for production from the start, the Lexus was apparently not designed with any Federal safety-regulations in mind. It had no front or rear bumpers, no air bags, no headrests on the seats, no significant roll-over protection of any kind, no side-impact protection on the doors, no third safety-light in the rear......not even a rear-view mirror on the windshield. To develop a full-production version would have taken a lot more time and resources. And, of course, in a production mode, Lexus would have had to rely on California Street Rods for bodies and interiors, which would have (probably) greatly limited production. Of course, history itself ended up making that unnecessary........the Prowler fell flat on its face in the sales-department (partly from greedy dealerships), and no real competition was ever needed.

 

[Och]

Lexus also did an interesting concept for the movie "Minority Report"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_2054

 

[mmcartalk]

Lexus also did an interesting concept for the movie "Minority Report"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_2054

Thanks. I wasn't aware of that one.......first I've seen of it. The rear end looks a lot like the 2-seat Chrysler Crossfire.

 

[krew]

krew

Throwback Thursday: The 1998 Lexus Street Rod Concept

It's for real.

View the original article post

 

[Ian Schmidt]

Gorgeous! Anyone know if that was a new-fabbed body or if they used a real '32 Ford donor? Because it looks pretty authentic, not that I'm an expert.