LC 500 UNDERSTATED UNDERRATED

Moving around the vendors at the Singapore diecast expo this brightly coloured blue thing caught my eye amongst a whole lot of other ERA Car models laid out on the table The colour combination and the strange name ‘LEXUS LC-500 Goes Semi Gulf’ had me semi-intrigued as well but, I also I have a soft spot for Lexus models and I thought this would look good next to my Lexus LFA.

To be honest I was quite surprised that this had not come up on anyone’s radar and this was the first time I was seeing this on the market. For some reason, LEXUS doesn’t get heavy airplay like the NISSAN SKYLINE R 34 or even the R 35 and most of the time many brand releases will include a heavy NISSAN or PORSCHE presence. So for me, it was refreshing to see something like a bright blue Lexus.

The surprises kept coming. I didn’t realize that the car has opening parts like opening doors and after discovering this I found out that the bonnet opened as well revealing a painted engine right down to the LEXUS logo on the turbo intercooler cover. WHAT!?!?!?! Where has this been hiding? The blue paint is cool but even cooler is the tribute to the gulf with the line of orange highlighting the body shape of the car and grille.

There are quite a few cons on which it might be good for ERA to improve in terms of quality. The bodywork and paint workhouse a few knicks and imperfections. A few areas where the paint isn’t neat. The gaps in the opening parts can be reduced and some of the fitment could be better. One annoying thing was the headlight housing or attachment looked like it’s not sitting properly but after examining the 1/1 car it turns out to be normal and not a mistake. I like it, it’s not perfect in terms of finish but I wouldn’t rule ERA car out of the game.