Custom Headlights and the Future of Lexi2

Every car guy has a dream car whether it be an old Bel-Air, a Corvette Z06, supercar, or something like an old Turbo Saab. I have a dream car too but it gets a little more involved. My dream car IS the Lexus LS400. I've wanted one since the first time I saw a VIP style 400. But my history and my character in general won't let me drive a car that is like 50,000 others.

I often mention things about this project car that are years away. I hope to give you guys some inspiration but I also want to let you get into my head to try to understand why I am going about things the way I am. This is a long-term project - 10-15 years.

Having said that, I eventually want to change the trunk (wagon is the dream but we will see). The car will have a body kit for sure. But here's the thing about me. This is what drives me (no pun intended). I want to create a one-of-a-kind vehicle.

Remember, I'm teaching and doing everything myself. Sure there are things that I will need a shop to do for me but for the most part, most of the things I do to the car, I do myself.

At this point I've learned a little bit of everything. I am at the point where I can reupholster a seat and make it look good. I can paint decent - the part I did paint is still nice, flat, and shiny. I've learned to fabricate simple things. I've learned how to work with the body of the car as well as the mechanics.

This is a car that I'm keeping for life. By the time I'm done, it will be one of the most unique LS400s on the road and I can promise you that. And it will be daily driven. So keep following me because you're going to start seeing big leaps in evolution. Hitting Phase 1 was the first milestone and the car looked completely different from how it began - especially if you look at Lexi the First which, although that car made me fall in love with LS400s, gave me many headaches.

When the car hits Phase 2, it will be out if this world. The supercharger will probably be Phase 3.

The Plan

The idea behind this car is to modernize it as well as completely change the way it looks. It needs to be lowered a little bit and needs bigger wheels. I want a particular stance. The car will be maybe an inch or two lower in the front so it has that aggressive. The center console is a little outdated so that's going to be replaced by a tablet or something like that that allows you to control the AC, music, and possibly other settings.

From the outside, it needs to look completely ridiculous but in the same way a Lambo is ridiculous. Because it WILL be boosting eventually, there will be vents everywhere. (Not until then... No way.) A loud but good exhaust system.

I write down EVERY idea in a notebook. This is an easy way to make mudflaps. Eventually I will do it just to see if they will look good because then it would be worth making them. Mudflaps look great on any car. The difference with these is that they're solid, not like rally mudflaps.

Pair that with a stance where the car is lower in the front. Imagine the current fenders covering ridiculous wheels behind which is a mudflap. This not gonna be a car you have to baby. If you have to go in the dirt, haul a$#!

The goal is to make it look like that's how the car came from the factory but just have it beastly. Wide tires in the back... The whole shebang.

Of course it will have Halogen lights (which the ones in the picture above are) among any other useful modern things I can adapt. A back up camera might go in eventually along with a couple tablets in the back of the front seats for movies. (Just thought about it; backup lights are for p#ssies.)

Remember, the car is going to be reupholstered and I've fallen in love with the red and gold I've been using. I'm going to see if I can do the seats black instead of beige and at the same time do the trim like the center console in red leather. Add yellow leather to the headrests. It would only look bad if there was still a lot of the original colors were left.

The carpet can stay the same color (though it needs a deep clean or dye) along with some parts of the doors. That way, the doors flow with the carpet on the bottom but there will be black and possibly red on the doors. The rest of the interior will be reupholstered either black, red, or gold. So minor colors are yellow and red while main colors would be black and beige. This works because the interior has plenty of black and beige. It's a matter of transitioning those things.

I can't explain to you guys in words how excited I am to get this done. Of course, things like this take time. However, going back to the original subject, I'm ready to fabricate an assembly to hold the new lights in place. I think they look ridiculously good. I just hope I can figure out something nice to block the empty area. Ideally, it will be aluminum painted white so it becomes part of the body. The whole assembly will be bolted on to some part of the radiator support. It's actually a part of the frame. It shouldn't be hard to come up with something.

I've thought of a lot of things that I thought were original that turned out to have already been done before. Not this... Well yes, people have changed out the headlights in their cars before but I haven't see it on a Lexus.

- Rokas K.