Alabama man restores a million-mile LS400 — then takes it back to Lexus

This Alabama man decided to restore a million-mile LS400 and return it to Lexus.

YouTube channel Elsea’s World took on the 1996 Lexus LS400 as a project, intending to deliver it to YouTuber Tavarish.

Before he could do that, he’d take it to his local Lexus dealership for an inspection.

But an eye-watering one million on the clock, how much work would need to be done on this car?

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What sort of condition was this Lexus LS400 in?

Michael Elsea, host of the channel, first took on the task of fixing up the LS400 back in June 2024.

He has since documented the process through a series of YouTube videos.

At first, he had people telling him to ‘scrap’ the car.

It had a fair few dents on the bodywork, and the front bumper and headlights had to be removed.

But fast forward to January 2025, and the car was ready for its finishing touches.

“I’ve just got to tidy up a few things, before taking it down to the Lexus dealership to inspect the bodywork,” Elsea said.

To put into perspective how much this car had been driven, a person could take it from New York to California 355 times without topping this LS400’s miles.

On the list of final touches was an oil change.

“Since this engine has more miles on it than Taylor Swift’s private jet, I figured it was worth using top of the line oiling,” he said.

Swift’s jets are apparently the benchmark for high mileage now, but they are heavy hitters in other regards too, namely carbon footprint.

At any rate, Elsea was hoping the team down at Lexus would be impressed with his oil choice as he used to work there.

Next up, he put in the gold centre caps on the tires, as the LS400 is a gold badge car.

For context, this is to signify the ‘brand’s commitment to excellence and craftmanship’, as reported by Sprookie.

Elsea loaded the car onto a trailer and took it down to the dealership for evaluation.

Would it pass the sniff test or would it be sent back to the shop?

Delivering a special gift to a friend

Fortunately, it was a successful visit to the dealership, where the head painter approved the restoration.

Elsea saved himself a lot of money by going it alone with the project, as a Lexus-certified restoration would have set him back $30,000.

Unfortunately, the odometer could not be reset and was stuck at 999,999 miles.

With it passing inspection with flying colors, it was time to get the car down to Orlando, Florida where Tavarish would be waiting.

Tavarish was stunned when he laid eyes on the car for the first time.

He exclaimed: “This is amazing! I am blown away…blown away doesn’t even [cover it].

“Everything fits great!”

When another guy remarked the LS400 looked like a ‘million bucks’, Tavarish replied ‘It looks like a million miles!’

Believe it or not, there are still cars out there with more miles on the clock than this one.

The highest mileage Mercedes clocked in at 2.8 million and was driven by a Greek taxi driver, Gregorios Sachinidis.

The world record for highest mileage belongs to a Volvo P1800S, which racked up over three million over 50 years.

It just goes to show that high mileage or age are no barriers to automotive greatness.

To see Elsea’s final touches on the LS400, you can head over to his YouTube channel.