Abandoned Show Cars In Junkyard Are An Unexpected Sight
It's hard to imagine one of the shiny show cars that pack the floors of the annual SEMA show sitting partially stripped in a junkyard, but as these revealing pictures illustrate that is exactly where some of them end up.
Although we found these pictures showing a pair of Lexus show cars waiting for destruction on GTspirit they were originally posted by Autoguide this past week.
Both the IS-F and IS350C were built for and shown at the 2009 SEMA show by a company called Fox Marketing. Along with all of the typical SEMA show car touches you might expect, the IS-F had a 600 horsepower twin-turbo 5.0 liter V8 while there was a 405hp 3.5 liter V6 engine underneath the hood of the IS350C.
It seems reasonable to wonder how two expensively modified and relatively new former show cars have ended up stripped and waiting for the crusher so quickly. The explanation is actually less criminal or accidental in nature than you might think—both cars were built for the exclusive purpose of being used as show cars. Because they both left the factory with no VINs the construction and subsequent modification were tax write-offs for both Lexus and Fox Marketing.
The downside of this financial benefit is that both cars would inevitably have to be destroyed. Although they've been stripped of as many parts as is allowed by law, these two cars will meet their ends with the high dollar engines still mostly intact under the hood. Even more surprising is how many other show cars built for SEMA and other promotional events meet a similar fate for the exact same reason.
From toast of the show to scrap metal in a few short years, the existence of a show car is certainly a fickle thing.