Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 2001 Lexus RX 300
The 1991 Ford Explorer and 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee won the American motoring revolution started by the Jeep XJ Cherokee in 1984; henceforth, trucks and truck-inspired vehicles would rule the showrooms. By the second half of the 1990s, manufacturers were in a frenzied race to develop unibody SUVs that looked like trucks while driving like cars. Toyota won a crucial early victory in that race by creating the Lexus RX, which first appeared as a 1998 model and thus stands as the first true luxury crossover SUV. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those first-generation RX 300s, found in astonishingly good condition in a Denver-area self-service boneyard recently.
Based on the Lexus ES chassis and known as the Toyota Harrier in its homeland, the RX 300 quickly became the best-selling Lexus in the United States. By 2002, the Lexus RX 300 was the best-selling luxury SUV here, period, while its ES 300 cousin was America's best-selling luxury car. The bigger second-generation RX first appeared here as the 2004 RX 330.
Meanwhile, rivals were scrambling to catch up. BMW debuted the X5 as a 2000 model, while Honda couldn't get the MDX into Acura showrooms until the 2001 model year (after a humiliating period of selling Isuzu Troopers with Acura SLX badges). It was a good time to be a Lexus salesman.
Speaking of Lexus salesmen, this RX was so clean when it got here that the original Monroney sticker was still in the glovebox (and will show up in the @monroneyproject online museum, where many of my junkyard-found Monroneys live, in the near future). We can see that it's a heavily-optioned all-wheel-drive model, complete with HID headlights, wood-trimmed steering wheel and the swanky Premium Plus Value Package, and that it cost $40,321 ($70,393 in 2023 dollars) at Flow Lexus in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Naturally, the official Lexus Inspection Certificate was there as well.
The interior is nearly perfect. You'd be hard-pressed to find a 5-year-old RX 350 with a driver's seat this nice. The body shows a few scrapes and dings, but they look like the sort of thing that happens to vehicles when they're moved around a car graveyard's facilities via forklift.
Did anyone ever sit here?
