Old and Beautiful

At the car service center yesterday were two immaculate cars in the showroom: the first, a sporty model with a big red ribbon on top (some people give cars as Christmas presents) and the second, a sedan with a 20th-century design sensibility. Was Lexus making a retro edition?

No, the car was really from the 20th century, 1990, to be exact. The owner had driven his LS400 over 500,000 miles before bequeathing it to his son.

Lexus had decided wisely, IMHO, that showcasing a still-on-the-road example of its first model was good advertising. Both the interior and exterior were in better shape than my two-year-old crossover. The original sticker, with a $40,000 price tag, was taped to the left rear window.

It wasn't retro, just old and beautiful.