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Houston repair shop disappears and takes man's Lexus with it

A man in Houston, Texas, is out his sweet new Lexus after the small-time repair shop he took it to just up and disappeared along with his car last month. According to KPRC, Randy Exom purchased a Lexus ES300 back in November and immediately took it to On Site Auto Repair in Northwest Houston to deal with some used car issues. To pay for the work, Exom set up a bi-weekly payment plan with the shop's owner. This arrangement worked out fine until January 19, when Exom showed up to make his payment and discovered that the shop had disappeared. "Everything was going fine up until I came there to make a payment and there was an eviction sign posted, sign on the door, and the regular cars that were in the lot weren't there anymore," Exom told KPRC. Eventually, he was able to reach the shop's owner to get an explanation but it wasn't the one he wanted. "I gave him a call and I said, 'Hey, there's an eviction notice here. Did you move?' He said, 'Yeah, I'm at 59 and Little York now." The fact that the owner didn't give him an exact address raised some alarms, and upon further review it seems that Exom's suspicions were justified. It turns out that the shop's owner, Shawn Gee, has a history of shady automotive dealing. Last fall, KPRC reported cases of cars going missing from a shop at 59 and Little York. That shop, which is now closed, was owned by Gee's brother. On February 10, Exom finally found his car in an impound lot with the rest of the cars from Gee's shop nearly a full month after it went missing. He told KPRC that the impound lot wants $800 to release his car. He told reporters that he wished Gee had called him and worked the situation out like a real businessman. "My thing is my car was in your possession and you should have made some type of contact with me and say, 'Hey this is what's going on, sir,'" he said. KPRC reached Gee by phone on February 10 and he declined to give an on-camera interview. He did confirm the eviction and said that he was working with customers to get their impounded vehicles back. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: KPRC Auto News Weird Car News Lexus houston impound

2021 Lexus LX 570 gets an Inspiration Series run of 500 units

The 2021 Lexus LX 570 will haul its 13-year-old bones into the 2021 model year with the enticements of the Sport Package, along with an Inspiration Series model produced in a run of 500 examples. New features and options for 2021 are Amazon Alexa capability, Nori Green exterior paint, and interior leather colored Glazed Caramel. The Sport Package dials up bodykit add-ons for the front and rear fascias, a sport grille, body-colored side mirrors with chrome accents, and forged 21-inch wheels outside. A black headliner inside broods over semi-aniline leather trim offset with leather in black, Cabernet, or that new Glazed Caramel hue.  The LX Inspiration Series can be had in either Black Onyx or the $425 White Pearl exterior. Outside, it goes heavy on the sinister. A black grille features a black chrome surround, there are black headlamps and taillights with smoked lenses to go with black fog lamps, black trim around the windows and black chrome garnish elsewhere, black roof rails and door handles, and black badges on the back of tailgate. The rolling stock is a set of 21-inch black wheels with black center caps. The limited-edition spent all its fun money on the exterior, the interior left with unique floor and cargo mats, and unique key gloves.  All models come with the Lexus Safety System+ that groups features like Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Panoramic View Monitor, Multi-Terrain Monitor, and Intuitive Parking Assist. The engine bay retains its 5.7-liter V8 throwing 383 horsepower and 403 pound-feet of torque, shifting through an eight-speed automatic and sending power to all four wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential. If an LX 570 ever sees an unpaved road, it will have nothing to fear, equipped standard with its Crawl Control system that comes with Turn Assist and Hill-start Assist Control. On sale as of now, prices on the two-row, five-seat LX 570 and the three-row, seven-seat model have gone up by $100. The two-row starts at $86,580 and gets a $1,025 destination charge, totaling $87,605. The three-row starts at $91,580 and gets a $1,295 destination charge, so it starts at $92,875. Lexus didn't mention pricing for the Sport Package or the Inspiration model, both of which are exclusive to the three-row, and they're not on the Lexus configurator as of writing, so speak to your dealer about those if they speak to you. Related Video:    

Lexus LS spied wearing googly-eyed mask [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Judging by this mule's dash-to-axle ratio, we think it's probably an LS sedan, not an ES as previously identified. The text below has been updated. Wow. Take a good look at those headlights! As you can see from the images in the gallery above, Lexus is hard at work on the next generation of its luxurious LS sedan. The massive appendages affixed to the front of this mule make us wonder what's going on behind those fake headlights – we'd expect some fancy LED units on the production model. Ditto for the rear, where those equally tacked-on taillights will be replaced with a fancier set with upward-sweeping light bars. Getting past the crazy eyeballs, it seems that Lexus will continue refining its current styling language with the next LS. There's sure to be a pinched Spindle grille, and a long wheelbase ought to offer plenty of space for four adult-size occupants. Whereas the IS and larger GS carry the brand's sportier aspirations, going up against the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the LS will continue to be aimed at a more relaxed luxury buyer. Interestingly, our spy shooters were quick to point out that Lexus brought along 5 Series and 7 Series sedans to compare with its next LS. In any case, we wouldn't expect any significant changes to excite the enthusiast crowd. Related Video: