1993 Toyota Century - Jay Leno's Garage

very elegant car to drive got really good road manners yeah we have to go there I guess who's Aviva we're a bit of a hurry okay past one little episode of Jalen's garage today a very rare and unusual car at least here in America this is a 1993 Toyota century this wooden I guess fair to call this the rolls-royce of Japan or maybe the Mercedes 600 of Japan as you see it's a huge car even by American standards it's a good sized automobile it's got a v8 engine and you know we have this law in America for the car as 25 years or older you can now bring it in for example this car would not be 25 years old until June 1st it was brought in near the end of May they had to wait a day or to make it officially you know how the government is but now as I said you can bring these cars to our shores not so much California because of our emission standards but certainly for the other 49 states let me bring in a gentleman who knows a lot more about this and I do chris-marianne he's with original rare they import these cars to the States and he brought us this one come on in hey thanks for bringing this no no thanks for everything I've never seen one of these in person I mean I've heard so much about him it's in these were v12 power but this was not a v12 no this one's a v8 okay it's got a 190 horsepower rating the Japanese government and auto manufacturers had this kind of gentleman's agreement that certain vehicles wouldn't have over serving a horsepower right so this one is rated at 190 okay which is really underrated a lot of their other performance cars top that it like 278 279 276 so they're all within that gentlemen's agreement of horsepower but if you've ever driven some of them they're lightning fast but this was not a high-performance car this is a luxury this is a complete luxury car everything about this car is made for comfort it's built for comfort not for speed so everything down to how the car handles stops everything on the interior of the car so all the amenities on the inside this vehicle has massaging seats right dual zone air conditioning climate control a host of window shading wind wings that are power everything can be controlled from the driver's front seat it's funny things that are standard in luxury cars now but we're very rare and early mind right yeah cuz didn't these also have a v12 at one point a twelves came in in 1997 okay so we've gotta wait a couple years yeah yeah yeah 25 okay those will be coming in that'll be a ton of fun too but everything in the back seat can be controlled you can move the passenger seat up from the back seat you can control pretty much everything in the car I remember reading about these and they seem to be popular of government officials could have private system buy one of these are these only souls so when they were new it was by invite only they built about 200 of them a year so they're extremely rare and they went to like the Emperor high-ranking government officials yeah so the top 200 guys in Japan got him then as they became a used vehicle and sold back into the public market other business associates got their associates you know the cat exactly Stan so this is like you know John Gotti was Japanese in the 90s here's his car right okay very cool all right well I'm trying to figure how big is it this to give people an idea this about as big is an American Cadillac from the 90s would you say I think it might be a little bit bigger oh well I get you some idea what is it weigh any idea right around 4,000 pounds about 4,000 miles so not excessively heavy definitely heavy but it's enough weight so you don't feel anything guys you're going over bumps right right I mean a Dodge Challenger about 4,400 pounds are there so okay how many speed transmission do you know this one's a five-speed it's a five-speed Automatic okay very good no cost right-hand drive four-wheel disc brake wrecked yep all right let's and of course my favorite Japanese thing the mirrors way up front it's right can these those can't be adjusted from you again I mean the car thing can be adjust oh because that's very unusual most Japanese cars had those but you had to get out and then get back in going back and forth yeah just all day well that's very cool yeah and I love those kind of mirrors they really I've got them on my Cosmo and they really give you yeah they give a good provision that's it's good yeah all right let's open the hood no I open it from here well go ahead you know where it is I'll go around the other side and what else was this v8 engine used in I think later on the Lexus but this was primarily for this vehicle okay why takes up every inch of space doesn't it yeah it's it's a fairly large v8 it's four liter it's got twin plug when you have it idling you can't even tell it's on the way inside the car it's so smooth now this being a 93 in Japan it would be very very expensive to own this in Japan because they don't like cars more than eight or nine years old no correct cost more to run an old car correct and then to buy new there's a certain amount of tax you pay on leader inch so this having a four liter was in the higher tax bracket of automobiles all right okay it almost looks like a v12 jag with all these vacuum hose you've ever wrote one of those v12 judges in the early 80s oh my god this hoses and wires it's like a nightmare yeah this one's fairly simple it's a lot of Toyota technology so you know if you're familiar with Toyotas isn't 2 to 4 and you know like the the airbox and the mass airflow sensor is something that you'd see on Galileo does also enormous battery especially for a Japanese car right well you have all the accessories on the interior right right so a lot of power seats a lot of power motors I'm surprised it's not in the back I mean so much weight in front of the front wheel seems odd but I guess it's a they weren't too concerned with weight distribution of remotes on this one it has a electronic shock which is gonna need for 1993 oh ok so it's got a lot of modern features that you wouldn't think that they had in 1993 yeah yeah did they ever sell these in Europe or just just in Japan just home market only huh I don't imagine any went to China or Korea I'm pretty sure they did yeah how do you think they did I'm pretty sure they did yeah it's a really luxurious vehicle and having cloth seats that part of Asia is very humid right other seats wouldn't wouldn't fare too well in the summertime yeah okay and what size wheels are though it's a 15 inch 15 okay now I've seen this stick or another Japanese what does this mean that's a registration sticker okay interesting thing about this body it came out in 1967 so it was 67 to 97 so at a 30-year span on Wildey style I mean it looks fairly contemporary yeah it's a classic contemporary designs yeah yeah and the other cool feature about it was is that in 1867 the founder of Toyota was born and this commemorated his hundredth year right of the the business and everything that's why it's called the century also oh okay now this screen that's obviously later that's later yeah it's a navigation system that I got I was put in somewhere in the early 2000s era and no sunroof I'm surprised no did they not is that not a big feature in Japan I don't think it's a big feature for some of the Japanese cars okay let's go to the back of the vehicle before we go inside the car sure let's go back here good-size trunk yeah big enough trunk to put somebody in now was this one owned by a government official or some of these were owned by government officials as they became kind of secondhand market cars and into the hands of more people a lot of the yakuza that japanese gangsters businessmen owned them so there's some interesting things you find inside the car sometimes what did you find you're cleaning you're detailing and then there is this little patch of I guess someone hit their head while they were working on the Oh some blood in the back and blood in the trunk yes you hit your head trying to get out there and I were you know you're loading groceries in this is really sharp so maybe eating that Blowfish you know that has yeah took a wrong bite you never know tough break what do you guys things happen so all right yeah yeah okay I'm surprised it's not elect you know it's not a button closed joint yeah 1993 that wasn't one thing that they thought of but when you do close it does have a soft close feature it does pull it shut oh it's it so if I just work down lower down sitting here the lock latch it'll all right it's very zen-like very zen-like yeah okay now now what are these here so these are curtains these are antennas I mean oh the antennas yeah those were for the TV and the navigation oh okay and that's like old-style TV yes yeah yeah okay so you had two of them yep did these come out or is that oh I see yeah they came out so noisy on yeah how many rabbit ears you wanted yeah okay and the curtains are electric the curtains are electric also but they're lace curtains you can see right through it's part of the elegance of the vehicle right okay so there's a little bit of vanity when it came to it all but they try to keep it as luxurious for that period and this is strictly a four-door there wasn't though to dogless there's only a four-door version okay okay all right let's move into the inside of the car let's you open that door open this door I liked it it's velour rather than leather they don't like leather so much no the turtle is actually a loom factory back before they made automobiles okay this is the window switch right so the window switch without the that's the wind wing the next one over is the window switch so the other button over there controls a little wind wing okay let's say there you go oh yeah you get some fresh air in fresh air it's amazing how wide this car is it's really yeah cuz a lot of cars are really narrow a lot of the roads are narrow right right and you have overhead controls here what right so this one moves a seat forwards and back about moves the front seat moves his front seat this one tilts it yeah then these do the curtains in the back okay so you can open and close those that's funny and then it has a little vanity vanity mirror or if you're getting followed yeah you can you can definitely check and this is the coolest thing people about this so if you pull on it oh I see that opens up yep and this is so you can sleep you put your feet through here and then you can recline this do yep Wow perfect for a long trip yeah that's hilarious okay oh that's really funny I love that ya know that's one of the cool features about the car it's got these little weird quirks and then once we pull this down yeah stuff happens no wonder thought this is tape recorder it's a tape recorder so you can play music or you can have a recording of your meeting so well that's something we can you know have a meeting about it and record everything and okay play it back so if you didn't do something or something well Chrysler had a thing called the mobile director and my 67 Imperial you did front seat would turn around a table would come up and the secretary could take dictation as you're going down the road alone so this is sort of like this is a condensed version right and I see it's a little cassette recording here what is this this is a headphone jack oh I see to plug in your the microphone okay you got everything yeah there's everything back here this can control some of the climate control fan speed temperature stuff like this the radio and everything in here yeah radios in here also so because I know in China the prestigious thing is to sit in the back of the car not the front of the same thing same thing with this car that's why all the controls are back here yeah and then also there's some controls in here too oh I see you can move the seat forward and back recline it raise it up and down also oh if you really wanted to take a take a nap you can totally do that I love this guy oh this thing is fabulous this is a car to be driven in in Japan yeah I mean these are features that the top-of-the-line mercedes benz and roll's is have now yeah oh that's that's very cool a little bit of wood in here too a little bit of elegance with it with leather available in available I believe it was but they found it to be too noisy Oh in this car is about complete silence as you're driving and the material absorbs a lot of that noise right the velour I know you can see a lot yeah we're gonna have our meeting no more sake please okay and dual air conditioner so you have the one back here also the rails cold air and so there's a constant circulation of air so there's a lot of neat little features inside of the car there very cool little tweeter it's got the heated seats back here also oh he didn't see that and cool seats as well just heated okay let's put this up it's just amazing how much room is in here right I mean this is really a six passenger car quite comfortable yep yeah cool can I take this thing for a drive let's do it let's do I mean the cool thing is to sit in the back but we Americans we'd like to sit in the front let's give it a shot with the exception of the sheet metal pieces fenders and doors whatever I imagine both of these total parts originally majority of the maintenance and replacement parts are body panels and weird interior trim pieces are all specific to the vehicles right primarily a you get this thing you can go to order it online order a part it'll be there in 24 hours right I mean Toyota so you get your car have you driven the v12 model no I have not I think you see what kind of power that I know that the guys ever top-secret which is like a Japanese tuning house he said a basically like an outlaw top speed record with one so he took the v12 and put into a Supra right England and got arrested oh speaking of the speeding yeah there's a gold Supra with the century v12 I know that's fun it's interesting it's more like a Mercedes 600 than it was like exactly those roles rice is really known for you know all the innovative little features good quality build you know where's Mercedes the 600 this is closer to a 600 right yeah and this is what about $200,000 in 93 something right around there yeah it was really expensive and more yeah they've remained around that same price point even for the newer ones today Oh vanity there no it has some weird Japanese radar detector that starts talking to you and making weird beeps would this be the most expensive car sold in Japan I mean you know yeah in in 1993 this is probably the most advanced of car cuz they debuted this in 1967 along with the 2000 GT that was a launch into that halo upscale market in Japan and they had the v8 and 67 or have a sick it had a 3 liter video ok there's a different different behaviors sorry America eat right right that kind of large sedan probably the most American Japanese car yeah and feel yeah yeah it just has that Cadillac bode that nice flow to it yeah not bad and the cool thing is now that the 25-year rule and all these Japanese cars is coming up you're getting a lot more stuff coming in right a huge variety of everything because car culture in Japan is so niche you know that now that you can bring in these diesel vans that are off-road bands and sports cars and big luxury cars and kind of all this stuff that you only read about now yeah we brought in into own one of these in Japan do you need a big place to park yeah you have to have a big place to keep it yeah these cars in Japan still hold a certain level status right so if you park it somewhere outside the guys aren't gonna be like well who's this guy with a little car oh there's a guy with the big car you don't want to mess with it you know so which is kind of cool I just like all the little features with the oscillating air and all the little neat things in the back see yeah yeah the privacy shades track camps it's very hand crochet looking I know and they're really not private cuz you know yeah it's just a an illusion of privacy well this is probably bigger than most Japanese apartments um yeah I'm not saying to be insulting but I mean they aren't small yeah everything there's no level of space in here you don't get in your home you know that's why this car is probably for the upper upper class citizens and Hankook tires are on this one of those is that Korean that's a Korean 50 great so those were not put on in Japan no no we had to put your tires on over here just to make sure it's Road safe and right it's got really low mileage for a death of 1993 car we went through just double-check everything make sure the brake suspension everything is of good driving quality we have to go there I guess lose a video we're a bit of a hurry let me pass this camera yeah cuz when we purchase a car in Japan they have specific license plates you go alright and this one had a dot dot dot dot and just two numbers and usually that is a number plate now why would you want to have like a Mafia number playing oh look there's a mark I mean you think you'd want to be more discreet I discrete you know yeah actually over there is a license organization so I I don't [Music] kind of got some Cadillac features that I read get aligned with the the markers at the front corner yeah it's very Cadillac like yeah it's funny he hit a hundred on the spirometer and imagine a digital dashboard was a big deal yeah there's our dashboard digital tach you know the fuel gauge temperature gauge get used to sitting on this side pretty easily ya know people freak I could never do that oh darn me crazy you can use to get acclimated pretty you make parking a little easy but you can see right here just the drive through is the hard part you have to drive through drop the room yeah yeah how many cars a month do you bring in from Japan it varies depending on what what we have people looking for what does know what places are to here then you go over there you find it yeah we just find anything just find interesting cars if there's interesting stuff we'll bring it over like this was something fun right I just bring this over it's a fun car and how often do you come across something like this a couple times a year you know we'll find stuff and you know to us it's it's about what what fun stuff can we have fun with you know sometimes you might not sell it right away and it might be something fun to have and enjoy and then if somebody else wants to continue the ownership you and it's more high-performance cars oh yeah yeah yeah everyone's after that Japanese performance and those faster furious movies big yeah yeah that movie franchises really elevated what you know tuning cars are right the whole Japanese market you know the whole JDM thing all right so so if the boss made in the back once it's cold right right keep it cold it'd be interesting to know if this car could talk the stories it would they would tell yes you get these things and you never know yet sometimes you find newspapers and little things in there sometimes you find like old Japanese candy most tell me just find change yes thank you you know I've always wanted to drive one of these I've heard about them and I read about them and but it's for someone I've actually just and you know it's impressive it is the more I Drive the more Cadillac II it is right it is it seems like the most as I said before there was American Japanese car ever but just all the little weird features and the odd things it does you're sitting on the right and for the price it's pretty good you know like I said to somebody the Graduate things go for everyone loves thank you my friend thanks right [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 746,158

Rating: 4.9012609 out of 5

Keywords: Toyota, Century, Yakuza, Original Rare, JDM, japanese cars, V8, 90s car, Skyline, blood in the trunk, elegance, Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, cnbc, episode, motorcycle, ford, corvette, tour, dodge, lexus

Id: F3y-saGwytM

Length: 21min 55sec (1315 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 30 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/niccinco]

It's fucking crazy to think that the first generation of this car (the one in the video) lasted over 30 years. Sure, they changed the engine 3 times, but they were still all from the same engine series.

I'm kinda sad that they ditched the V12 in favour of the UR hybrid for the new generation.

I'd still really like to be chauffeured in one of these cars, they're baller as hell.

[u/PNWVizsla]

Massaging seats in 1993, that’s crazy.

[u/SLEEPER455]

10:54 MARK

Jay Leno: Let me put my busted ass work boots onto the seats of your rare and extremely nice Toyota...

[u/APARSH_]

Jay Leno is a lucky lucky collector!

[u/akatsukix]

If I could get a new one in the US. I'd do it. Just to have something ridiculously unique.

[u/teslafanatic3]

Century! Century! Century! All hail the Century!

[u/Auknix]

The regular car review of this car is pretty good. They review a 2006 model.

[u/teslafanatic3]

Anyone know if these are available in CA even with the strict emissions law? Very interested in getting one.

[u/cyclops274]

I need to buy one of them so I can be a Yakuza member.