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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

Lexus' LFA Works now making carbon fiber bicycles... kind of

The LFA Works that produced the Lexus LFA hasn't had too much to do since the 500th example of the V10 supercar left the plant on December 15, 2012. So what are a bunch of carbon fiber experts meant to do with their time when they have some of the world's most advanced CFRP machinery but no engine to wrap it with? Why, make a bicycle, of course - and not just any bicycle, but the kind that costs one million Japanese yen ($10,000 US) and of which only 100 will be made.
Only they didn't really "make" it - the carbon fiber frame was sourced from Takumi, in Taiwan. On the face of it that's a shame, but it makes sense; when you've got a company like McLaren assisting bike manufacturer Specialized produce a road bike, it's clear that 'pushies' have got so advanced that a company can't just hop in and mold a $10K bike in six months. Beyond that frame it's got a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group with electronic shifters, and it weighs 15 pounds.
However, the Lexus crafstmen did polish each frame for three hours, and the bike is said to embody the "principles and philosophy" of the supercar, while the brochure for the bike says it represents "a new chapter in Lexus history." That chapter is still all about rarity, though, since there's only one bike headed for Canada and two for the US.

Lexus coupe caught in spy shots actually RC, headed for Tokyo reveal?

Lexus may have pulled a fast one on us. The car our spy shooters spotted yesterday may not, in fact, be an IS F Coupe as we indicated. Rather, the car shown above may be a new model, dubbed RC, that will arrive at this year's Tokyo Motor Show.
Following a report from Automotive News, the RC is believed to be a pure coupe, rather than a hardtop convertible. This gels with information provided on the IS sedan's launch, when Lexus spokespeople said the IS Convertible would remain on the current platform. With styling based on the LF-CC from the 2012 Paris show, the new car will share a rear-drive platform with the IS and GS sedans.
Power is expected to come from a 3.5-liter V6 that turns out 306 horsepower. That car will likely wear the RC 350 badge. A hybrid model is expected to follow, but in a twist, it won't be coming to the US. The big news, though, is that the RC will spawn an RC F.