There’s Another Toyota Century Up For Auction In The UK

We are truly powerless to resist the charms of the Toyota Century, which is why we get a bit over-excited every time one comes up for sale in Britain. We feel it’s our duty, then, to point you in the direction of this one, which has just popped up on our favourite workday procrastination platform, Collecting Cars.

So, a quick refresher, in case you’re still not familiar with the Century’s magnificence. First launched in 1967, it’s Toyota’s flagship Japanese-market luxury car, the go-to choice for the nation’s discerning politicians and high-flying businesspeople. Also, Bill Murray at the end of Lost in Translation.

It’s the second-generation car, produced between 1997 and 2017, that tends to make its way to Britain. That’s important, because it has Japan’s only domestically-built V12, a 5.0-litre naturally aspirated unit that delivers its 276bhp more smoothly than a cashmere sweater smeared with butter.

This 2008 example was only imported to the UK in February of this year, so much of its 128,202km (79,661 miles) were likely accrued gliding around Japan’s exquisitely smooth, salt-free road network.

All the usual Century goodies are present and correct. Heated, cooled and massaging wool seats with grandparent-spec lace antimacassars? Check. A fold-down centre in the front passenger seat that turns it into a footrest for the rear passenger? Check. A TV screen for the rear passengers? Check. An ostrich-feather duster for keeping all the interior’s nooks and crannies spotless? Check, check and indeed check.

There’s also a full folder of service history (not that it’ll tell you much if you don’t speak Japanese), and the car’s first UK MOT test resulted in a clean pass with zero advisories.

As we write this, the auction’s only just opened, and with six days to go, bidding’s only up to £500. The last Century sold on Collecting Cars, in February of this year, ended up going for £12,350, but that was a higher-mileage car with a slightly shabbier body and a couple of reported mechanical glitches.

This one seems tidier on the surface, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it fetch a little bit more. Either way, this is something the vendor can truthfully describe as the sale of the Century. Yeah, we did that joke last time, didn’t we?