Lexus SC430: The Last Of Its Kind

by Edward Niedermeyer

Updated: August 23rd, 2023 Published: March 3rd, 2011

The Lexus SC430 is not a car that leaps to the minds of automotive enthusiasts as being particularly significant, but it seems it has one last claim to fame. The NYT reports that with the passing of the last model-year for the SC, the 2010, tape decks are no longer available on any US-market car. What, you didn’t realize that any new cars still had tape decks? Remember, the SC first came out in 2001, so it’s been around quite a while. Also, Sony only just stopped making the cassette Walkman last year. So, if you can’t bear to part with your tape collection, you have to buy used. And now, rather than just being an overfed boulevardier that outstayed its welcome, the Lexus SC430 is now a historical bookend to the era of magnetic tape in cars. Time to convert your Milli Vanilli to MP3…

#Gizmology #Newcars

Edward Niedermeyer

More by Edward Niedermeyer

Comments

Join the conversation

6 of 34 comments

TR4 on Mar 03, 2011

Record players, 4-tracks, 8-tracks, and now cassettes have come and gone, but good old AM radio is still available!

Like Reply
- MBella on Mar 03, 2011
  
  And with HD Radio actual sounds half decent.
  
  Like
Pauldun170 on Mar 03, 2011

I was just about to convert my entire cassette collection until I downloaded it all from the internet. Off to the trash bin the cassettes went.

Like Reply
Domestic Hearse on Mar 03, 2011

Ten years from now, we'll have the same conversation about those slitty little CD player openings in the sound system. In fact, I'm betting that the CD will be, for a baby born today, what the LP record is/was for my kid... What the heck is that thing!?

Like Reply
- Signal11 on Mar 03, 2011
  
  Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that the audio cassette is gone and has a relatively short life span. No in that the LP was, is and will be around for a long time, as will the CD to a lesser extent. Vinyl is still popular among the music and audio geeks. Vinyl of new albums are available at music stores, at concerts and the vinyl sections of a lot of used books and music stores are huge. Heck, I can name four or five huge vinyl only music stores in each of the 2-3 cities where I stay when I'm stateside. Every concert I've been to in the past ten years, there's usually a run of overpriced vinyl pressings to be had, even for the smaller band. On the other hand, it's been almost ten years since anything major's been released to audio cassette. And remember, CDs only followed cassettes by ten years. That said, physical digital media for the general public's soon to go the way of the dodo bird.
  
  Like
Nick on Mar 03, 2011

Pfffft, best sound quality ever? Those old 45s....especially if they are vintage rockabilly or blues.

Like Reply