A 1997 Toyota Century with a 5.0-liter V-12 under its hood is currently crossing the block on Bring a Trailer, and if you don’t know why that matters, you haven’t been paying attention to the JDM market. This is the only V-12 production car Japan ever built. Not Lexus, not Nissan — Toyota, and they saved it for a car most Americans have never heard of.
The Century was never meant for export. It was built to shuttle Japanese emperors, corporate titans, and yes, yakuza bosses through Tokyo traffic in absolute silence. HBO’s Tokyo Vice nailed the cultural coding: the tradition-minded crime boss rides in a Century, while the flashier rival gets a Mercedes. The Century whispers. It doesn’t shout.
This particular example is a second-generation car, the only generation to receive the 1GZ-FE V-12. The engine made 276 horsepower, the ceiling imposed by Japan’s infamous gentleman’s agreement among automakers. Unlike a Skyline GT-R, which routinely blew past that number on a dyno, the Century’s V-12 actually stuck to it.
Power wasn’t the point. Torque was. More than 80 percent of its 355 pound-feet arrives at a lazy 1200 rpm, making the car feel less like a sports sedan and more like a river current.
The transmission is a four-speed automatic, which tells you everything about the car’s priorities. This was never about lap times or highway pulls. It was about isolating its rear-seat occupant from the world outside the lace curtains — and yes, this one has the lace curtains.
It also has wool upholstery, not leather, because in a sweltering Tokyo summer, wool breathes and doesn’t squeak. The air suspension is electronically controlled, the rear doors are soft-close, and the back bench is heated with massage. The only accessory missing is a driver in white gloves.
What makes this listing notable beyond the car itself is the legwork already done. The current owner spent roughly $13,000 getting the Century properly certified and titled in California. That’s a significant chunk of hassle and money that the next buyer doesn’t have to touch.
The 25-year import rule cleared this generation years ago, but navigating California’s emissions bureaucracy with a gray-market Japanese sedan is its own special kind of purgatory. Someone already walked through it.
The current-generation Century, launched in 2023, runs a hybrid V-8. When Emperor Naruhito took the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019, Toyota built him a bespoke convertible version. But even the emperor doesn’t get a V-12 anymore. That engine died with the second generation, which makes every surviving example a little more interesting with each passing year.
The JDM import market has been white-hot for half a decade, driven by Skylines, Supras, and Silvias. The Century is the opposite end of the spectrum — no turbo, no manual swap potential, no drift cred. It appeals to a buyer who understands that the most powerful statement in Japanese car culture was always restraint. Twelve cylinders, wool seats, and curtains drawn against the world.
The auction closes May 7. Bidding will tell us whether the American market has finally developed a taste for Japan’s most quietly radical sedan, or whether the Century remains an acquired taste — undervalued, underloved, and utterly unbothered by either.
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