Once a popular way to take your last ride in Japan, Miyagata-style hearses, designed to resemble ornate Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, have become a niche yet sought-after collector vehicle in the United States.

Most recently, a 1996 Toyota Century example of the vehicle type showed up on Cars & Bids, the online auction marketplace to buy and sell modern enthusiast cars created by popular automotive YouTuber Doug DeMuro.

The right-hand-drive, V8-powered Hearse, finished in Black Onyx with a grey interior features an exquisitely detailed gold exterior with a countless number of dragons and other celestial creatures on it. As DeMuro puts it “The interior is just as beautifully detailed as the exterior.”

Getting into the details, as he does, DeMuro added that “Under the hearse lies the final evolution of the original Toyota Century, which was positioned as Toyota’s most luxurious model for decades. It boasts some really cool [and really quirky] features, like power-pivoting quarter windows and power-swiveling air vents.”

At the time of writing, the Miyagata-style Toyota Century, which boasts only 33,100 miles, has four days left at auction, with a highest bid of nearly $8,000 USD.

In other automotive news, a “brand new” 21-year-old G-Wagon hits the auction block.
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