Some wheels never really go away, they just stop being made. WORK VS-KF wheels are the perfect example: the curvy five-spoke went on sale in 2001, was discontinued in 2017, and spent the years since as a second-hand legend. Now WORK has brought it back as a new generation, the VS-KF#, and we got down at floor level around a black Lexus LC 500 wearing a full set.
LC 500, not SC 500
Our own caption called this car an SC500. It isn't. The boot badge reads LC500, and everything else agrees: the spindle grille, the L-shaped daytime lamps, the long fastback roof and the vertical fins behind the rear wheels. This is the Lexus LC coupe, launched in 2017, and the LC 500 is the one with the naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 rather than the hybrid. The SC was a different car altogether: the Lexus badge on the coupe Japan sold as the Toyota Soarer, which has its own legend (see AutoBahn's carbon JZZ30 Soarer time attack car at Tsukuba).
The VS-KF#, up close
The VS-KF# keeps what made the original famous: five long, twisted spokes that sweep out to a deep lip, with the assembly bolts running round the outer edge. It's a three-piece wheel, offered with a stepped lip or a smooth reverse lip, and WORK announced it at Tokyo Auto Salon in January 2025 with production to follow later that year. On this side of the car the centres are a dark smoked finish with a gloss black lip and a gold VS centre cap, and behind the spokes sit big drilled discs.
Two finishes on one car
Walk round to the other side and the wheels change colour. The same LC 500, same plate, wears brushed silver centres with polished lips on the other side. It's a clever way to show two finishes without bringing two cars, and on a black car the contrast is huge. If you're choosing, the silver is the classic VS-KF look, and the smoked one is the mean one.
The rest of the build
The LC sits low over the wheels with almost no gap at the arches, on a front lip and side skirts, with a quad-exit exhaust in a gloss-black diffuser at the back. The caption's verdict was "mobbed out might be the look", and from floor level, it is.
Source: Japanese Nostalgic Car: the Work VS-KF# revives a 5-spoke favorite.
Verdict
Revivals are risky. Change too much and the fans walk away; change nothing and it looks lazy. The VS-KF# looks like the wheel everybody remembers, and on a modern V8 coupe it doesn't look retro at all. If you're in Tokyo and want to see wheels like these on the shelf, A PIT Autobacs Shinonome is where we'd start.
Video: One Breath Pictures.
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