The 1994 Lexus LS400 built by Vehicle Effects for The General’s Street Fighter sweepstakes. Photo: The General Insurance / PR Newswire
The car you spent the Street Fighter II bonus stage kicking to pieces is now a sweepstakes prize, and its official rules value it at $69,716.25. It is a 1994 Lexus LS400 with approximately 83,797 miles, a 4.0-liter V8, an automatic transmission and rear-wheel drive, according to the official rules posted by Fooji, the Lexington, Kentucky, company running the promotion for The General Insurance.
The General’s own press release, issued Oct. 4 from Nashville, never says “Lexus.” It calls the car the “Street Fighter II Bonus Stage Car,” credits the build to Hollywood car builder Dennis McCarthy and Vehicle Effects, and says it was unveiled at ComplexCon in Los Angeles. Capcom appears once, in the copyright notice. The make, model, year and odometer reading show up only in the legal rules.
What Vehicle Effects built
McCarthy’s shop is best known for its Fast & Furious work. This job was mostly surface. The rules list a removable vinyl wrap, 3D-printed trim, custom upholstery, “arcade-inspired controls,” modified factory wheels and new tires, and state that the engine, transmission, chassis, suspension, structure, seat belts and airbags are factory.
In The General’s photos, the wrap is lavender, shaded in hard-edged blocks so the body looks like a game sprite. The headlights and grille badge are rendered as pixel art. The tan leather front seats carry “You” on one headrest and “Win” on the other, in the same blocky type.
The press release adds two features the rules do not mention: a coin-slot change holder that doubles as a seat warmer, and upgraded speakers. The rules say the prize vehicle may differ from what appears in promotional materials and that the rules win any conflict, so the coin-operated seat heater is a press-release feature, not a promise.
A $13,000 sedan, valued at $69,716
First-generation LS400s are cheap for what they are. For one comparable, Hagerty’s past-sales database lists a 1994 LS400 showing 54,000 miles that sold for $13,125, about 30,000 fewer miles than this car. The other $56,000 or so of the stated value is the wrap, the interior, Vehicle Effects’ labor and the Street Fighter name. The rules give the total but no breakdown.
The winner also gets $25,400.69 by ACH deposit, which brings the approximate retail value of the whole prize to $95,116.94. The entry page calls the cash “gas money.” The rules say it “may assist with costs associated with acceptance, ownership, and use of the vehicle,” naming taxes, title and registration, but don’t require it to be spent on anything.
Taxes are the winner’s responsibility, and the rules put the prize at $95,116.94, not at what the LS400 would bring at auction. The winner must return a W-9 and will receive a 1099-MISC; refusing to provide a Social Security or tax ID number forfeits the prize. If the whole prize landed in the 24 percent federal bracket, the federal tax alone would be about $22,800, leaving roughly $2,600 of the cash for state tax, registration and insurance. It’s the same exposure that came with the Dream Giveaway’s Porsche 911 Turbo S, except that a winner who sells the Lexus to cover the bill would be selling a car the market prices far below its taxable value.
Insurance, delivery and your data
The General, a Sentry Insurance subsidiary, sells car insurance to drivers who may not qualify with traditional insurers. Its own sweepstakes rules say “the winner may not obtain insurance coverage for the Prize vehicle through The General,” and require proof of insurance from somewhere else before delivery is scheduled. The car is awarded “as-is, where-is,” with no warranty beyond what comes with the prize.
Delivery comes two to four weeks after the paperwork is signed, to a location in the 48 contiguous states or Washington, D.C. Entry is limited to licensed drivers who are legal U.S. residents and at least 18, and the sweepstakes is void in Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Washington, Puerto Rico and U.S. territories. That list includes Fooji’s home state.
Entrants give their name, physical address, email address and phone number, one entry per person. The rules also state: “Sponsor will sell personal information submitted with Entry Form.” The release’s own “click here to enter” link points to an address ending in “campaign-over,” but the Fooji entry page was taking entries when we checked on Oct. 21.
The movie tie-in
The car promotes Legendary and Paramount’s Street Fighter film, scheduled for an Oct. 16 release, and The General’s ad campaign, which stars WWE’s Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma, the role he plays in the movie. Legend Pictures, Paramount and Capcom are all listed as “Promotion Entities” in the rules, which don’t describe what any of them contributed.
“If this car can get a second chance, we think people deserve one too,” said Chauncey Citchens, The General’s director of marketing. McCarthy said that after all the hits the car has taken, it “had more than earned a break.”
Entries close at 11:59 p.m. Central on Nov. 18. Fooji will draw one potential winner at random on or about Nov. 19, and that person gets 48 hours to answer the email and five days to return the affidavit, release, W-9 and ACH form, or the car goes to a single alternate.
Would you hand over your address and phone number, knowing the rules say they will be sold, for a shot at a pixel-wrapped LS400 and a tax bill on $95,117?
Sources: The General Insurance press release via PR Newswire (Oct. 4, 2026); The General x Street Fighter sweepstakes official rules and entry page (Fooji, Inc.); Hagerty past-sales record for a 1994 Lexus LS400.
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