New VIP – Alfred’s M35X 

After almost 2 years of having parts sitting in my basement, Alfred finally got around to getting them put onto his car. He had all the air components (accuair, UAS) and his wheels – he lives in Edmonton and wanted Jackie to do his install so it wasn’t easy to just make a casual drive around town to get it done.

Alfred dropped it off on a Saturday, and Jackie was able to squeeze it in and finish it by Thursday night. It’s not an easy process and it definitely takes patience and care. Coilovers take an hour or two, tops for comparison…

Anyway – I wanted to check it out and see how it all went so when Alfred came into Calgary, I picked him up and we went over right away.

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On the lift getting the final touches done…

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Jackie puttin the wheel on… The suspense
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We weren’t sure how it was going to look when we put it down, but it looked like it was going to be close.

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The rears. God these wheels are so underrated.

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The details in the center cap is amazing

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Random

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Even more random was Trung’s S2000 sitting outside the shop lol. Always looks good

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It was PERFECT when it went down. Literally – no modification to fenders or camber. It all fit like a glove.

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Later on, Alfred stopped by my place before he headed home so I could snap some proper pics… Beautiful

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Love the M body. If I could do it again, I’d probably use this chassis.

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Some fitment pics. So much tuck.

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Super close. It just fits right under.

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Dat rear

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Excellent job! Can’t wait to see what else Alfred has in store for this… Quality over everything.

Sponsord by Duracell: Punit’s VIP Lexus GS450h

Finally got around to shooting Punit’s GS450h since he’s finished with it (for now). I mentioned once before that I always find it funny how I hang out with these guys quite often but they’re the only ones that don’t have proper shoots. It’s always behind the scenes or just a half assed shot cause we were chillin’ somewhere. No one ever really asks for a shoot and I never really think about it because I’m busy trying to get another photoshoot done.

One of the reasons I bring this up is because I think about the last time I shot Punit’s Integra and that was back in May of 2009. I just started shooting, didn’t know much about dSLR’s, had my Canon XT with one lens and just pointed and shot things. Here’s one of the shots from when I just met Punit and saw his car… At the time, this car was a big deal locally. Real wheels (the meisters that are now purple and on Diana’s Fit), mint paint, low for 2009 standards and OEM plus. Hell, even by today’s standards his Integra would be considered clean. No where near aggressive but just comfortable enough for a daily driver during those nice summer days. Lots of things have changed since 2009 and I’ve had shots of it here and there but not a proper shoot. My hope is that Punit gets it all good to go this year and we can get a proper shoot going for him.

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Noob status.

But I digress. Let’s move onto bigger and better things – Punit’s GS450h. Punit picked up the GS450h shortly after I picked up the LS460L and JC picked up his CT200h – the VIP bug was biting hard and we all wanted to do something different. For me, it came and went quickly – as you can tell, but my story can be saved for another day. However for Punit, he had the luxury and privilege to own a race car and a luxury daily driver. He takes care of his cars and it shows. Punit was quick to get on board and quickly bought a set of AME Shallen LX’s in a perfect fit for the GS body and of course with big wheels means getting the car as low to the ground as possible.

Punit started off with just coils and going as low as he could and drove that way for the first season of ownership. Finally over the winter he worked on getting the car on air suspension – the way a VIP car should be set up. There’s nothing more to say about Punit’s GS – it’s clean, functional, and it breaks necks. The GS is a popular platform and with that, you have a fine line between a half assed car with replica wheels and looks to be built by a former Honda owner OR a proper VIP-inspired car with attention to detail and care which also looks to be built by a former Honda owner. The latter here applies to Punit – I’m also glad to have played a small part in his build and decisions as he’s gone through it to what you see today.

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One of my favourite shots of Punit’s GS. The fitment is fire and everything just flows so well.

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Lets start off with a few rolling shots…

JC – clean your damn mirrors.

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Clean.

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Blue skies, green grass, Lexus. What more could you ask for?

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Of course – snapped a shot of JC’s car off to the side.

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A better shot of the fitment. Tight and tucked.

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Anything you can spot here…?

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The Mode Luxe side decal looking good. Originally I had created the image and placed it on Punit’s car as a test.

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Rear quarter shot. The GS looks good from every angle.

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What would a VIP car be without chrome?

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A better shot of Punit’s fitment. All that dish in the back too. I love it.

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Remember how I said it looks to be built by a Honda owner? Punit just couldn’t resist hanging Asimo with the Junction Produce items… LOL

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Rolling to a new location…

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Right by the lake. Seemed fitting.

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Punit’s tank set up. I personally love love love the look of this. Looks so good in his trunk. Super simple and clean.

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Chillin’. I need to get them to hold equipment or something…

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Let’s finish off with the rest of the rollers. Looks HDR-ish, but I swear I didn’t touch anything… Polarizer works wonders.

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One last one. Blurry – but I liked the concept lol.

Another one in the bag! Hopefully that Integra wakes up soon…

(Tiny) FR-S Update…

I’m back from Vegas! It’s a bittersweet moment – that’s what Vegas does to you. It makes you feel like you want to go home and stay forever at the same time. Vegas as a whole takes a toll on you in every way possible – physically and financially lol… But I digress…

I’ll post some pics up a little later – it’ll just take me some time to get them onto the computer…

In the meantime – I took some better, less rushed shots of the FR-S today. Mainly because JC hooked me up with a pair of legit Philips LED license plate lights as a gift for the new car! I know – nothing crazy, but for someone who cares a lot about the little details – good LED’s are a mod worth bragging about. None of the eBay shit that has a blue hue to it.

Anyway – I’ve only really driven the car for maybe two days… Less than 400km on it and this may be a little premature but I’m going to go ahead and say it anyway… The FR-S is one of the best cars I’ve ever purchased. I have absolutely no regret letting the LS460 go and I am enjoying every damn second in the FR-S. It’s certainly not the fastest car I’ve had but with how light the car is, 200hp stock is way more than enough to whip around and take corners – something I could not do in the LS460. One thing is for sure – I cannot wait until I can start modding this thing seriously…

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Shot from the front corner of the car. I absolutely love the lines of the FR-S. Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan at first but this has now become one of my favourite cars.

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Getting rid of the Scion badges for JDM Toyota badges soon.

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Love these but will probably be replaced with the JDM ones as well down the road.

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A shot of the Philips LED bulbs. It’s difficult to get a good shot of how white the LED’s are because of the white balance. They look sharp as f*** though. Thanks again JC!

Like most people that mod cars – it starts off with lights… little interior pieces… then next thing you know – BAM, you have a damn body kit ordered with wheels, suspension and an empty wallet. Brutal.

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The tails I’ll also be getting rid of…

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The headlights that I’ll also be getting rid of… LOL!

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Had to personalize it a little bit and what better way to do it than to add the Mode Luxe sticker on! Kind of silly cause it’s still a stock FR-S… But hopefully that changes soon enough…

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Also updated Diana’s Mode Luxe sticker – she’s been rocking the old one since the beginning.

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Just a quick shot of both of them sitting in the garage. Dat ass.

I’m Still Here!!!

I’m not dead yet! I think this is the longest I’ve gone without having any sort of meaningful post. I apologize for the lack of any updates since Tony’s shoot… The weather has been pretty shitty every weekend. Whenever it’s nice out, I am way too busy and when I have nothing to do, it’s raining or snowing.

I think this is also the longest I’ve ever gone without washing my car in the history of me ever driving a car lol. It makes no sense for me to wash it because of all the construction going on – I don’t even have a clean driveway to get into the garage yet…

Anyways – thought I’d grab the camera and stretch its legs real quick and let you see just how dirty my car is. I’m almost too busy to even care to be honest… But hopefully the I got some upcoming shoots soon… Just waiting on that nice weather. Any day now…

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Matte everything.

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Months of no washing…

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Caked on dirt. I really want to just give it to someone to give it the TLC it deserves because I can’t!

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Breaks my heart…

Don’t lose faith in me yet! The blog will come alive when the weather starts to warm up!