The ability to think independently and creatively. Who is to say you can’t build an “original” car without going over the top? With the power of internet and dozens of forums out there, the word “original” just isn’t what it used to be. Don’t get us wrong, we have respect for anyone who pushes the envelope whether it’s camber, offsets, ride height or whatever the case might be, but at times it just seems that many car enthusiasts get carried away from creating a car they truly want to creating something that “internet” or “society” will accept and praise. We can’t even begin to tell you how much that bothers us. But that’s alright, because at the end of the day people are allowed to do whatever the hell they want to their cars. Our job here isn’t to preach but rather “point out”, so we won’t go there. Where we will go however is all the way to Hawaii to show you this beautiful big bodied VIP Style sedan that belongs to our friend Alvin. Beautiful is actually an understatement but it’ll do for now.
Photo & Video By: Emil Corpuz & Jay Mora exclusively for StanceNation.com
Just like many of us, Alvin has been into cars ever since the childhood years. He grew up around the lowrider and mini-truck scene, both which Hawaii was heavily into, especially the latter. In high school Alvin attended four years of auto mechanics where he learned a lot and he was even doing body and paint work around the sophmore year. What started as a hobby eventually turned into a career. What does all this have to do with his Lexus? Well, everything leads to something else and we firmly believe that Alvins background has a lot to do with what he drives now and why the car looks the way it does. Read on, below is where the good stuff starts.
Alvin and a couple of his good friends from high school have been doing their research about the vip scene ever since one of their friends showed them a VIPSTYLE magazine from a local japanese book store. They were all very intrigued & inspired and before you know, 2 of them picked up UCF10′s. With that a new crew by the name of EMPIRE VIP was started. The club eventually grew with many members, but let’s go back a little bit. Even before buying the LS he bought a set of Work Euroline DH’s from a local forum. Wheels were actually pretty “aggressive” and without knowing anything about offsets and what fit the LS he literally went in blind. Alvin picked up a set of Tanabe springs and slapped the rims on only to find out they wouldn’t fit. As always, click the Read More link below for more…
Determined to make the wheels fit, Alvin and his friends had to roll and pull fenders to get them to sit properly. He drove the car around like that for about 2 years, when the mod bug bit again. Up next came the Wald lip kit, then back on the down low to save up some money for air. Around that time the vip scene was just blowing up in Hawaii and state side. The fellas from VIPSTYLE magazine even made a trip out to hawaii where Alvin and his friend were lucky enough to recieve a small feature in. Eventually he saved up just enough for the UAS air kit and JIC coilovers, which he then installed himself. After installing the air and coilovers it was time to sit back and save money. During that time the scene blew up so he decided to do a full make over of the car. New color & new wheels, something wider, bigger and lower in offsets. His choice were the current wheels you see in the photos, Work Schwert SC3′s.
Fronts are 19×10 with -18 offsets while the rears are 19×11 with -21 offsets. He simply wanted to be different here in the states and after seeing some of the Japanese guys do step front lips and reversed rear lip, he knew that was something that would look great on his LS. While waiting for the rims to come in Alvin started tearing the car down for bodywork and paint. Front fenders and rear quartes were pulled some more but not your typical way. Alvin wanted to keep the stock body lines instead of the “flared” look so he got together with his friend Raymond who helped do the work. He also wanted to be different with the color, something that no one was rocking, but nothing flashy either. It is a VIP style ride after all, so over the top colors weren’t an option. His choice eventually ended up being this stunning rootbeer/plum color from the Honda Element.
So what does the future hold? Alvins short term plans for the car are Aimgain body kit, new wheels and a new color. He tells us that takes a lot of pride in the car because he did 90% of the work himself. Something that not too many can say nowadays. Alvin also has 2 other cars that he is currently building. A 95 Q45/G50 with a full president conversion kit and a 96 civic 4dr with a SIR Ferio conversion. Both are just a couple of months away from completion so stay tuned for that!
We’ll end it here with a shout out to Samson and rest of the Revision Audio crew. Alvin also wanted to send a special thanks to his friend Raymond for the rear quarter work, Emil and Jay for the photoshoot and video, all the boys in the Lake and everyone holding it down in the vip scene in Hawaii. Last but not least, a huge shout out to the entire EMPIRE Vip family from Alvin as well as us! Stay tuned for more, especially from Hawaii!
