When we sat down and planned our newest project, several key elements came into play. It is not just about building a good car and taking it to shows anymore. You can say that we take it very seriously, almost as a business now. Don’t get us wrong, it started out as a hobby, but building a showstopper leads to so much more. We have always loved buying the most expensive, unattainable parts for almost anything we do. It just so happens that the public gets to see our show cars and that is, perhaps, why we are perceived as we are.  

We have always been fans of Japanese products and will continue to be. Living here in the U.S., American parts and some Japanese parts are easy to come by, but we look at the Japanese parts that people cannot easily go out and obtain. It is not even about going to a store and getting a Japanese part, as the majority of the time we go directly to the company. 

Bomex Aero is a great example. A couple of years ago, when its products were huge in Japan but not yet available Stateside, we met some of the company’s representatives. Makato Takahashi helped us get to where we are today. Without our Bomex support, things would have been considerably different. Now Bomex is established in the U.S., and everyone jocks it. The company makes some of the hottest kits around and the fit is excellent.  

Bomex definitely fits in the “hot product” department, so starting with a Bomex kit as your first modification can put some pressure on you in terms of the rest of the buildup. Now what do you do? Where do you go? 

For starters, find out who Bomex Aero’s partners are in Japan and get in contact with them. Sumio Niwa, the owner of Bomex, helped put us in contact with some of the biggest players in the Japanese automotive industry. When I say big, I mean huge. I’m talking about companies such as Advan (wheels), Yokohama (tires) and Kei-Office (suspension). These are some of the well-respected companies that we received support from on our latest project.  

So, you say to yourself, “What is Kei-Office?” Well, the reason you may not have heard of the company is because it isn’t Stateside. These guys are the “drift kings” in Japan and their suspension is way above the competition’s. This is but one example of getting parts that no one in the U.S. has, but everyone wants. This helps and these are the types of products that go into building a showstopper. 

It is an awesome feeling to go to a show and know that when you roll through the door you will be the only one out of several hundred cars sporting certain products. Imagine having a set of wheels and tires on your car that people see only in magazines.  

When we built our 240, Advan asked us if we were interested in a limited-edition set of Advan Model 5 wheels in chrome. Let’s see … a limited-edition set of chrome Advan 19-inch wheels? What would you do? We suspect you would do exactly what we did: Run with it. 

It gets even better, however. Yokohama makes a set of tires in Japan called DNA GP. These tires are not seen Stateside. If you were in the process of building a car that reflects the Japanese style, you would want to get your dirty paws on a set of these Japan-only tires. So that is exactly what we did. We contacted Yokohama Japan and ordered a set of DNA GP tires. 

These are just some of the examples of what it takes to go all out and make a statement. There’s little doubt that it was difficult, but it was only the beginning.  

What more can you do and what more can you ask for? A lot. Look at it this way: When you go to a show, what makes you stop and say, “Damn, I want my car to look like that!”  

Besides the expensive, unattainable parts, you need flashy paint and other accessories to accent the car. After we got the parts from Japan, we decided to go out and build what we thought would be the hottest Nissan. 

So what was next on the agenda? A hot, flashy paint color. We went through about 10 colors until we decided on candy orange with gold pearl. This was just the start of the paint and bodywork process. Before we could even come close to painting the car, Auto Pro body shop had to install the S15 front-end conversion. 

Another aspect of building a showstopper is getting the newest, hottest items for the car. We are not suggesting that you go into a store or catalog and order everything new for your car. Build the car the way you want and be creative about it. We knew that the S15 conversion would be hot, so we decided to convert our 240SX into an S14.5 Silvia. After that was done, we decided to put a carbon fiber hood on the conversion with a carbon fiber Bomex wing to match. 

When the painting process began, we decided to be a little different. If you have ever looked at a Japanese tuner magazine, some of the flashiest Silvias in Japan have black roofs and mirrors. Guess what we did? We painted the roof and mirrors black and the rest of the car candy orange. Some people look at us as if we are weird, but sometimes you have to go out of the normal realm and be different.  

You may think you’re done. So did we, for the time being. We took the car to a show last year and soon realized just how much more we would need. We got tons of press with the car and won first place in the “2-Door Mild” category. But the car was not a showstopper, at least not in the way we wanted our car to be perceived.

We started thinking about the Japanese show cars. What would someone in Japan do next to take the car to a whole different level? How about a fully built SR20DET engine from Japan with tons of Japanese goodies? That seemed like a good idea. 

We had E&V Motorsports transform the entire engine and transmission department. Most people would be happy with an SR20DET making close to 300 hp without spray, but not us. We decided to go all out with this car and the engine compartment was no exception. We ordered a VeilSide turbo manifold, GReddy intake manifold, Evotion oil cooler, C&R radiator, Spearco intercooler, Nismo products and a Tomei valve cover. To put the engine over the top, we decided to work with Nitrous Express and install a complete direct port and intercooler kit. People look at us in disgust when they see that we drilled holes into a GReddy intake manifold for the NX direct port. Oh, well, that is what it takes to be different. 

Everyone thought we should be good and ready to compete at this point. But we both knew that we still needed more to complete our showstopper.  

For our next stop, we met up with Manny Machado from Maddog Audio. We knew that with his help, we could take the car to that next level. Don’t get us wrong—every product, shop and person is needed in building a complete showstopper. No one person can take a car to the level where people practically drool when they see it. For us, Maddog was the place to complete the interior and audio side of the car. 

As you can tell from the pictures, this part of the car is as custom as it gets. People stand all day and look at the exterior of the car, but the interior is the part where you need to score high to win Best of Show honors. We gave Maddog the keys to the 240 and told them to go wild. This was not an easy buildup. It took close to three months and more than 1,500 hours to get the audio and interior to where it is today. It looks great for now, but we still have more to go. This is only stage one, as Machado would say. 

What is so special about the audio and interior of a show car? When you can blast your music and have three TVs playing your favorite movie, it draws a crowd. Last year the car was displayed in the Valvoline booth at Hot Import Nights in Orlando. The response was awesome and about 10,000 people saw the car.  

At the time of this show, only the exterior of the car was shown. The windows, doors, hood and trunk remained closed—not bad to have one of the most looked-at cars at a show with it completely closed. 

Fast-forward five months later to HIN in Philadelphia at the Valvoline booth again. We had the hood off, the doors open, windows down and the trunk open, with the music blasting and TVs playing. It is great having 10,000 people admire your car and talk about it, but how much better is it when you have 30,000 spectators coming to the Valvoline booth to see the car that everyone is talking about? 

Needless to say, the Philadel-phia HIN was a big event and a true test for us. We had a great time competing against some of the best competitors from the East Coast and Canada. The car did great for its first show of 2003, taking home the Max Life award (farthest distance traveled), Best Nissan, first place in the “2-Door Wild” category and the top honor, Best of Show. 

This is what we have been working so hard for and investing so much money in. Meeting new people, talking to spectators and just hanging out with friends who have the same interests as we do is the best feeling. 

So, now we’re done, right? Not even close. You want to know how sick we are? On the drive home from Philly to Miami, all we could talk about was how to get stronger and better. 

We set our minds to think that we had just finished in third or fourth place. What would it take to get to the top, the Best of Show Elite honors? We are very happy with the car, but it is only about 75-percent done. We have many more toys coming—and yes, most of the new toys are coming from Japan. 

A glimpse of what is to come is a set of Nismo seats and a Cusco rollcage. On the exterior you will be seeing some custom parts with more carbon fiber. If you’ve been paying attention to this article, stage two of the interior and audio buildup are still on the way.  

Here’s something for all you show girls and guys to remember: This may be a hobby, but everyone knows how competitive things can get and this is no different. The competition can be brutal and you want to go out and make a statement anytime you go to a show. Building a showstopper is not just about getting the spectators to admire your hard work. You also want the competitors to think, “Damn, here he [or she] is again.” 

When building a car, you also want companies to recognize your hard work and dedication. All these things play a major part in the building process. It is not just about getting a car and sticking on some parts. If things were that simple, there would be more than a handful of superstars in our industry.  

This car started out as a stock red Nissan 240SX and now represents what our idea of a showstopper should be. You know you are in good shape when you go to Philly for an HIN event—the hardest and fiercest competition around—and bring the crowd. 

The judging set up at HIN events this year is out of hand. These guys are the cream of the crop and they know how to judge a car. They look at every aspect and then some. This setup is no joke. If you want to test your car against others and against one of the best judging systems around, go to an HIN event.  

The first thing that we do is decide what we want the car to represent and what we want people to see. Do we want the car to look like every other tuner car? Like a lowrider? Or like a car you would see in Japan? In our case, we wanted a car with both Japanese and U.S. flavors. 

In Japan, it’s all about high-end parts and big power from the engine. Here in the U.S., they like some flash, but they also love nice interiors and out-of-hand audio setups. We took the best of both worlds and put it into one car, which we can take around the country to compete against other fine examples of showstoppers.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article and thanks to all those who come by the show booths to talk to us. Feel free to come by anytime to see what is new with our car. Don’t hesitate to ask us questions —we don’t bite (most of the time). 

Good luck building your own showstopper and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. We went with what we believed in and look what it did for us!