By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

I’ve been a fan of Artisan Spirits for a long time now. To me, they’re one of the best VIP tuning houses out there and unlike other Japanese VIP tuning shops Artisan Spirits is showing no signs of slowing down their innovative style. For example, check out their latest full bumper kit above for the LS600h. This is the latest VIP tuning release in Japan and it is yet another fresh spin on the LS.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Artisan Spirits Does VIP Right" »

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Wed’s Kranze sub-brand always seems to have the best demo cars to show off their rims. Although I’ve already talked earlier about their ridiculous widebody LS430 from a few years earlier, this more modern LS600h is worthy of a new mention. In 2010, this is perhaps a perfect example of how to build a VIP car. (Picture taken from Bulletproof’s trip to Tokyo during set-up day at Tokyo Auto Salon.)

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Most people might find it hard to believe but finding a properly modified VIP sedan in Japan is not that easy, especially up in the Kanto region of the country. VIP is a style that began down south, in and around Osaka, and has over the last decade or so spread around. Different takes on this style have emerged but for my slammed feature from Japan I wanted to bring you the most authentic car I could find, which is where my friend Kenji Yamada came in. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

With VIP style cars so popular these days, it seems that everyone in Southern Cali always sees slammed Lexus GS and LS bodies with big wheels… It’s even common to see Infiniti Q45s with VIP treatment pretty frequently nowadays. However, it’s not often that we see a Y34 body style VIP Infiniti M45, which only came out between 2003 and 2005. The Y34 has got to be the coolest M45 ever made. Ever.

VIP originated with Japanese Yakuza members modifying their cars with dish rims, clean body kits, and limo tint. Anytime a Yakuza boss rolled down the street you would know to get out of the way! Justin Wu, the owner of this particular 2003 M45 may not be a Yakuza boss, but he definitely is gangster, and here’s why. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens.

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

I’m still sorting through all the photos I took during my trip to Seattle… believe me, there were A LOT. However, I thought I’d just take a brief detour from the Formula D action to showcase some of the cars I saw at the event, which really clue you in on how dope the Pacific Northwest cars are. I just don’t understand how people can sleep on the scene up there so much! All the big car magazines and media sites seem to only focus on Southern Cali, but those of us who have traveled all over the world can tell you that the Northwest has style!!! Tons of it. Let’s take a look! Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Although we’re known for representing high end Japanese sports car tuning, often people don’t realize that we also deal a lot with VIP tuning. Unfortunately the VIP tuning scene in the US didn’t take off like I had hoped it would years ago so we never really got a chance to flex our VIP muscle with our deep contacts in Japan within the scene. Nonetheless there are still some really cool VIP cars roaming the streets, some of which we’ve had a hand in.

I’d like to introduce a super clean Lexus LS430 built by Vinh out in Texas. Vinh came to us to take advantage of our VIP connections in Japan for his project idea. The end result is a LS430 rocking Trafficstar STR wheels in a super aggressive size, an Insurance Group roof spoiler and a G-Answer full aero kit (half type).

I think for a daily street cruiser Vinh came up with a winning combination with class, luxury and a unique JDM VIP image.