ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part XIV

The Sunday after SEMA ended was an annual VIP meet/gathering hosted @ AutoFashion in San Diego, we rushed the car back the night before and got there that morning, was hellovatrip i tell ya! Pics from that will come later when I find them. ha!

For now, here are some pics taken at the behind-the-scene photoshoot with Jtuned, the week after SEMA, behind AutoFashion’s headquarter:

Here’s Vu & Steve setting it up..

I actually arrived late considered that the car was already there when they arrived, so they were doing the interior shots already..

Steve checking the lightings..

the height you see here is actually the driving height, well, my driving height..

Big Steve thinks it’s a little too high, he rides a lot lower than this..

More from this shoot to come, stay tuned! JTuned! w00t!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part XIII

The week of SEMA gone by pretty fast although a lot of stuff went down behind the scene, we were blessed to have many friends in the media network to help us plant the seed of press in the up coming months.

Here’s a shot of the Nissan/Infiniti North America booth where our project VIP35xTT was in:

and here I was with the car:

I’m loving every moment that I’ve had with this project!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part XII

Within 48 hrs, the Falken rig has landed @ Las Vegas and our VIP35xTT has finally arrived @ the SEMA show! Most importantly, the vehicle got a premium spot in the Nissan North America OEM booth!

Here’s our graphic artist Jackie Hu and Ken Xu of K&W Autobody helping me taggin the car with the sponsors decal/logo:

I think they laid it pretty straight, what do you guys think?

More love to our beloved MAZIORA Japan & AutoFashion USA..

Nissan North America was nice enough to make us a vehicle-stand, and I love how it matches the color of our car..

more from SEMA to come on the next update, stay tuned!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part XI

Just 2 days before rolling into SEMA, the car was finally finished putting together by the boys at AutoFashion in San Diego, and our sponsor Falken Tire was kind enough to transport the vehicle to Vegas Convention Center for us all the way from Fontana (and back). One slight problem was to get the car to Fontana from San Diego, but that problem was resolved easily with the help from our good friend Victor Reyes of Emergency Hookers (catchy name ain’t it?). Here’s the specialized flatbed that Victor used for transporting our Infiniti:

and there’s Victor operating the vehicle..

arrived @ Falken Tire, ready to drop off..

coming off the flatbed..

exchange transport into the Falken rig!

I think that’s Bakari in the back from Falken, what’s up big boy?!

raising the platform..

zooming in..

ready to roll in!

that’s Falken’s top drift machine up top, a Ford Mustang with crate motor pilot by the infamous Vaughn Gitten Jr.

pause it for a second on a quick shoot, my favorite angle of the car..

no time to waste as the rig had to leave the headquarter right away after our Infiniti was loaded inside!

moving in..

checking clearance..

almost there..

just a few more inches..

done! and slammed too!

big thanks to our homeboy Yao, I mean, Robert Chew, for piloting the car… into the rig. hahaha

one more shot with the Falken x JR Mustang..

and one more shot on the slam-age, w00t!

time to close up the rear hatch..

car’s then shut off..

last check on the roof clearance..

here’s Robert (look how big he is man, how did he got out of the car? honestly I wasn’t paying attention) and the crew finishing up..

closing..

see you in Vegas VIP35xTT!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part X

For some reason I couldn’t access the blog through internet explorer, so yesterday i finally downloaded firefox (yes i know, i’m way behind like a caveman).

Anyways, back with the progress, the car was finished @ the bodyshop within just one week! That had to be the first time I’ve ever seen any shop really put their effort into one car and rush it through without making any mistake on the paint or bodywork! Mad props again to Ken @ K&W Autobody!

So, now that the car’s put together on the outside, it’s time to bring it back to the boys @ AutoFashion to finish up the I.C.E.(in car entertainment):

and I was messing around with the airrunner system..

sneak peek behind the shop..

here’s Elroy working hard late at night..

and here’s Freddie working on wrapping the fiberglass trunk pieces with leather..

one of the sub-surround done..

work in progress..

and I can’t resist not to show you once again the MAZIORA magic, here’s one with the flash on..

here’s the flash off..

wow!? yea i bet!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part IX

3 weeks before the SEMA show, we transported the car from AutoFashion in San Diego to K&W Autobody in Walnut, it’s time to get the car sprayed with the authentic MAZIORA paint that we selected a couple weeks back.

Here’s a shot with the flash..

and here’s a shot without the flash, just so you can see the magic within..

the wheels are getting the tires mounted on when this picture was taken..

close-up on the trunk area..

and a shot on the passenger front fender..

2 more weeks to go till show time, and the car was slowly getting put together from pieces!

Mad props to Kenny @ K&W Autobody for doing a flawless job on finishing up the car with such a little time frame!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part VIII

For days, maybe even weeks, Freddie over @ AutoFashion had argued with me over the phone on different approach upon the modification to the interior; budget was definitely an issue upon the build at this stage, so things had to be compromised without risking the quality upon the whole package nor missing the overall deadline. With a stock tan (leather/headliner/carpet) mix with maple wood trim, we were able to maintain what we liked the most, and switch out (also re-wrap) the ones we disliked.

Here’s an example of the rear seating area:

The goal was to make a drastic change while not going overboard; making a full black-interior would be also kind of boring, so we mixed the two and got ourself a two-tone finish..

Most plastic pieces were kept in the tan-finish, while the headliner/carpet and some portion of the seats were wrapped in black leather; ofcourse we didn’t leave the tan leather untouched, they got the AutoFashion signature DDS (diamond-double-stitch)..

another pic that shows the perfect fit-and-finish from the driver side..

zooming in..

One thing to be cautious of having such interior – if you happen to come across these light tan material that’s almost as light as white leather, be very careful of what you wear into the car (dark jeans = no). However, the good thing about picking the right material, is that most stain can be easily removed with the application of conditioner.

So for those that are reading this and happen to be working on a similar project, definitely hit up AutoFashion for any type of inquiries; for the years of experience they have had (as well as what I have witnessed), meticulous craftmanship and immaculate execution are just the tip of the iceburg regarding to what they serve on top of the infinite product knowledge and resource.

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part VII

With the help of our good friends from AutoFashion, we were able to be sponsored by Junction Produce on the aero-styling and then some! Here are some snaps that we took when the parts arrived in San Diego:

That front bumper will be modified for sure in order to expose the intercooler; and here’s a snap on the sides, which will be modified as well to accomodate the USDM side markers:

Authenticity tag..

the rear had to be installed instantly so we can mount the Junction Produce quad-exhaust on the car..

close-up shot of the Junction exhaust..

custom turbo-back piping..

with some lighting so you guys can see the custom fab..

again, authenticity tag on the tip..

Big ups to the boys (Freddie/Elroy/Kevin..etc) @ AutoFashion, they are THE premier tuning pros when it comes to VIP styling and customizations, turning metal to gold on the daily basis!

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part VI

Going into the month of October, most of the parts that were on order finally started to arrive one-by-one, the interior pieces had been stripped from the car to be re-wrapped; and while that’s getting done, we didn’t let the car sitting dead. We proceeded on installing/fab’ing the GReddy twin turbo kit:

Most of the pipings had to be refabricated because it was made for the 350z’s VQ35..

Even the intercooler had to be custom mounted..

Looks fairly stealthy behind the stock bumper..

One more shot at it before I left Diego..

Up Next :: Authentic parts straight from Takahiro Taketomi of Junction Produce

ShowOpt x Nissan/Infiniti North America Part V

In the mean time while we were still waiting for most of the parts to arrive from Japan, we have gotten this in the mail from CDSA @ Detroit:

Yup, it’s the master catalog of MAZIORA Japan!

The cover of the catalog shows the legendary Super Taikyu Altezza Group N race car that was painted by MAZIORA as well..

Different than most MAZIORA or ShowUp/EkiShow ‘paper-catalog’ you find at your local bodyshop, this one actually comes with real paint samples; I snap this pic with flash just so you could see that..

And from here, I’m going to demonstrate the magic within MAZIORA paint..

slightly tilted..

more angle..

and bam!

and on the black’n'whites..

tilt..

flash..

flash’n’tilt..

the choice was hard, to pick from so many great choices of colors for our Project M35xVIP..

but one had to be picked, and thanks to CDSA of Detroit, we were even able to customized the tone/hue to our likings when it was mixed!