Stay the Course
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There’s a love/hate relationship I have with writing, as with most of my hobbies at this point. I love how sometimes things just click and I know exactly what I’m going to write about when I finish up with the feature shoot, but most of the time I put it off to the end. By this point I’ve stared at these cars for countless hours, zoomed in at over 200% in Photoshop making sure pixels that nobody else but myself might even care to think about are “perfect”. And then I sit down and I start replaying things in my head that the owners and I talked about, picking up little snippets of a conversation that can snowball into something bigger – something that I hope ties into everything and most importantly, is relatable. That’s my process so far, is there a better way? Definitely. Will I learn? Big ol’ “nah”.
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This entire feature was set up off Instagram, which is where I first saw JD’s car. I saw it getting shared around or maybe tagged a while back, so I knew of the car but nothing else about it or the owner. Even though the RGV can be a very small place in some aspects, it feels rare when you spot a local car you’ve come across online – or maybe I just don’t drive around as much these days. Either way I spotted the car on a Sunday, posted it up along with another car I saw the same day (that feature coming soon), and within minutes I had people messaging me letting me know who owned it. It’s been said that Social Media is a double-edged sword. We all know how it affects everyone by creating unattainable standards when it comes to physical appearance, social status, and putting us all in competition with each other; it does it for everyone, and I’ve seen it do the same to the automotive community.
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On the one hand this feature wouldn’t have been set in motion without the help of everyone being connected these days. I hate coming off like the old man that’s still amazed by the internet, but it’s true. Generations ago (unless you constantly traveled around or you built a vehicle to the point where you got to be featured in a magazine of some kind) nobody outside your state, or even city, was going to know what you built. But that didn’t stop people. In any art form, you’re going to have people that pursue it for recognition – which is completely fine, but then you’ll have those that are just driven by passion, or this obsession to be good at something, to create anything, and in the end it’s all for yourself. These days, there’s a mix of people turning these cars into something they’ve wanted, something they’ve worked on and will continue to build on, and it’s amazing that it gets recognized by snapping some photos and hitting “share” on your phone.
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The A90 comes after owning a few other notable vehicles, including a Nissan Z and more recently a Subaru. Having already had experience with tastefully modifying vehicles, the MKV was always going to go down the same road. But this time the path was going to mean a little more. We all have our own version of our dream car, something we visualize ourselves driving in, something we obsess over, and something we ultimately work towards owning. Everything we do keeps us on that path to one day grabbing the keys and getting behind the wheel of. For JD it was the Supra. Now having owned it for a little over a year, it’s already gone through a few changes to help make it his own and set it apart from a select few driving around town these days. Now I may be biased, but I’m partial to red vehicles, and the GR commands your attention thanks to its Renaissance Red paint. Pair that with a fine set of (WHEELS HERE) and you really don’t need much more to hold your attention. Under the hood, things are kept relatively simple for now. The HKS drop-in filter helps the air flow into the B58, while the (exhaust setup here) helps unlock some power while giving it that perfectly balanced exhaust note. Plans to take it a step further are in the works, but for now priority is taking care of life goals before trying to push things further in the horsepower and torque area.
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I said earlier that Social Media is a double edged sword. I “spotted” JD’s car and set up this shoot all from my computer room at home. This is a positive example of how these platforms can work in our favor. At their core, they were created to connect people who share common interests. Hell, I remember when Instagram was all about sharing things “in the moment” – you couldn’t even access your photo albums! But for every positive example, there’s going to be some negatives – it’s just how these things balance out. Within the car community you can chalk up the negatives to the clout chasers, the “take over” types, and of course the randoms that pull out the “it must be nice” card. Now I could go on about how I feel about these types, but there’s no need at this point anymore. If there’s one thing I always stress to anyone that got their first dream car and wants to get into all this, it’s simple: do it for yourself. Don’t put yourself in a rush to finish the build, but enjoy the road it takes to get there. Don’t get lost on what the person next to you is doing. Focus on the people you meet along the way and learn to weed out the ones that genuinely want to push you further vs the ones being a dick just to be a dick. And overall remember to stay the course.
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JD Aguilera’s 2020 Toyota Supra 3.0
Performance:
VRSF Downpipe
Marintuned Flex Fuel
Marintuned Tune
HKS Drop In Filter
Cosmetic:
Carbon Fiber Mirrors
Carbon Roof Spoiler
American Panda Toyota Badges
Interior:
Carbon Fiber Entertainment Screen
Carbon Fiber Seat Accents
Rollers:
19” GMR Evoke wheels
Hankook Ventus 255/35/19
Nitto NT555 G2 305/35/19
Stiff:
HKS Hipermax Coilovers
Premium Brake Calipers w/ Ceramic Pads
Sound:
Kicker Subwoofer & AMP
Shout Outs:
I’d love to mention my girlfriend who has always been my second opinion on how to build my car, my friend Robert for allowing me to pick his creative mind and my friend Connor for his constructive criticism. Without them the motivation and the build wouldn’t be where it is today.
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Photos and Words by : Bobby Villarreal