Many of us dream (with me pleading guilty on all counts) of one day
owning a Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Pagani, Lamborghini, or
Bugatti. But, if you think realistically, a whole many of us, will
never own a real luxury car or a real exotic, supercar or hypercar. All
that exquisite luxury, with a seemingly infinite amount of power, soul,
and passion comes at a terrible price --quite literally, at that.
Enter Ernie. Like many of us, Ernie would love to own a super car,
hyper car, mid-life crisis car, but he's come to the realization that,
really, it is almost impossible. He's a guy that has worked on and
built countless amounts
of race and show cars (mostly SC400s). He's seen much soul and passion
in his days, but
he's never actually been able to possess such qualities in a car that
is his very own. This car is Ernie's dream car. It embodies his passion
and love he has for his favorite car, the Lexus SC400 (or Toyota Soarer
for you super car nerds out there).
The original motor has been ripped out and has been replace with a 1JZ with a plethora of Greddy innards installed. This motor is pushing out horse power in super car territory. It puts down 650 horses!
The interior has also been kept fairly stock, but what has been
upgraded was to accentuate the luxury sport feeling up a notch. I
really do appreciate the "lived-in" look of this interior. It has all
the hints that this car really is used everyday.
Before the shoot, I told Ernie that if I was to photograph this car, he
would need to lower it
another inch or so, and this is the result of the lowering. After
stepping back and taking a look at the car in it's much more low state,
Ernie agreed with me that it does look better. This fantasic stance has
been brought to you buy Stance Coilovers and a set of Volks GTV custom
painted flat black and gloss black lips.
This car sports geniune Vertex kit. That's a rarity these days in the
states since there's, really, a knock off of any parts imaginable.
Props for that!
The overall lines of the SC400 are already elegant, but the addition of the Vertex kit ups the beauty even more.
If
you were to see this car in your rear view mirror on the motorway, the
only option is to get out of the way. The whole front end looks
absolutely menacing!
The wing mirrors really have become the offical Speedhunters.com sticker location!
Some of you might scoff at the idea that this really is Ernie's
dream car, but you have to look at both sides of the coin. Can you,
realistically, in your lifetime, really afford the car that you really
dream for? Many of us would say no, and so would Ernie. A lot of us
drive our modified cars because we know we can't ever really possess
the soul and passion of a Ferrari or Lamborghini. If you were to really
own such cars, your stocks invested in cool would instantly
plummet. But when you meet someone that is passionate about their car
and the soul they've put into it, you start to realize that Ferrari
isn't the only one that holds such qualities.
Everyone can have their own Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SV, or Rolls Royce Phantom, you just have to realize that you're already driving it.
-Linhbergh Nguyen
Special June Exotics & Luxury Features
Ernie Manansala's Lexus SC400:
Exterior:
- Vertex Kit
- Volks GTV custom painted flat black and gloss black lips
- Stance Coilovers
- Volk lug nuts
- Flat white BASF
- Viggdesign two tone flat black
- NRG carbon aero latch hood pins
- NRG carbon hood dampers
Interior:
- Seibon carbon fiber hood and trunk
- NRG wooden wheel
- NRG bucket seats
- NRG quick release / tilt hub
- NRG 4 point harnesses
- NRG 4 point harnesses pads
- NRG carbon shift knob
Engine:
- 1JZ
- Greddy header
- Greddy cams
- Greddy camgears
- Greddy catch cans
- Greddy exaust
- Greddy oil cooler
- Greddy turbo kit
- Greddy prfec d
- Greddy ultimate ecu
- Greddy touch
- Greddy timing belt
- Greddy pully kit
- Greddy rad cap
- Greddy oil cap
- Greddy oil filter
- Greddy oil filter relocate kit
- Mishimoto radiator
- Mishitmoto intercooler