What’s up fellow Supra owners? This is going to be a nice lil short series on building up a show Supra. I will go through different areas of the process and talk about the things that I find seem to work. Now be informed, I am not sponsored so I plan on showing how this can be done with your own funds. I also plan on getting interviews with the big boys like Keith Ta to find out what he did to get started and get sponsored.

I think one of the single most important factors of the show car is the paint. Sure the wings, body kits and accessories make the car, but the first thing the grabs the eye is the paint job. Look for colors that not only stand out, but also can be matched. I have seen several show cars with nice paint but the interior and engine bay could not be matched. There are a couple of established colors that always work well, like the chameleon. I like to be a bit different from the norm. The current color of my car is called Silver orchid. The base color is a Lexus silver. It then received a healthy dose of lavender pearl. Paints like these catch the eye because of the color change. I highly suggest that when searching for a color and a shop to do the job you do a lot of research. I am very good friends with the person that does my work and it definitely helps. GX-Auto (where my work gets done) specializes in show car paint and custom body work. He had several samples of his work and I got to see a lot of cars that were done by the shop up close and personal. That being said, he has a very good working knowledge of colors that work for car shows and also what judges look for. I was very lucky. Mike Ji and his dad do excellent work. The first month my car came out a few people saw the color and went to other shops to duplicate it. No one succeeded. It took Mike several tries to get the color that both of us were happy with but since we built a friendship of sorts it wasn’t a problem. Look for a shop that has experience fabricating colors or at least willing to try. Experimenting with different hues and pearls can bring about incredible results. Before entering a show make sure you check out shows or show cars in your area so you have an idea of what the cars are using. I also keep an eye on most the Import magazines. Those tend to show a lot of quality colors including non-standard newly made colors like mine. Always remember, any color can be change or customized with the right pearl. You just have to find one that works well with the color you would like to use. Stock colors work well if the quality of the paint job itself is good. If you opt for a stock color then look to customize the other parts of the car a bit more to help it stand out. Next installment I plan to talk about bodykits and accessories.