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[col:ed3385006a]scionlife's Silver SC430

Darren Seeman was born a car enthusiast. At the age of 1 1/2 he could call out "truck" or "car" as they drove down the busy street near his playroom window. By three he was drawing cars, playing with Hotwheels and building cars from his imagination with Legos. As he grew up and finally reached the age of car ownership he started taking them apart, and mostly putting them back together. His past cars have included classic Lincolns and Cadillacs, JDM RWD cars like his AE86 and an S13 convertible, plus countless other cars, trucks and vans.

If Darren is passionate about one type of vehicle in particular, it is a convertible. "There is nothing like the feeling of the open road with the wind coursing through your hair, the seatbelt straining to keep you in your seat and the music so loud you can't hear the screeching tires." His first convertible was a VW Rabbit in high school. He worked pizza delivery during the summer to afford a GTI 16V conversion, which he performed himself. The next convertible came a few years later as the drifting frenzy touched the Pacific Northwest. He bought a black 240SX convertible on eBay and drive it to Portland from San Francisco. The auto tranny and 2.4L was quickly tossed aside to make room for a 2.0L turbo SR motor and five-speed. "The car was a blast and turned heads. I bolted black Infiniti G35 18" wheels to it and tinted the windows WAY past legal. The car didn't have an ounce of reflectivity, it was a black hole that people couldn't keep their eyes off of".

Although he drove a Nissan on a daily basis, he was a diehard Toyota enthusiast, and also had a little red Corolla GTS coupe that he occasionally raced. That Corolla was a $500 freeway abandonment that he strong-armed the owner into releasing to him... then sold for $5000 on eBay and shipped to Okinawa Japan. With his profits he picked up a black 1995 Lexus LS400 in perfect condition. Pursuing the VIP treatment, the car got tinted, lowered and cleaned up. He soon realized that he simply had too many projects and needed to reduce his load. So he again turned to Lexus to combine two of his passions: VIP luxury and sporty droptop motoring.

His first attempt at buying an SC430 on the internet fell through as the owner sold the car to a relative moments before the deal was sealed. It turned out the owner worked at a BMW dealership and had access to the lease return auctions. He told Darren that for the same price he could go back to the auction and get another silver SC430. A day later Darren bought a plane ticket and flew down to L.A. to pick up the car. He drove it back to Portland, overjoyed that the seller made a mistake with the interior color and had purchased a car with saddle leather instead of black!

Within two weeks the car was wearing new shoes and sitting pretty on Tein coilovers and Daizen swaybars. Unnatural Inc, of Beaverton OR, got their hands on a Blitz supercharger system from Japan and installed it, along with the Blitz exhaust. HID conversions in the front and an LED conversion in the rear make sure that the driver can see, and that the car is seen!

Exterior / Aero:
• Debadged Grill
• HID Foglights
• HID High Beams
• LED Taillight Conversion

Suspension / Wheels:
• Tein Type-CS Coilovers
• Daizen Swaybars
• 19" EVO Lightings: 19x8.5(F) & 19x9.5(R)
• Continental Tires: 245/40(F) & 275/30(R)

Engine / Performance:
• Blitz Supercharger Kit
• Blitz RealizeTT Exhaust

Interior / ICE:
• iPod2Car Adapter
• 20% Tint

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• Your full name and year/make/model/color of vehicle
• List of mods grouped by: Exterior, Performance, Suspension & Wheels, Interior & Audio
• Modifications you are planning to make in the near future
• List of your sponsors websites or business names
• Why you bought the car and why you have improved it
• Your city of residence, occupation and hobbies
• Features that set your car apart from others on the road