Show Me Some VIP'd tCs!
03-05-2008, 08:51 PM
#122
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Originally Posted by ThisDudePaul
that's not VIP....that's what they call a donk. (as implied on the graphic on the side of the car.) that's how they roll in the south. and yes i saw your jk at the end. i was just tryin to be informative; not a dick
03-06-2008, 05:34 AM
#123
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Originally Posted by tCTaco
Originally Posted by ThisDudePaul
that's not VIP....that's what they call a donk. (as implied on the graphic on the side of the car.) that's how they roll in the south. and yes i saw your jk at the end. i was just tryin to be informative; not a dick
04-04-2008, 02:57 PM
#125
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Let's bring this back to life, and kill it once n for all.
"VIP car starts with just that, the platform or the car. Its not a VIP Car unless it starts with one of these cars. From Toyota, you have the Century, Celsior, Aristo, Crown, and Majesta. From Nissan you have the President, Cima, Gloria, Cedric, and the Q45."
Exceptions, i guess.* w/. Vip "STYLE"
a K-Car or Style Wagon.
"Standing in the middle of a convention hall outside of Philadelphia, Takahiro Taketomi looks a bit like Bogey. His eyes are stern and focused and ringed by the charcoal hue of lost sleep. His short black hair is neat and smoothed and shines. He doesn’t smile. In fact, he speaks with a grimace and like he is always about to light a cigarette.
Taketomi is one of the self-proclaimed founders of VIP style, the next great Japanese micro-trend to surface in America. “Bippu style,” as it is colorfully known in Japan, starts with a high-power luxury sedan. The car is slammed on ultra-thin tires and trimmed with boxy body kits. At first glance, a VIP style car might look like any tuner sedan on its way to Hot Import Nights, but there are specific details that set it apart.
A VIP style car might have a billet grille or metallic trim lines or polished wood inside. Window curtains are big. So are aftermarket emblems and hood ornaments. The look is a bit like Scarface Goes to Japan. And legend has it VIP style has roots in the yakuza (organized crime in Japan). True or not, Taketomi makes a strong case on its behalf.
Through a translator, Taketomi tells us he built his first VIP style car, a Nissan Cedric, in 1993. Three years later he founded Junction Produce, which specializes in products for VIP style cars. Today it is one of the best-known marques in VIP tuning and has its brand on everything from body kits to wheels to cuff links and bracelets. Junction Produce is also the first company of its kind to make a big push into the United States.
According to Taketomi, true VIP style tuning is limited to only 10 Nissan and Toyota models: Nissan President, Cima, Gloria, Cedric and Fuga; Toyota Celsior, Century, Aristo, Crown and Majesta. That’s it. Since most of those models come with powerful turbocharged engines in Japan, VIP style cars are rarely tuned for performance. More important is that they’re slammed as low as they can go on the widest wheels possible. Most of the other tuning parts somehow assist in this goal.
VIP stylers use air suspensions to raise their cars to install the wheels and tires and then lower the car on top. Tires are stretched beyond their limits to fit on oversized wheels. Extreme offsets are used so the wheel lips kiss the fenders. And it’s not unusual to see 245/30R tires on 19x10.5-inch wheels—the tuning equivalent of Fat Albert wearing the shorts of his enunciation-challenged friend Mushmouth.
Kelvin Tohar of Falken Tires, which is helping to spread the word in America, says, “It’s not the safest thing to do and Falken doesn’t recommend you do it for daily driving, but it’s the style.” Falken has partnered with Junction Produce to hawk its line of FR452 tires. In exchange Falken promotes Junction Produce at tuner shows and SEMA events, like the International Auto Salon, where we met Taketomi.
Tohar, who has his own VIP style Lexus GS 300 that he calls by its Japanese moniker Aristo, tells me elegance is the underlying statement. “At car shows, most [owners] won’t raise their hoods because it disrupts the flow of the car,” he says. “Even the Junction Produce exhaust is more of an aesthetic.”
Elegance is the word that’s repeated like a mantra by VIP style owners and companies. But it’s a strange sort of elegance. VIP style companies like Junction Produce, Wald and Auto Couture have logos that look vaguely Oxford Street but are more a Japanese version of mafia royalty, without any ironic subtext, like you’d imagine the parts delivered in purple velvet bags, à la Crown Royal.
And the parts aren’t cheap. Outfitting a car VIP style can run up to $20,000 and beyond. But as Tony Montana says in Scarface, “You gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.”
Taken from the VIP 101 thread at VIPStyleCars.com
Ultimately, the tC will NEVER be VIP, it may be VIPstyled, but even so, it would take a whole lot of work to get there. Eujin's car is clean, and I've loved it from day one, but it will never be VIP, just VIPstyled. Even then, the overall layout of the tC is just wrong. For those willing to try, I give you props, but be fair warned, if you mess up even a little, you will get flamed by the VIP community.
"VIP car starts with just that, the platform or the car. Its not a VIP Car unless it starts with one of these cars. From Toyota, you have the Century, Celsior, Aristo, Crown, and Majesta. From Nissan you have the President, Cima, Gloria, Cedric, and the Q45."
Exceptions, i guess.* w/. Vip "STYLE"
a K-Car or Style Wagon.
"Standing in the middle of a convention hall outside of Philadelphia, Takahiro Taketomi looks a bit like Bogey. His eyes are stern and focused and ringed by the charcoal hue of lost sleep. His short black hair is neat and smoothed and shines. He doesn’t smile. In fact, he speaks with a grimace and like he is always about to light a cigarette.
Taketomi is one of the self-proclaimed founders of VIP style, the next great Japanese micro-trend to surface in America. “Bippu style,” as it is colorfully known in Japan, starts with a high-power luxury sedan. The car is slammed on ultra-thin tires and trimmed with boxy body kits. At first glance, a VIP style car might look like any tuner sedan on its way to Hot Import Nights, but there are specific details that set it apart.
A VIP style car might have a billet grille or metallic trim lines or polished wood inside. Window curtains are big. So are aftermarket emblems and hood ornaments. The look is a bit like Scarface Goes to Japan. And legend has it VIP style has roots in the yakuza (organized crime in Japan). True or not, Taketomi makes a strong case on its behalf.
Through a translator, Taketomi tells us he built his first VIP style car, a Nissan Cedric, in 1993. Three years later he founded Junction Produce, which specializes in products for VIP style cars. Today it is one of the best-known marques in VIP tuning and has its brand on everything from body kits to wheels to cuff links and bracelets. Junction Produce is also the first company of its kind to make a big push into the United States.
According to Taketomi, true VIP style tuning is limited to only 10 Nissan and Toyota models: Nissan President, Cima, Gloria, Cedric and Fuga; Toyota Celsior, Century, Aristo, Crown and Majesta. That’s it. Since most of those models come with powerful turbocharged engines in Japan, VIP style cars are rarely tuned for performance. More important is that they’re slammed as low as they can go on the widest wheels possible. Most of the other tuning parts somehow assist in this goal.
VIP stylers use air suspensions to raise their cars to install the wheels and tires and then lower the car on top. Tires are stretched beyond their limits to fit on oversized wheels. Extreme offsets are used so the wheel lips kiss the fenders. And it’s not unusual to see 245/30R tires on 19x10.5-inch wheels—the tuning equivalent of Fat Albert wearing the shorts of his enunciation-challenged friend Mushmouth.
Kelvin Tohar of Falken Tires, which is helping to spread the word in America, says, “It’s not the safest thing to do and Falken doesn’t recommend you do it for daily driving, but it’s the style.” Falken has partnered with Junction Produce to hawk its line of FR452 tires. In exchange Falken promotes Junction Produce at tuner shows and SEMA events, like the International Auto Salon, where we met Taketomi.
Tohar, who has his own VIP style Lexus GS 300 that he calls by its Japanese moniker Aristo, tells me elegance is the underlying statement. “At car shows, most [owners] won’t raise their hoods because it disrupts the flow of the car,” he says. “Even the Junction Produce exhaust is more of an aesthetic.”
Elegance is the word that’s repeated like a mantra by VIP style owners and companies. But it’s a strange sort of elegance. VIP style companies like Junction Produce, Wald and Auto Couture have logos that look vaguely Oxford Street but are more a Japanese version of mafia royalty, without any ironic subtext, like you’d imagine the parts delivered in purple velvet bags, à la Crown Royal.
And the parts aren’t cheap. Outfitting a car VIP style can run up to $20,000 and beyond. But as Tony Montana says in Scarface, “You gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.”
Taken from the VIP 101 thread at VIPStyleCars.com
Ultimately, the tC will NEVER be VIP, it may be VIPstyled, but even so, it would take a whole lot of work to get there. Eujin's car is clean, and I've loved it from day one, but it will never be VIP, just VIPstyled. Even then, the overall layout of the tC is just wrong. For those willing to try, I give you props, but be fair warned, if you mess up even a little, you will get flamed by the VIP community.
04-04-2008, 03:13 PM
#128
Originally Posted by marx_tc602
Originally Posted by tCTaco
Originally Posted by ThisDudePaul
that's not VIP....that's what they call a donk. (as implied on the graphic on the side of the car.) that's how they roll in the south. and yes i saw your jk at the end. i was just tryin to be informative; not a dick
04-04-2008, 04:04 PM
#129
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Scikotics
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Originally Posted by tCTaco
Originally Posted by ThisDudePaul
that's not VIP....that's what they call a donk. (as implied on the graphic on the side of the car.) that's how they roll in the south. and yes i saw your jk at the end. i was just tryin to be informative; not a dick
I dont see why people keep argueing about why a tC cant be VIP, why not? If someone had the money and the dsire to spend it correctly, a tC could meet all the requirements for VIP.
04-05-2008, 08:24 PM
#134
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Originally Posted by mikeo
Maybe Vip? I'm not sure.
04-05-2008, 09:14 PM
#135
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eurotuned, with japanese rims??
you can always tell when someone just came to the site. aside from the fact thatyou've never seen thier sn before; a tread that died, comes back out of nowehere, LOL
you can always tell when someone just came to the site. aside from the fact thatyou've never seen thier sn before; a tread that died, comes back out of nowehere, LOL
04-05-2008, 09:53 PM
#136
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Originally Posted by purpled_out_tC
eurotuned, with japanese rims??
you can always tell when someone just came to the site. aside from the fact thatyou've never seen thier sn before; a tread that died, comes back out of nowehere, LOL
you can always tell when someone just came to the site. aside from the fact thatyou've never seen thier sn before; a tread that died, comes back out of nowehere, LOL
I will never understand the need to have to classify every single thing in existence under a certain term. The problem I see is people have to try to get ever finer in the details with some groups. VIP vs. VIP Style? Why does there need to be a distinction? Either someone has a Lexus in the style of VIP or a Scion in the style of VIP. We do not have to make reference to the past in how to classify things today. As far as I am concerned, VIP is VIP no matter what car it is attempted on.
I just do not see why someone can not just do what they like but instead have to follow a strict guidelines on how their car needs to be set-up in order to be considered "the right way".
If I wanted to make a VIP Town Car, so what if it is an American car? If the Japanese had it, I am sure they would do the same to it as the other JDM cars.
04-05-2008, 10:06 PM
#137
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^^ Fail, I've said this before, I'll say it again. Do research, and then ask that question again. VIP is ONLY distinguished on 4 door big platform luxury Japanese vehicles. These include: From Toyota, you have the Century, Celsior, Aristo, Crown, and Majesta. From Nissan you have the President, Cima, Gloria, Cedric, and the Q45.
VIP styled on the other hand, is taking stying cues from VIP cars for OTHER platforms that don't fit the above list. I'm not saying people can't do it, just don't call it VIP, call it VIP styled.
To go around calling VIP and VIP styled the same, would be like calling a Caucasian guy, and a White Washed Asian guy the exact same thing. Sorry to have to use racial terms, but its the first thing that came to mind, lol.
I'm a pretty white washed Asian, but you know what, that doesn't make me Caucasian. I dress like your average white guy, but, ultimately I'm still Asian. make sense?
VIP styled on the other hand, is taking stying cues from VIP cars for OTHER platforms that don't fit the above list. I'm not saying people can't do it, just don't call it VIP, call it VIP styled.
To go around calling VIP and VIP styled the same, would be like calling a Caucasian guy, and a White Washed Asian guy the exact same thing. Sorry to have to use racial terms, but its the first thing that came to mind, lol.
I'm a pretty white washed Asian, but you know what, that doesn't make me Caucasian. I dress like your average white guy, but, ultimately I'm still Asian. make sense?
04-05-2008, 10:44 PM
#138
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I didn't realize how strict VIP was.. So it's basically what you're saying is a VIP'd tC is the same concept as a tC trying to be JDM? 
What about for the bBs and iSTs? Can they be considered true VIP or just VIP-styled?
What about for the bBs and iSTs? Can they be considered true VIP or just VIP-styled?
04-06-2008, 12:04 AM
#139
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Originally Posted by sky-on
^^ Fail, I've said this before, I'll say it again. Do research, and then ask that question again. VIP is ONLY distinguished on 4 door big platform luxury Japanese vehicles. These include: From Toyota, you have the Century, Celsior, Aristo, Crown, and Majesta. From Nissan you have the President, Cima, Gloria, Cedric, and the Q45.
VIP styled on the other hand, is taking stying cues from VIP cars for OTHER platforms that don't fit the above list. I'm not saying people can't do it, just don't call it VIP, call it VIP styled.
To go around calling VIP and VIP styled the same, would be like calling a Caucasian guy, and a White Washed Asian guy the exact same thing. Sorry to have to use racial terms, but its the first thing that came to mind, lol.
I'm a pretty white washed Asian, but you know what, that doesn't make me Caucasian. I dress like your average white guy, but, ultimately I'm still Asian. make sense?
VIP styled on the other hand, is taking stying cues from VIP cars for OTHER platforms that don't fit the above list. I'm not saying people can't do it, just don't call it VIP, call it VIP styled.
To go around calling VIP and VIP styled the same, would be like calling a Caucasian guy, and a White Washed Asian guy the exact same thing. Sorry to have to use racial terms, but its the first thing that came to mind, lol.
I'm a pretty white washed Asian, but you know what, that doesn't make me Caucasian. I dress like your average white guy, but, ultimately I'm still Asian. make sense?
Your heritage is Asian, but you are an American. A Toyota Majesta is the car, VIP can be the styling. Just saying that I own a VIP is not enough to say what the car actually is. You do not need to say what kind of car but you will know what it will look like.
You did not answer my hypothetical. IF a Lincoln Town Car was available in Japan at the time when VIP started to form, could it not also be a VIP car? What if one was imported today and done in the same way? Can only Japanese have VIP cars when in Japan? Is right hand drive part of being VIP since that is a defining characteristic of all the cars you have listed?
History is history and has its place. All things need to evolve in this world.
