SP Rides: ‘Kustom’-Made In Two Weeks
By Michael Kitchens
The local, homegrown shop known as 808 Kustoms handles everything under the sun when it comes to car modification and repair. Jerry, the shop owner, grew up in lower Kalihi among family and friends who all worked on cars. While employed at a local body shop in 2001, Jerry decided to branch out on his own following the passing of the shop’s owner. Now 12 years later, 808 Kustoms is still going strong and building sweet rides.
This 2007 Lexus 460 is a one-of-a-kind ride that stands out for good reason. 808 Kustoms customized the entire car within the span of two weeks for the Wekfest import show earlier this year. Yes, that’s right — two weeks to strip an entire car down, paint it, bag it and build a custom speaker system. That’s just plain crazy!
“We didn’t want to be like everyone else, so we just wanted to change the entire look of the car … go extreme with fiberglass and paint,” says Jerry.
The car is swathed in a gorgeous Milano Red. The shop paints all of its cars red as a tribute to its car club, Speed Zone, and this so happens to be the only Lexus in the state painted this color. The car was stripped and towed to the shop, where Jerry did the honors of painting it. The red is a striking color change for the Lexus, but fortunately the rest of the car complements the paint.
In addition to the stunning paint job, the ride features 808 custom wheels that have been color matched to fit with a painted lip. Layered in Ecsta ASXs in the front with Nitto NT420s in the rear, the wheels are slammed and tucked behind the fenders thanks to a Universal Air Suspension kit with bags at all four corners. The kit is hidden deftly within the spare tire well in the trunk and features two compressors, one five-gallon tank and a wireless remote to operate it.
Regarding the trunk, the entire staff at 808 Kustoms sat down and looked at the car and decided it wasn’t enough. The shop’s stereo and fabrication, Uncle Randy, set to work planning out the custom speaker enclosure. The enclosure features a 3,000-watt RE Audio amplifier mated to a 12-inch RE Subwoofer, as well as a huge LCD screen. The enclosure is fitted with trick LED lighting, as well as see-through plexi-glass that reveal the interior details such as the amp and compressors for the air bags.
To finish up the ride, 808 Kustoms plans to replace the interior with a red and black suede interior in addition to a new front lip color matched to the ride.
This entire ride was modified and built by a family of eight guys dedicated to putting something unique on the show circuit. This is a pretty great example of how a car can come together with the right amount of dedication — even in as little as two weeks’ time.
Owner: 808 Kustoms
Age: 32
Occupation: Shop Owner
Hobbies: Anything
Year/Make/Model: 2007 Lexus 460
Color: Milano Red
Instagram: 808kustomsllc
Interior: Junction Produce headrests, Junction Produce Fusa, Universal Air Suspension Wireless Remotes, RE Audio Amplifier, RE 12-inch Subwoofer, Custom Enclosure
Suspension: Universal Air Suspension, Five-Gallon Tank, 4 bags, 2 air compressors
Wheels & Tires: 808 Custom Wheels, Color-matched, Ecsta ASXs Front, Nitto NT420s Rear
