The JDM car scene has always provided great influence over any import owner in Australia. Taking styling cues and parts ideas from the land where it all began seems fairly straightforward. But one style of modification that has yet to properly boom in Aus is VIP style. VIP style is the modification of a larger car, adding high end bodykits, very large and very deep wheels, a myriad of interior goodies and anything else that will help transform cars like the Nissan Cima or Toyota Crown into high end expensive limousine lookalikes. What once started as primarily a thing for the Yakuza to dabble in has turned into a very large automotive culture in Japan and now the USA.
The USA has accepted the VIP style with open arms, now having meets with VIP attendance only and companies providing parts solely for the VIP scene. While it’s hard to determine why Australia has been so slow to adopt the very cool style that is VIP, it could come down to any number of things. But it seems that a few people who love the style enough are beginning to make a name for it in Aus. One of those guys is Gurps, a young Sydney local who is the owner of this Lexus GS300.
With Australian laws being anything but simple, Gurps decided that since he was going down the VIP route with his Lexus GS build, he needed to go very low and run very big wheels. He didn’t even contemplate running a coilover setup, saying it was not worth the hassle of driving nor the police attention. Plus VIP Style is more about comfort so there was only one option: an airbag system was to be installed. After doing some research on the matter and chatting with mates, he ended up getting a Ksport Air System. Unlike Queensland, if engineered correctly and installed to the right standards an airbag suspension system is a legal modification in New South Wales, so he won’t have any trouble from the police on that matter.
With a V2 management controller in place it allows Gurps to run 3 preloaded settings that he can quickly jump to without having to fiddle with all his levels. The 1st is obviously full aired up to keep the policeman happy but the second is just flush, so he can cruise around without it looking high as a kite and silly like a lot of air setups do.
The 3rd and final setting is his lowest possible setting on his current wheel setup. Having already mangled some guards, he says this is really as low as he will get it…for now.
The next step after sorting his suspension out was wheels. The choices were endless really, especially in the VIP scene, but not wanting to go a full body kit setup yet he decided to keep it simple for now. He picked up these amazing BBS LM-Rs measuring in at 20×8.5 at the front and 20×10 at the rear. The wheels look absolutely gorgeous on the car and were a perfect choice, but as I mentioned earlier, running very wide wheels has not done wonders for the guards. But all is fair in love and low. Funnily enough, his next mod came out of the blue. After discovering a very cheap deal that he could not pass up, Gurps picked up a set of 6-pot 330mm front Rotora brakes. Seeing these sitting behind the wheels just looks insane and it is definitely not a brand we see a lot of over here in Aus.
Gurps has started on his exterior styling as well, adding the classic VIP Aristo/GS 5Zigen exhaust, some high end LED Japan-only projector headlights, as well as some very expensive LED taillights which make the rear end look spot on.
Gurps has big plans for the car in the coming year, which include an interior re-do, wheel change and most likely a swap from the standard NA 2JZ motor to a built 2JZ-GTE to hopefully push some power through that later on down the track. He is also possibly contemplating selling the car, but personally I hope that isn’t the case as Aus needs more people pushing the VIP movement.