#1638453 - 07/12/07 01:36 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: interpol]
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kdfalk
Post Master Sr
Registered: 02/03/00
Posts: 5955
Loc: So-Cal
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Watch my back, lolol. Okie.
Mr. Yuen of Junction Produce USA speaks on J-VIP and its history
VIP Cars
History:
The VIP car style had its beginnings, oddly enough, in the poorer sections of Japan about 15 years ago. Originally, VIP cars were the creation of a group of enthusiasts called Black Cockroach in Wakayama Prefecture of Japan. The Black Cockroach team consisted of a black Cima (Infiniti Q45), Cedric (currently Infiniti M45), Celsior (Lexus LS) and Crown (no US equivalent), which were uniquely styled and exemplified the owner's personalities. Many of the VIP cars had deep ties to the Japanese underground group, better known as the Yakuza, or Japanese mafia. Keeping with the mystic and underground origins of the scene, most of the cars were colored black. In the years afterwards, a team named VIP Company was established by Takahiro Taketomi, the eventual owner of Junction Produce, a leader in VIP styling in Japan.
In the early years of the VIP movement, there was a Japanese magazine called Young Auto, which exhibited modified cars predominantly owned by Japanese motorcycle gang members. The magazine editors selected these cars to attract readers and exemplify this type of automotive modification. Before the naming of VIP cars, the cars modified in this style were called a Haiso car (high society saloon cars). As time went on, the name VIP CLUB became synonymous with the remodeling of high end luxury cars. This was the birth of the phrase VIP. VIP CLUB eventually became the very popular Japanese magazine, VIP Car Magazine. VIP Car Magazine demonstrated the artistry and quality of luxury cars modified in the VIP style and was instrumental in bringing this style of automotive customization to the public. With the help of Young Auto magazine and VIP Car Magazine, the popularity of VIP cars soon spread from Osaka, to Sendai city in Miyagi prefecture, and eventually across all of Japan.
Traditional Definition:
Tradition VIP car definition is very simple. Usually pronounced V-I-P (vee-eye-pee) and meaning Very Important Person, the true pronunciation is VIP, or bippu, where it's pronounced like a word.
Cars that fit into the VIP category are predominantly rear wheel drive Japanese luxury platforms such as the Celsior, CIMA, Cedric/Gloria, and Crown, just to name a few. These cars are usually the more expensive models and are usually purchased by the more affluent car owners. It's not a VIP Car unless it starts with one of these platforms. Many VIP purists will not consider any other platforms as VIP, even though other cars can take the styling cues from the larger VIP sedans. This is commonly known as VIP Styling which will be covered later.
VIP Characteristics:
VIP cars can loosely be translated to “Low and Wide”. Some general characteristics of traditional VIP Style (but not limited to) are:
• Large/wide multi-piece wheels (with large lips and low offsets) that are flush to the fender • Stretched tires in order to tuck the wheels under the fenders • Low stance via adjustable suspension or air ride • Substantial body kits to achieve the “Wide” look • Custom body work to accentuate the “Wide” look • Custom video and audio components and installations • Wood grain interiors with additional trays and extensions on the dash • Custom seats and mats • Additional and upgraded internal and external lighting • Louder exhausts with larger tips • Engine/performance work (though not as popular)
VIP Culture:
When VIP car enthusiasts in Japan build their car, they immerse themselves in the culture of VIP Car. Accessories like Noburi Flags, clothing, lighters, teddy bears, fans, and every accessory that a company makes are purchased and proudly displayed. Some items normally only found in wealthy homes are found, right at home, inside their cars. Many automotive events and gatherings in Japan are steeped in the tradition of the VIP culture. Simple gatherings of enthusiasts can turn into major events. As usual in the Japanese culture, the cars are the stars, but socializing and even food are main attractions. VIP Car has a sense of pride within the Japanese community on its luxury vehicles. It all follows the fascination for those who uphold the code of living in the lap of luxury.
VIP Styling
VIP styling is taking the aspects that was started in Japan with the VIP Cars and merging them onto cars that aren't really considered VIP car platforms. Some platforms that are gaining popularity are the K-cars (Vitz, Scion, and other econo-box cars), vans (Odyssey and Previas) and many other vehicles (G35, IS300, 300Zs) that have been heavily influenced by the VIP Style. That also has trickled into our US domestic market with the larger cars like the Chrysler 300C and Dodge Magnum.
Where does this all fit into the US market? If you ask a VIP purist, it starts with the platform. A Lexus GS, LS or an Infiniti M or Q will always be considered VIP platforms. Unfortunately, many of the VIP platforms in Japan have not made it to the US market. Traditional VIP platforms like the Crown, Cedric, and President, never made it to our shores. As a result, the market has been narrowed which is why the VIP style has been applied to US spec cars like the G35, IS3, 350Z, as well as European marques too.
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#1638587 - 07/12/07 02:06 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: kdfalk]
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johnso2.6
350Z enthusiast
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 06/05/00
Posts: 67563
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I seriously just printed off this VIP description and took it to the shitter to read.
WOW.
Large/wide multi-piece wheels (with large lips and low offsets) that are flush to the fender • Stretched tires in order to tuck the wheels under the fenders • Low stance via adjustable suspension or air ride • Substantial body kits to achieve the “Wide” look • Custom body work to accentuate the “Wide” look • Custom video and audio components and installations • Wood grain interiors with additional trays and extensions on the dash • Custom seats and mats • Additional and upgraded internal and external lighting • Louder exhausts with larger tips • Engine/performance work (though not as popular)
Uh, the very defintion of rice? Don't do engine work! It's not as popular! Money could be better spent elsewhere....like adding a hood ornament where there never was one!
When VIP car enthusiasts in Japan build their car, they immerse themselves in the culture of VIP Car. Accessories like Noburi Flags, clothing, lighters, teddy bears, fans, and every accessory that a company makes are purchased and proudly displayed.
Are you fucking serious??? That's the problem with you. You're trying to "immerse" yourself in fucking rice. Jacking off all over the yakuza references and such. Seriously, you're 37, grow up.
It all follows the fascination for those who uphold the code of living in the lap of luxury.
You're falling short dickhead. Dirty beige carpets, leopard throw pillows, faux-wood and embroidered tassles does not the luxury lap make. 
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#1638589 - 07/12/07 02:07 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: kdfalk]
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kdfalk
Post Master Sr
Registered: 02/03/00
Posts: 5955
Loc: So-Cal
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I'm not trying to be better than anyone, I just drive an old car that I love. It's a VIP chassis car, and it's got VIP / EXE flavor.
http://www.sema.org/main/semaorghome.aspx?id=56236
Trendspotting: VIP Style
Japan Exports Another Auto-Cultural Trend
First came slapping turbo kits on Hondas, then came drifting. Now meet VIP, the latest trend from Japan to take root with American enthusiasts. VIP style tuning—pronounced “bippu” in Japanese—transforms stock Japanese sedans into vessels of luxury and class using a choice selection of specialty equipment parts.
Less a pursuit of speed than a personal statement, VIP arrives in the U.S. as the first wave of sport-compact enthusiasts—now into their 30s—trade in their boosted four-cylinders for sedan refinement. It’s as much an aesthetic choice as a personal one.
“The import industry, with the exception of drifting, is stagnant,” said Nick Fousekis, Falken Tire brand manager. “Many guys don’t want to build a track or drift car. You don’t always want to drive [an Acura Integra] GS-R. You grow up, maybe have a family and want a little more room. But you don’t want a four-door Corolla, and you don’t want to break the bank just to get into a decent sedan.”
Fousekis saw VIP’s potential early. He helped launch the FK series tire, Falken’s luxury segment offering, at the 2005 SEMA Show and earlier this year sponsored a VIP-themed car show in downtown L.A. Falken followed that with a VIP-themed party at the 2006 SEMA Show.
Fousekis himself represents a typical VIP enthusiast. He owns a 2001 Infiniti Q45 purchased for under $20,000 he says, into which he’s put another $10,000 worth of wheels, suspension, body kit and accessories. Herein lies VIP’s appeal: for the price of a new, bone-stock BMW 3-Series, an enthusiast can get into a V6 or V8 sedan with money left over to personalize.
VIP has its own set of conventions: wide wheels with aggressive offsets, body kits faithful to factory lines, low-slung suspensions, deep-tinted windows.
American enthusiasts like to exaggerate VIP’s connection to the Japanese mafia, but the two are not unrelated. Wallets fat from a cash-flush 1980s Japan, yakuza bosses imported European style with AMG Mercedes-Benzes trimmed with expensive wheels and blacked-out windows. Junior Mafiosi (“bosozoku”), emulating the boss’s style with cheaper Japanese sedans, helped birth today’s trend.
VIP went mainstream in Japan long ago. Several magazines cover the scene, enthusiasts come from all corners of society, and the fearsome mob boss of today drives an anonymous pearl white S-Class. And although purists qualify only select Japanese rear-drive sedans as VIP— chief among them the Toyota Celsior (Lexus LS in the U.S.) or Nissan Cedric/Gloria (precursor to the Infiniti M-Series)—the scene has spread to include wagons and minivans.
“VIP is sleek and understated, without extravagant paint jobs or body kits,” Fousekis explains. “The main emphasis is on aggressive wheel fitment, bringing the rim right out to the fender to give the deepest look possible.”
Indeed, VIP enthusiasts prefer tires narrower than the rim, stretching sidewalls to the limit, allowing the rubber to tuck inside the fender well when the car is dropped. It’s an aesthetic detail that concerns tire guys like Fousekis and a mounting practice that most shops won’t perform.
“Wheel fitment is the number-one aspect of VIP,” said Dominic Chen, executive director of Endless/AME, the U.S. importer of Japan’s AME wheels. “Wheels need to be completely flush with the fenders. One or two millimeters make all the difference.”
Running a close second in aesthetic importance are suspension and body-kit choices. Air suspensions—particularly Airrunnner—are popular with American enthusiasts, although Chen noted a recent shift in Japan to conventional coil-over setups by TEIN and HKS, among others. Body kits must integrate seamlessly, a technique perfected by VIP companies like Junction Produce, Wald and Fabulous.
“They’re very, very subtle,” Chen explained. “They’re clean and don’t exaggerate the factory body lines.”
Newer cars won’t require much interior work, but the typical VIP car within an enthusiast’s reach is seven or eight years old. Given the preference for leather and wood trims among the VIP set, fresh opportunities exist for upholsterers and materials companies.
And any VIP car worth its fusa (a decorative accessory) hosts a thunderous audio/video system, an installation that like the exterior should integrate imperceptibly with its surroundings. Required equipment includes video monitors and a navigation system, while amps, subs and speakers should be heard and felt more than seen.
So how does VIP differ from the so-called “DUB” scene, so named for the magazine that highlights it? In many ways, it doesn’t. Both styles play off the image of moneyed outlaws. Both foster the impression of wealth and luxury. But key distinctions include the canvas, with VIP limited to Japanese cars while DUB typically uses American metal —Escalades, Hummers, Dodge Chargers.
“There are subtle differences,” Chen explained. “Here in the U.S., it’s a little more gaudy and flashy. DUB has more of a bling factor. But it’s hard to draw the lines.”
Fousekis puts it down to one key difference: “With VIP, it’s not about stuffing the largest-diameter wheel under the fender.”
Earlier this year, Fousekis took a few Falken-sponsored VIP cars to DUB and Hot Import Nights car shows. Nearly all of the Falken cars were trimmed with body kits and wheels from Junction Produce, the Japanese company widely credited with growing the VIP movement and with whom Falken has entered into a promotional endorsement. He was a little surprised at the reaction from the DUB crowd.
“People were very impressed with the Junction Produce kits,” he said. “They saw that there’s another way to go in an executive-style sedan.”
But many wonder about VIP’s longevity. Does it have the kind of legs we saw with the first sport compact boom? The jury is still out, but the enthusiasts are not, particularly as they age.
“[VIP] is a maturity of the import scene,” said Kelvin Tohar, Supervisor of Dealer Training and Events for Falken Tire. Like Fousekis, Tohar is a core enthusiast who started out long ago with a Honda. He’s witnessing VIP’s growth firsthand in places like Nashville and Atlanta, as he travels to car shows and dealer visits.
“These guys don’t aspire to buy another Civic. But VIP is from Japan, it’s ‘JDM,’ and it still gives them a niche. It’s for the guy who still has the tuner bug in him.”
Fousekis and Chen both agree that specific models or platforms will define VIP less and less.
“I don’t think the car matters too much,” Chen said. “What matters is: Are the wheels flush? Are the [body] kits subtle and clean? It’s more of a mindset and a tuning goal.”
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#1638939 - 07/12/07 03:33 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: kdfalk]
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Driven
Post Master Sr
Registered: 03/23/01
Posts: 7437
Loc: Asia
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It's a VIP chassis car, and it's got VIP / EXE flavor.
Unless you got a NES in the glove box, and some Vanilla Ice playing... it's just posing.
and I have a friend who works for Sprint (salesman) who owns a Q45. he has no problems maintaining it. it's still a pile of poo. Although the mirror tilt is kinda cool.
i still can't believe you have a tassle hanging from your rear-view. But, living in Vegas where you see REAL luxo cars... your Q45 parked at the front of the valet at Wynn won't stand out amidst the countless S550s, the M6s, the M5s, the Ferraris, the Maserattis, Aston Martins, G wagons, and other "VIP" cars.
Your $15K Q45 is still... a $15K Q45.
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- 2350lbs, 610whp. British.
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#1638951 - 07/12/07 03:34 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: Driven]
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johnso2.6
350Z enthusiast
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 06/05/00
Posts: 67563
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BREAKING NEWS:
This is a big trend in Asia:
Adjust your VIP/EXE/ICE style accordingly.....
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#1638995 - 07/12/07 03:52 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: interpol]
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LowTech302
Post Master Sr
Registered: 07/11/01
Posts: 9721
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Okay this shit was funny until I realized this guy was 37. Imagining a 37 man walking outside to sit in the backseat of his old Q45 to talk on the cellphone with the curtains closed and pretend he's a Yakuza boss is just fucking sad. I figured at first he was just some confused teenager who was proud that he spend $15k on a old luxoboat instead of a new Civic like most do and likes hiding in the back so his mom won't tell him to clean his room, but this is just fucking GOLD!
Oh and johnso wins the thread. lol
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#1639040 - 07/12/07 04:04 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: johnso2.6]
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NoiZe
Post Master Sr
Registered: 08/31/01
Posts: 6474
Loc: Nashville, TN
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What a pile of dog crap.
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#1639102 - 07/12/07 04:21 PM
Re: VIP/EXE Style???? *dead*
[Re: kdfalk]
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dropzone52
Post Master
Registered: 06/29/03
Posts: 2423
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So two posts ago you say this:
You guys have kept me entertained for a good while now. Thanks! Keep going, don't stop now, I wanna see how many pages and time of all your collective lives this can possibly take up. Seriously, keep hating.
And five minutes later you say this:
Coming from someone who drives arguably the biggest pile of dog crap of all Japanese cars made. A company that's barely staying in business, but hey, it's an EVO, one of the fastest cars in the world besides the SRT4.
I guess it really isn't that funny to you. 
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