As associate editor for Modified, I get to do a lot of cool stuff: get into events, write about interesting cars, meet great people in the industry and (most importantly) photograph some of the nicest vehicles in the tuner scene. At times, though, the hectic schedule can become numbing and makes it difficult to get hyped about every single thing. But every now and then, an opportunity for a story so unique comes along and my problem changes. I no longer have writer’s block, and instead find myself struggling to fit all the words in the magazine’s limited space. This is one of those instances.
Let me warn you that this isn’t the complete story. To jam an entire detailed account of two cars built to the extreme that these twin Odyvia S13 coupes are into a mere six pages isn’t only impossible, it would be shameful to even attempt it. Instead of discussing what parts were chosen for what reasons, I’ll leave that to the spec sheets and do my best to tell you about the real reason why these apparent show cars grace the pages of Modified.
When I first met Rajeet Dalal and Tony Borriboonratana of Mastermind NA, I was pleasantly surprised by how excited these guys are about cars. Not only do Rajeet and Tony spend their days importing rare car parts and wheels from Japan, they’re constantly working on ways to bring the ideas and style of JDM tuners to enthusiasts here in North America. If you’re ever looking for a hard-to-find JDM part or something that you’ve never seen stateside, look no further — Rajeet and Tony can get it for you. Rajeet and I were chatting one day about a few upcoming projects he had in the works, and he slyly mentioned the Odyvia build almost in passing. It took me a minute to figure out what he meant by the word Odyvia, but as soon as it clicked (I remembered a feature article from the May ’10 issue of Super Street) I knew I had to shoot this car. As the build progressed and the vision slowly began to materialize into a reality, I decided to check out the Mastermind car fresh out of the paint booth. To say this car has a “nice paintjob” would be a gross understatement — you can see for days and days into the custom Candy Metallic Root Beer Brown ocean of paint that engulfs this car. It looked awesome as a simple shell. The Odyvia body wasn’t even on it, and I began imagining the photoshoot, which would be months away. All of a sudden, my daydreams were interrupted as Rajeet and Tony dropped a bombshell I would have never expected: there was another Odyvia, and it was coming here.
How do I start on about the Spirit Rei car? On a core level, this is a car that was created as a joint effort between Restored Japan (a well-known shop that specializes in high-end restoration and customization of older Japanese vehicles) and Spirit Rei as a way to showcase their own unique tuning style to the world at SEMA. But the story goes much deeper than a simple shop car built to showcase a range of products. The relationship between Restored Japan and Spirit Rei is interesting and admittedly difficult for an outsider to fully grasp.