We’ve got a situation here! Dimitri “D-Money” Tsougas has taken his fabulicious bug-eye WRX to beyond the next level, but is this thing a fugazi trailer queen rockin’ nothing but knock-off parts, or a legit JDM-meets-hot-rod beast worthy of nationwide fist pumps?
Between his strict regiment of GTL and heading up sales and marketing at Akuma Motorsports, D-Money made time to prove to us that his Subie is more than worthy of its legendary status on the interweb.
Like any Italian (and Greek) Jersey kid, D-Money had two options to choose from when going car shopping as a teenager: a Ford Mustang or a Mitsubishi Eclipse. He opted for the latter, having been influenced by that timeless franchise known as “The Fast and the Furious.” As D-Money put it, “I bought my Eclipse when I was 16 and turned it into a pretty typical show car. We’re talking candy paint, F&F-type mods, and all that goofy stuff. That’s when a lot of people started going JDM, so I decided I either had to rebuild the Eclipse or get something new. I loved the WRX, so I bought mine brand new in 2004 so I could do the whole JDM thing. I started with a C-West kit and fully did it up while I was still a senior in high school. Then as a freshman in college I totally changed it up, painted it white and really started to develop a strong style, including slamming the ride height and doing the hellaflush thing. That’s when it really started to grab a lot of attention online and I got the nickname D-Money.”
After that, D-Money figured he’d have a better chance of smushing with Snooki if he picked up a fresh new BMW 335i. But maybe he realized Snooki would turn into a stage-5 clinger, because D-Money canceled his order at the Bimmer dealership and instead decided to turn his WRX into what you see here, a truly outrageous yet street-driven machine that’s taken a page or two out of the hot rod builder’s manual, as well as from the VW and West Coast Honda scenes.