Shot Callers: Lowballers Quality Meats
I am a person with several conflicting thoughts. I regularly express that in my view Instagram is of little importance, but I also believe it can be a useful tool for a wide variety of reasons. Through Instagram I was informed that there was going to be a meet put on by Lowballers and karumalimited, but the official announcement had no location, or time just an announcement that it was happening on April 10th. I kept watch all week doubting that it’d be a big event and it wasn’t until the day before that a location and time was given. This cemented in my mind that it wouldn’t be a very large event, but I was excited to go all the same, knowing that at the very least a small selection of really cool cars would be in attendance. The latter half of that statement happened to be true, but I couldn’t have been more wrong about the first.
I showed up maybe thirty minutes after it started, thinking that the rather large lot was going to be slowly filling up, but I was again wrong. I had to drive to the far edge of the lot to find a parking spot and on the way to my spot I could see throughout the lot the cars were not regular traffic, but modified vehicles of every variety. On my way to park I passed what I’d like to call the main attraction, at least it’s what I was there to see. Once I had sauntered back to the front of the lot, the afternoon sun hit Andrew’s golden LS400 just right creating a proverbial solar flare drawing my eyes immediately to the line up of VIP’d out big body luxury sedans parked behind him that make up some of the Lowballers and Auto Fashion crew . I decided to circle back to Andrew’s LS400 for photos once it stopped doing it’s best impression of a flash bang and immediately got to work capturing the this white LS430 parked not to far behind him.
The American take on the VIP style usually pales in comparison to the real deal, at least if photos taken in Japan are anything to go off of, but seeing this white LS430 I immediately knew I was looking at something special. I won’t say I’m the most knowledgeable about the subject of VIP cars and their associated body kits, but the kit, if you could call it that, was something that I just knew wasn’t an off the shelf part. One quick session of Instagram sleuthing later and a quick read of an old article later and I confirmed my suspicions. The kit is a complete one-off affair and adds enough angular, modern flair that it looks right at home with more modern takes on the style and yet still flows spectacularly with the wide canvas like body lines that make up the 430. Topping it off is a set of classic Weds Super Star Leon Hardiritt Ordens whose lips just kiss the edge of the fender making that oh so desirable incredibly tight fitment. My favorite aspect of the 430 has to be it’s bright red interior. It hearkens back to the color ways of long past eras, while fully embracing the extravagant luxury of modern VIP culture. The top stitched diamond inserts and neck pillows are expertly crafted and the completeness of the interior is what makes this true to the VIP form.
Moving further down the line was a deep blue GS300 and if the pinstriping didn’t give it away it’s owned by a member of the renown Auto Fashion crew. The painstaking attention to detail is what makes VIP culture so captivating to me and I was first drawn to the very well done pin striping that ran down the belt line of the GS. I was so enamored in it I initially completely missed the engraved lips of the Weds Kranze Cerberus IIs. Both of these details are typically found more commonly on low riders than anything else, but this clash of styles effortlessly works with this GS300.
After spending a fair amount of time gawking at the insane collection of VIP sedans in front of me I wandered over to my friend Ronne’s Subaru. He recently finished some work on it and the last time I had seen it in person was when I shot it in 2018 for Speedhunters. Needless to say, but it’s undergone quite a bit of changes since then, most noticeably the color. Gone is the white exterior it sported in years past and in its place is Porsche PTS Graphite Blue Metallic with a bit of subtle flake added. It’s quite the interesting color as it shows wildly different depending on the lighting appearing somewhere in between a grey or a Icelandic ocean blue. The properly sized white Desmond Regamasters are a nice touch that adds a great bit of contrast to the exterior. I could ramble on about Ronne’s STi covering all the details further, but I’m sure I’ll do that at a later date with a more proper shoot.
Parked next to Ronne was the NA2’d NA1 NSX owned by Jeff that I was first made aware of when my good friend, brother from another mother, Benny Whiles shot back in August of last year. His photos of it are the best I’ve ever seen and capture all the details perfectly, not to mention were also in print in S3 Magazine. Nonetheless it was still an absolute pleasure to get to see this thing up close after only seeing it through the veil of social media for months. The ITB adorned engine, TE37 Sagas and just absolute eye grabbing presence of it is more than words can do justice.
Yeah yeah, super cars are cool and all that, but fuck it. You know what’s cooler? A fucking LADA. This thing was parked next to a kei van and behind a row of R35 GT-Rs and I couldn’t care less about anything else at the meet. Who in the sam hell owns this immaculate Russian casket on wheels and how on earth did it end up in the middle of the desert with the rest of us desert rats. I apologize for the unprofessional tone, but I’m still baffled this thing seemingly exited a portal from a time when this thing was new. I wasn’t the only one either, as it silently rolled out of the meet I pointed it out to my friend Roy who’s enamored yell “IS THAT A FUCKING LADA” made the heads of all those near him snap immediately in it’s direction to much the same reaction.
In a similar vein to the Lada, hidden behind a quite regularly sized modern pickup was this Mercedes 280SE. Classic Mercedes already command attention, even the lower trim levels, but it doesn’t take much to give them that much more of a commanding presence. Dropped on factory wheels with thick white wall tires and an immaculately clean interior was all it took to sell me on it. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was parked between to comparatively mammoth like vehicles I would have had field day catching all the angles I could of this thing.
The sun started to plunge lower into the sky removing the blinding highlights that reflected off Andrew’s LS400 and I went to work. There are a large amount of people that are what I would call TE37 detractors with a laundry list of why it is not as good as you think, but those people also have a stick up their ass. While I won’t claim to be an expert on the VIP subculture, I do know that recently the sport-luxury sub-style has started to rise in popularity within the VIP subculture and what better wheel to do such a style than perhaps one of the most sporting wheels to come from Japan. The gunmetal grey finished TE37s with polished lips give good contrast to the sunburst-golden body and once again achieve that desired tight fitment. Ganador mirrors with aerowolf mirror visors give the exterior just a bit more flash, as if the paint wasn’t enough. Moving inside the original steering wheel has been replaced with a small-ish diameter wood grain and perforated leather one and the diamond stitched Recaro seats continue to give that feel of a more sport-luxury style. I had came to the meet primarily to see this car and once I had gotten these photos I knew it was worth it.
As worthless as I believe Instagram is at times, without it I wouldn’t end up doing half the things I get to do. My friend that doesn’t even live in Vegas shared the initial post I mentioned earlier and from there I ended up getting to see some truly impressive VIP cars, met up with old friends, and just generally had a great time. Yes, I’m still a man of conflicting thoughts, Instagram is both a blessing and a curse, but one thing is true: for as quickly thrown together this meet appeared to be, the Lowballers crew and Karumalimited did a great job at bringing together some cool cars and some even cooler people.
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