Reinventing cool with vertex and
rocket bunny at the same damn time!
Before we get into the real “meat and
potatoes” of this story, we wanted to give you some basic facts (or Cliff’s
Notes for those who don’t like to read) about this ’13 Scion FR-S. The entire
build came together in just two months. It definitely isn’t your typical TRA
Kyoto Rocket Bunny FR-S and, other than paint, this car was built entirely
inside of a small garage in Long Beach, CA, suburbia. While many of you will
offer up a simple “that’s cool, nice job” type of response, you really need to
have a better grasp of how the Rocket Bunny kit is designed to fully understand
the difficulties that go with the install. The over-fenders of the kit aren’t a
simple paint and install; it not only requires quite a bit measuring, it is
also necessary to cut into and remove sections of the factory
fenders/quarter-panels for the kit to work. These important skills are usually
found in trained auto-body specialists who have experience in the field – not
in two brothers with literally no experience at all.
The
Scion FR-S is that sports car
The willingness to cut into a brand-new car
either comes from an absolute disregard for one’s personal belongings, or you
just have a big sit of the proverbial balls. The owner of this FR-S, Noel
Barnum, and his brother, Hubert, are not your conventional car enthusiasts.
They have more of an “outside the box” style of thinking, and you see it in how
they execute their builds. Noel is no stranger to custom car builds; this FR-S
just happens to be the first car he’s built that actually had any measure of
aftermarket support. He previously spent a majority of his days tinkering with
a supercharged ’05 Toyota Corolla that was everything no one ever expected.
When he was faced with the opportunity to create something new, the ideas and
possibilities seemed limitless.
“I really wasn’t looking to purchase an
FR-S after I sold my Corolla,” Noel says. “My main goal to find a ’03 [Volkswagen]
GTI but after searching high and low, I couldn’t find one. I started looking
around the Internet for other cars, and randomly stumbled upon a rendering of
the 6666 Customs [TRA Kyoto] Toyota 86/FR-S. Once I saw knew I needed to build
one – but with my own flare.”
The
transmission, a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual, is right behind the
engine, preventing it from being mounted farther back
From what Noel tells us, the most difficult
part of the build wasn’t actually the cutting of the factory panels, it was
simply acquiring the Rocket Bunny kit itself. Once the kit made the rounds via
the Internet and various social media outlets, it was highly sought after and
everyone with an FR-S with a good chunk of extra change tried to get one. Luckily,
he had some help from the guys over at Autofashion USA, and they were able to
snag the last one from the first batch of kits imported to the United States.
It proved to be a hefty investment for a 22-year-old student – these kits
aren’t exactly cheap. Noel still had to actually purchase the car, as he found
himself ordering the kit before he even had the car in his possession. Once the
first batch of Rocket Bunny kits American soil, it seemed like they were
everywhere, particularly out here in the West Coast. Aftermarket tuning
companies were also investing in the kit to promote their own products, so it
was hard for a privateer builder to really stand out amongst some who seemed to
have an endless amount of financial backing. Noel could either blend in with
the crowd of other Rocket Bunny Scions, or he could reinvent the look, even
when the look was still relatively new to the rest of the country.
Scion
has certainly succeeded in making the FR-S agile
Noel was pretty set on adding the
aggressive rear-end and wing to his brand-new FR-S, especially after
integrating the over-fenders. What he could change was the face of the TRA
Kyoto kit. Modifying the front would significantly alter the look and give
others a new perspective on an uber-popular kit. Noel came up with the idea to
ditch the front lip and sides altogether. Instead, he would create an
amalgamation of styles by incorporating a new, less common, front lip and side
skirts from Japanese tuning specialist T&E Vertex. The only problem with his
new plan was that it would only further delay his build because he had to wait
for the pieces to come by boat freight from Japan.
“I think the biggest thing I learned with
his build was to have patience. Things aren’t always going to fit right and
things certainly won’t always get here on time. I just had to be patient in
waiting for parts to come in and really work with them to get to fit,” Noel
says.
