Welcome to the First of a Few Articles about “JK’s” Liberty GT!
Well.. yes, on one hand it is about his car, but on the other; each stage is going to be about what great places in Adelaide you can modify and improve your ride, and how they do it!
To give you a bit of background, lets interview JK about why he chose to do Project GT.
HC: How long have you had this GT and why did you choose it?
JK: Bought it a couple years ago, i had sold the R33 Skyline and was looking for a 4 door that had leather, Sunroof, Turbo, Manual, RWD or 4WD plus loads of Parts available in both OEM and aftermarket.. It would have been easy to pick one of the “Famous Four”…
But the WRX & EVO (as much as i love them) didn’t really fit the profile of the job i had at the time, Mazda 6 MPS also made the list, but there wasn’t much aftermarket, The lib did, found one, and the rest was history!
HC: What have you done to it so far?
JK: Just the simple stuff, Tints, decals & Lowering, and a new set of 19’s. Always wanted to have a set of FR-1’s and as much as many others don’t like them on JDM cars, i personally love them, if i hadnt got them, it would have been AME’s!
Shoutouts to the Guys at STO Automotive for fitting the wheels and lowering, Jason Bradbrook for the Tints, and Spyro for the Decals at Dizzi Decalz. Here’s how it looked after the Tints & Decals, being dropped off at STO for the wheels and lowering.
HC: Whats the plan from here?
JK: What i’ve always loved is the Autosalon era, some may call it RICE, and yes; i have to agree, there were some totally radical rides in that era.. So lets just say; im taking some inspiration from that era in Body customisation (Look out for the Stage 2 write up on AutoTransformers) which will be a major feature, but i’m starting with the Rear Lights.
HC: Sounds Awesome JK, and that a great Segway to the first part of this series on the Project GT, For those of you that don’t know Loudz Creations, you may remember their Nissan Cube Feature car from our recent Wintertime Snow & Shine” at Marion.
The Roof lights in it are amazing! And we think Jamie from Loudz was a bit taken by them lol
Jamie at Loudz Creations is an absolute GUN at modifying lights, front or rear, old, new or un-utilised spaces, he’s been doing it for over 10 years, and that was well before we started seeing them on AUDI’s and the like in the last few years!
For a baseline on what we are looking at, here is what the rear lights look like on a 2005 Liberty GT.
Reverse
Indicator…
The park light…
and Brake light.
All functional; but a little boring, but that’s all about to change!
Lets get Modding!
The Idea was to try fit the Reverse and indicator LED Strip inside the Factory Plastic area-in front of the old Reverse & Indicator lights, and it Fit!
And then it looked AMAZING when Jamie put it back in, it looks totally like the Factory intended it as an upgrade!
Now with the Indicator and Reverse lights sorted, what do we do with the brake lights?
JK and Jamie noticed the 4 factory lines on the perspex at the bottom (and the 4 others at the top) but wanted to do something to ensure that the lower part of the light was only used.
and this led to be inspired to have just the 4 on the bottom be turned into both parker and Brake light in a LED Strip!
Then we added a LED Strip on the back of the indicators to have a “Show Mode” at Car shows/static display (Not functional in road use)
Then it was off to get them lightly smoked to take that edge off that bright light and white!
What do they look like finished on the car?
A very Mercedes Type of Feel!
What’s Next?
Stage 2 is at AutoTransformers! What is happening there JK?
Well, lets just say that these guys at AutoTransformers are Famous for doing exactly that! Transforming Automotive machines into Art! And whilst most would think that its typically the Muscle/Chrome bumpers that they work on, in this case, they are going to be flushing the whole complete back area, moving the number plate and much more!
Here is a example of what he means, but not to ruin the finished product! (and no, he’s not changing it to this colour! Bit too Much Autosalon memories there!)
Stay Tuned to Stage 2 of Project GT! This will be released before our “Spring Automotive Festival” and you will be able to see the GT there too!
MASSIVE thanks to Loudz Creations for being a big part of Stage 1 of Project GT! If you would like to check out what they have done for your model or other model cars, check out their Facebook Page & YouTube get any inspiration and ideas to put to Jamie and bring them to life, just like Project GT!