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    Hey Guys (and Girls)

    I'm Thanh, sounds like "John", I'm 24, lived here in SoCal for the last 15 years, before that lived in Minnesota, been into cars as long as I can remember.

    I met Dave (Huang) way back when, through IS300.net and the local SoCal IS300 meets, we've known each other for about 6 years and I've followed his car through it's many transformations and I must say he is a source of pride (and a benchmark many aspire to) for the IS300 community.

    Anyway, I was at v20 last night, and met a couple of hybrid members, briefly met James Lin, Laszlo, The Godfather (sorry, don't recall your name but recall your name tag), and a few other members (sorry, don't recall your names, the music was loud drinks were pretty strong) and James kind of extended a little invite, so I spoke with Jason (Blaze) for a bit, and decided that this sounded like something worth checking out.

    I don't feel my car is really show worthy, especially since it is showing it's age, with chips, dings and nicks and all the things having a kid do to a car. My six month goals are quite modest when it comes to my car, as I am focusing on getting back to school and would like to purchase my own home in the next few years, but despite my reservations I was assured that the club is more about the member than the vehicle so here I am.

    Anyhow, I am from Oxnard, Ca, home of the strawberry fields. I am the longest standing moderator of IS300.net, having been a contributing member of that site since before the IS300 was introduced. I am a total Lexus fanboy, I am on my second IS300, having lost my first to the canyon gods (outdrove my abilities) and the next car I plan to buy is also a Lexus. I was a member of a local club called "HyperDryve" and later went on to co-found another local club called "Xfactor" and had a good run of about 2 or 3 years. I was at every single meeting, invested much of my time, energy and money to help keep the club running smoothly, recruiting members, keeping our goals in sight and enforcing our rules as well as being the record keeper and for the later half, the treasurer. As people got faster cars or "better" cars their egos got big and differences in opinions and personalities clashed as well as some issues with a few rotten apples, the club grew apart and eventually everyone just let it go, it's been a few years since I've been on that side of the scene.

    Sometime during that period, I met a girl, got engaged, had a son, got hurt at work, flipped a house, grew up tremendously and got rid of the girl. Right now I'm getting my act together, learned to appreciate education and am going to go back and finish school. I got a decent settlement for my injury, paid off my car, paid off most of my cc bills, and bought a few things, was going to save the rest and use it to get me through school but my dad got ill, had to sell his business and I ended up giving my parents quite a bit of my money so now I'm going to look for a job in the interim, save up some money so I can focus when I go back.

    That being said, my car has progressed pretty slowly, a lot of the mods I have on my car kinda just happened, not to say that I just threw a bunch of crap together and said my car was modified, What I mean is I've always had an idea of what I wanted to do with the car, but the order in which it happened wasn't planned out. I try to keep myself on a conservative budget and refuse to max out my credit cards to outdo the next guy, so I am a deal hunter in some respects, but I won't throw a part on my car just because it was within budget. When opportunities came up, I jumped, like my first set of wheels, I had maintained that wheels would be one of my last mods as the stock wheels were pretty nice looking and a good size, but I ended up scoring some Manaray Sport Vertec VR5 EVOS for a unbelievable price and all of a sudden, I had wheels. Then I was content, until I had the opportunity to get some BBS RS-GT's for a great price, a lot of the parts on my car have some kind of story, whether it be where they originated or how I ended up across them, which makes things kind of fun for me, and that means some of the parts on my car mean more to me than a part that I'd buy off the shelf, makes it like an adventure where I don't know what mod I will happen upon next.

    My style... kind of a mash up, I suppose. I'm not into one particular thing, ie my car is not a JDM whore, nor is it a wild show piece, if anything, I would say the underlying theme leans towards subtle personalization. Nothing too flashy, between aggressive and clean with attention to detail.

    Here are some pics from when my car was kitted out as well as a few recent ones, where I removed the kit and focused inward, on the interior and underpinnings. They should give a pretty accurate portrayal of my style/tastes, although the bare carbon fiber was a phase I quickly outgrew.








    more recent ones;




    Yes I still have xfactor stickers on my car, I haven't taken them off because I am waiting for my sticker guy to make me new IS300.net stickers (he's taking his sweet time). I know it's kind of silly to have the name of a now defunct club still on my car, never took it off partly because it would look awkward without repositioning the "IS300.net" stickers and maybe a little has to do with sentimental memories/ it matches my license plate and indifference/laziness on my part, even moreso since I don't associate the name with the club as I always thought of myself as an "xfactor" where I did not approach modding my car like most others around here and feel as if my attitude and mindset are completely different, not better, just different.

    I can assure you that I will not be attempting to be in two clubs simulatneously and I will not be attempting to represent for two clubs or anything like that.

    Short term plans, I am piecing together a bigger brake package for the front (from a Lexus LS400, waiting on rotors), I would really like to get all my dings, dents and chips addressed, possibly with a repaint but money is tight right now. I would also like to reupholster my interior as the factory leather did not stand up well. I have a few parts that need to be painted/installed but am waiting as I cannot decide if I want to repair my front lip or get this other bumper that I've been in love with for the past 6 years. And I'll need sideskirts, so the idea is to wait till I have everything and then throw it all on. Other than that, I don't really have plans to go turbo, but the prices have gone down to a very tempting level, and there are a few other options that are within reach. Although I would rather get another car as a project than try to make my IS300 faster (I have no illusions that the IS300 is fast, she's quick, but not fast by any stretch of the imagination) so I guess part of my short term plan is to ideally pick up a project car (SC300) and throw in a 1JZGTE.

    I don't have sponsors and never really pursued them, I don't allow my parents to support me and I refuse to put myself in extreme debt to achieve my car goals, that's just how I am and the way I prefer to do things and it brings me great pride, just takes longer

    I have a cardomain site where a lot of my mods are listed (as well as some parts I have stockpiled in my shed and have not installed for one reason or another) http://www.cardomain.com/ride/683748

    Well, that's my intro, probably a bit long winded and maybe more than you'd care to know, but it is what it is. I hope to see some of you guys around, I plan on attending AutoCrave with my son and will drop by, and will write and submit a proposal, and show up at a meeting or soemthing, as I would like to find out more as I will not join unless I feel I have something to offer.
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