The biggest perk we have on our jobs is to meet new people from all different backgrounds and find a story behind why they chose the car they did, and why they chose the modifications that they did. Each story is unique and we strive to bring that person’s ambitions out to the light. Mike Sabounchi is a Merchandising Specialist at Yokohama Tires (and no he can’t get you free tires, so don’t bother asking!) so you would expect him to have some crazy ride with tons of horsepower or be a real track wonder. On the other hand Sabounchi just has a clean Legacy that he enjoys frequently when he’s not traveling on the job, but it didn’t seem like something that would fit Sabounchi’s style. You see, Sabounchi is one of the funniest and most laid-back guys we’ve ever ran into. And let us tell you, we really tested his patience on this shoot with things beyond our control.

Leading up to the shoot, Sabounchi had to post pone with us a couple of times. No big deal we thought, a lot of owners actually run into issues and try their best to put in a couple more parts before the shoot. When we finally met up with Sabounchi, he told us his tragic story of how he couldn’t get his seats in his Legacy in time for the shoot. We consoled and related with him, but the only thing on our minds was heading out to the shoot location and getting snaps of this white beauty before the sun set. So off we went to our secret location and we started setting everything up for the shoot while Sabounchi talked to us about why he chose the Legacy. “I’m a huge Subaru fan. I’ve owned a couple in the past, and my last one was completely built. It got to the point where it wasn’t even fun to daily drive anymore in Southern California. I started looking for another option and that’s when I chose the Legacy. My girlfriend at the time completely freaked out that I had gotten another car, but when I told her it had heated front seats she was sold.” So what we started to understand was that Sabounchi, like many of us automotive enthusiasts, wanted something more mature and comfortable without sacrificing any of the performance aspects we’ve grown to love.

So finally we had everything set up and Sabounchi’s Legacy was ready to be shot. We started by admiring the exterior of the car, from the INGS+1 front bumper and side skirts styling to the Gialla rear carbon fiber diffuser. Accenting the stock hood ever so slightly and subtly is an ARC dry carbon fiber hood scoop. The front end was also converted with JDM headlights. Simple right? Well Sabounchi told us that after his previous Subaru, he wanted to keep the Legacy simple but unique. One of his main focuses was to import in genuine parts straight from Japan, preserving the Legacy moniker on his own project. Complementing the rest of the exterior modifications is a set of 18x8 Prodrive GC-05 wheels in a contrasting gold finish. The wheels are wrapped with, of course, Yokohama’s Advan Neova AD07 tires in a 225/40/18 variety on all four corners. Peeking behind the front Prodrive wheels are a beautiful set of Endless 6-pot big brake upgrades. Once again, we could only appreciate Sabounchi’s selection of modifications. It’s a fine example that less is more.

At this point in the shoot, we wanted Sabounchi to turn on his headlights to give us a little variety in the shots. As the sun was setting, we thought it’d be the perfect way to really bring out the car. So in went Sabounchi to get the HIDs shining for us, pop the key into the ignition and flashed on the lights. As he stepped out of his vehicle, key still in ignition, the second he closed the driver side door all we heard was a beep. We collectively gasped and sure enough, the car locked itself with the keys inside the ignition. Suddenly the sun seemed to set even quicker, and now we couldn’t even move the car to shoot the rear, engine bay or interior. Needless to say, we spent the next hour or so sitting around waiting for AAA to arrive and figuring out how we would salvage this shoot as the sunlight quickly disappeared. It was definitely a photo shoot first for us and we couldn’t imagine it ending happily.

After some tricky maneuvering by an AAA specialist, we managed to get the rear passenger side window down and unlocked the doors, putting us back into action and we went straight to the engine bay. Upon popping the hood we were once again greeted with authentic JDM goods in a quality over quantity fashion. Freeing up the force induced 2.5L from Subaru is an HKS gold intake kit, up pipe and silent High Power cat-back exhaust system. COBB’s down pipe completes the bolt-ons while a Blitz radiator and ZeroSports radiator shroud keeps the turbocharged engine cooler. Eiffel engine caps can be seen in the bay as décor while Sun Auto’s Cyber Speed Hyper Voltage and Hyper Ground were discretely mounted. The ECU has been reflashed with COBB’s stage 2 tune, making the Legacy plenty enough fun to drive on the streets without making Sabounchi suffer his previous experience with his Subaru.

The suspension goods on this Legacy follow the rest of the tradition on the car. Cusco Zero 2 coilovers along with Cusco front and rear sway bars and braces really make this AWD a handling machine. HKS rear control arms along with Kartboy endlinks enhance the tuning aspect of the car. All we could say was that we were glad the car could once again drive!

Taking good care of where his keys were for the rest of the shoot, Sabounchi opened up the doors for us to take a look at his interior. Once again, he had to sadly mention that his seats didn’t make it inside the car in time for the shoot, but we overlooked it as a minor flaw. A Defi Link boost gauge and display can be seen while Cyber Speed’s pedals and shift knob replace the stock pieces. A Nardi steering wheel is the finishing touch on the interior.

We were glad that the rest of the shoot went smoothly, and we were able to avoid any more headaches or disasters on the shoot. There was more than enough to laugh at though while the shoot went down, plenty of bees in the area that took liking to Sabounchi’s car, so we were constantly dodging bees as well as other questionable ‘condiments’ that were on the ground. It made us question if our secret photo shoot spot was such a secret after all. All we would like to say is that we might not have been the only ones leaving that lot with a happy ending to a long day.