Do you remember the scene twenty years ago? Hold on, wait a minute, was there even a scene twenty years ago? Most of us can’t even remember the cartoons we watched as kids growing up, let alone whether or not the Import Scene even was around. According to John Morimoto, indeed there was. Morimoto, a SoCal Native turned Seattleite can tell you the days of tuning his first cars as a teenager, racing down the streets, and the days of staying up all night working on his cars. Now that he’s all grown up, he boasts was of the most stunning Integra’s around, and things still haven’t changed.
Morimoto, a Pioneer of the Northwest scene has an extensive background of the import industry. Starting with Team Mospeed and Mospeed Productions back in the day, John helped produce the first northwest import car show, Emerald City Showoff before moving onto bigger shows and bigger events. He has since helped Vision Entertainment and Team Menace, his new crew, to being Pioneers in their own right.
John’s first Honda was actually the DA Integra, infamous for being most tuners first car; John had felt some sort of connection with it. The DA Integra had seen about as much action as a NASCAR Race Car. From Sanctioned and Illegal races, John’s DA was the definition of an Import Racer. Not too long after that however, the DA had been stolen, ripped away from him like candy from a baby. But that didn’t keep him down, feeling as if he could start new, John decided a newer Integra would be a perfect fit to replace his lost one. The 1999 Acura Integra which was purchased brand new from a dealership was one of many test-driven GS-R’s. John is never satisfied with just testing one; he made sure the one he picked was the best of the bunch, in his own words “I wanted the fastest one on the lot”. A few years had gone by and John didn’t pay much attention to the Integra. He had since “retired” from the scene and wasn’t all too interested in building a car from the ground up. However, all tuners have something in their blood, similar to the Incredible Hulk, sooner or later it will take over, no matter how many times you want to get out, you always get back in. Morimoto couldn’t resist any longer, and in Michael Jordan fashion, came out of retirement to take over the scene. He joined up with fellow friends Team Menace to create one of the cleanest Integra’s that can be found in the Northwest.
Exterior: There is no joke when it comes to the exterior of this Integra. Boasting Ferrari Azzurro Blue paint so carefully put on by the guys at AK Autowerks. The blue paint is a perfect match for the Authentic JDM front end. C-West Front Bumper and Side skirts help the lines of the car flow. A custom painted ViS carbon fiber hood was another added addition to a stunning front end.
Exterior: It’s hard to miss all the items on the car when their gone. Several pieces of the exterior have been shaved, including the door locks, moldings, emblems, spoiler holes and more.
Interior: The interior is just as striking as the exterior. The interior, looking it came straight from a Sparco Racing catalog is the center stage. Some of the products are, Milano2 Racing Seats covered in Black Alcantara, Flash 3 steering wheel, racing pedals, shift knob and harness bar. Matching the harness bar is a set of 5-point harnesses.
Interior: Sometimes overlooked, but never forgotten are the panels of the car. Custom matching suede lines every panel of the car to match the Alcantara of the seats. A custom Gauge Bezel and color-matched interior pieces really set this Integra from the rest.
Corners: Coming through big for John was a set of SSR D5R 18″ x 7.5″ Grey Wheels. Matching the wheels is a sweet set of Toyo Proxes FZ-4 Tires. Keeping the suspension simple, John opted for Skunk2’s line of Coilovers and a nice set of Wilwood brakes to match.
Audio: The I.C.E. in this car is very impressive. The audio list of the car is straight out of Lightning Audio’s factory. Almost everything from the wires to the amps is Lightning Audio. A Kenwood CD/DVD/Stereo Head Unit is custom mounted in the dash. Compustar protects John’s ride from would-be thieves.
Motor: On a bright and sunny day you would probably go blind opening the engine bay to this DC. So many chromes pieces to make your eye’s pop out. From a custom polished head cover, to a complete line of chrome Hayame products. This engine bay really stands out among the rest.
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